Taiwan has set a goal of attracting 500 graduate students from India next year, following the signing of a bilateral agreement last month under which both countries agreed to recognize higher education diplomas from the other, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said.
Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Director-General Matthew Lee (李世明) said that attracting some of the roughly 500,000 Indian students who study abroad every year will bring significant economic and cultural value to Taiwan.
LANGUAGE HELP
The graduate students, who will have to finance their travel to and studies in Taiwan themselves, will be provided with free Mandarin classes, Lee said.
Once these students finish their coursework in Taiwan, they will be the best candidates for managerial jobs in Taiwanese companies operating in India, he said.
“That could also increase Taiwanese businesspeople’s willingness to invest in India or expand their investments there,” Lee said.
As Indian students generally excel in math and English, attracting more Indian students to study in Taiwan could also help inspire Taiwanese students’ research and study abilities, Lee said.
EXPANSION PLAN
The program will initially focus on graduate students but will gradually expand to include undergraduates, Lee said.
There are currently 370 Indian graduate students studying in Taiwan.
Lee said the ministry was discussing similar programs with other Asian countries, including the Philippines and Vietnam, to implement President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) target of attracting 20,000 foreign students to study in this country during his four-year term.
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