Delegates at the Taiwan-France Higher Education Forum in Reims, France, on Monday addressed higher education development and policies in their nations and discussed ways to strengthen partnerships and international cooperation.
The forum drew approximately 200 people, including representatives of 104 Taiwanese and French schools.
Members of the Taiwanese delegation, led by Ministry of Education Department of International and Cross-strait Education Affairs Director-General Bi Tzu-an (畢祖安), included Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan chairwoman Su Huey-jen (蘇慧貞), nine university presidents and 24 university vice presidents, and executives in charge of international affairs.
In his address at the opening ceremony, University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne president Guillaume Gelle praised Taiwan as a role model in economic development and innovation, with funding allocated for research and development surpassing 3 percent of GDP.
France and Taiwan have maintained 482 interschool accords and 36 agreements related to dual academic degrees, he said.
However, the relationship is still unable to cover all the possible cooperation opportunities for the two nations, he added.
As such, Gelle said that he expects the forum to facilitate cooperation in the areas of digital science, intelligence system engineering, life science, medicine, biotechnology, agricultural food science and environmental science.
Reims, a city in the Grand Est region of France, is about 129km northeast of Paris.
On the sidelines of the forum, Bi signed scholarship cooperation agreements with two universities in Paris — the University of Paris-Saclay and the University of Paris-Sud.
Under the pacts, Taiwan would select talented students to study in doctoral programs at the universities in the academic years from next year to 2021.
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