Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀), along with representatives of 25 universities, yesterday announced the establishment of the Taiwan Artificial Intelligence College Alliance to enable students to take intercollegiate courses on artificial intelligence (AI) and obtain certificates.
The alliance, which begins official operations in the academic year starting this month, aims to prepare more than 10,000 students with AI-related expertise in the next three years, Cheng said.
In response to an urgent demand for AI talent in Taiwan’s technology industry, universities should have AI-related undergraduate courses, Cheng said, adding that the strategy must move from competition between universities, to intercollegiate cooperation and the forming of a “Team Taiwan.”
.Photo: Rachel Lin, Taipei Times
The alliance is led by the Ministry of Education and several universities, with National Taiwan University, National Tsing Hua University and National Cheng Kung University as the main institutions participating in the initial stage, while other universities would have an opportunity to join later, he said.
With the alliance’s launch, AI learning resources would be popularized in universities across the nation, and if students from other countries in the region want to learn about AI, Taiwan would be the best destination for them, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said.
Based on the idea of “it takes a village to raise a child,” the ministry spent two months coordinating with top AI academics to overcome initial difficulties, Yeh said.
Students who complete the required courses would receive a program certificate from the ministry, he added.
“Industries can look for this certificate when they recruit AI talent,” he said.
The alliance plans to open four programs: AI exploration and application, AI industrial application, AI and natural language processing, and AI and visual technology application, Yeh said.
Each program would have five required courses, totaling 15 credits, and the maximum number of students for each course is set at 1,500, which could increase as more universities join the alliance, he said.
The alliance would have leading courses, satellite courses and regular courses, provided through an online digital learning platform, and students can interact with course instructors if they take the course synchronously, or with teaching assistants if they take them asynchronously, he said.
IBM Consulting, Taiwan manager Han Lin (林翰則) said the industry has a positive attitude about the alliance, and supports its establishment.
The alliance can integrate AI educational resources from universities across the nation to cultivate talent to meet a shortage of workers with AI specializations, he said.
IBM Consulting, Taiwan students who obtained the alliance’s certificate would be seen as having expertise in AI, so the company would consider recruiting them first, Lin said.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
EASING ANXIETY: The new guide includes a section encouraging people to discuss the threat of war with their children and teach them how to recognize disinformation The Ministry of National Defense’s All-Out Defense Mobilization Agency yesterday released its updated civil defense handbook, which defines the types of potential military aggression by an “enemy state” and self-protection tips in such scenarios. The agency has released three editions of the handbook since 2022, covering information from the preparation of go-bags to survival tips during natural disasters and war. Compared with the previous edition, released in 2023, the latest version has a clearer focus on wartime scenarios. It includes a section outlining six types of potential military threats Taiwan could face, including destruction of critical infrastructure and most undersea cables, resulting in
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km
RSS