A total of 116 academia-industry collaboration programs that could enroll up to 2,120 international students are to be added across Taiwan, with scholarship opportunities and visa assistance available, the Ministry of Education said yesterday.
Department of Technological and Vocational Education Director Yang Yu-hui (楊玉惠) gave a briefing on the ministry’s policy at the annual National Conference for University Presidents.
Universities would add 58 new programs, as would vocational schools, with 93 to be in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, while 15 are to focus on semiconductors and eight are to be in finance, Yang said.
Photo: Yang Mien-chieh, Taipei Times
In addition, recruitment bases are to be set up in the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia by the end of this month, she said.
Taiwan is expected to lose its demographic dividend by 2028, so to achieve an average of 3 percent annual population growth, the nation needs to attract 400,000 immigrants by 2030, she said.
International students in Taiwan are more familiar with the nation and have benefited from its education resources, she said, adding that they could be seen as potential economic migrants and efforts to retain them should be prioritized.
Such efforts include encouraging schools to establish international student divisions, providing basic Mandarin courses, expanding on existing academia-industry collaboration programs and relaxing regulations for international students working in Taiwan, she said.
The ministry is encouraging schools to collaborate with businesses to establish new programs, she said.
The Executive Yuan’s National Development Fund (國發基金) is to provide scholarship funds, while companies are expected to provide subsidies to help with living expenses, she said.
The National Development Council is to mull policies to allow international students to count their time studying in Taiwan toward total duration of stay should they wish to apply for an Alien Permanent Resident Certificate.
International students who receive scholarships would have additional “points” and they would no longer have to file for a work visa under the points system, she said, adding that their applications would be processed directly by the Ministry of Labor.
The points system, or New Scoring Criteria, is implemented by the Ministry of Labor to gauge whether an individual is eligible to work in Taiwan. International students must obtain 70 points out of 190 to be eligible for a work visa.
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