The National Development Council (NDC) on Monday unveiled a four-year plan focusing on several goals, including nurturing a digital talent pool.
Other goals would involve improving the nation’s bilingual education and expanding the efforts to hire international talent, the council said.
The measures would be aimed at promoting Taiwan’s competitiveness and ensuring that it plays a critical role in the dynamic restructuring of the global supply chain, it said.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Lin Chih-mei (林至美), director of the council’s Department of Human Resource Development, said the council would push for amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) to make it easier for foreign talent to work in Taiwan.
Regarding fostering local digital talent, Lin said that the council would work with other government agencies and experts from various fields to come up with a more concrete definition of what constitutes “digital talent.”
“After all, the digital competencies needed in the cultural sector and in the information and communications industry vary immensely,” she said.
Taiwan faces a shortage of skilled workers, most notably in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), the council said.
The percentage of college graduates in STEM fields was about 30 percent last year, Lin said.
“It is really not enough to meet the future need for digital talent,” she said.
Lin said that it was an indication that the government needs to improve its efforts to cultivate digital talent.
Meanwhile, Taiwan would try to establish a “semiconductor academy” this year, Lin said.
She was referring to a plan discussed at a meeting between Vice Premier Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) and representatives from the semiconductor industry to have the government, academia and industry set up a semiconductor academy.
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