At many schools of higher learning across Taiwan, a new cosmopolitan atmosphere appears to be taking hold. People can find more students speaking English and hear conversations in Hindi, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Malay, Thai and other languages from all over Asia.
In the past month, students from South and Southeast Asia at technical colleges and universities in Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and other cities took part in cultural festivals featuring dance, music, traditional dress, art performances and food from the regions.
International students have been coming to Taiwan to take up academic studies or to attend the nation’s technical colleges for skills training in high-tech industries, electronics production and other manufacturing sectors.
Photo: Huang Po-jung, Taipei Times
ASEAN accounts for one-quarter of incoming students. Of the 29,634 students from these nations in Taiwan as of last year, most were from Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. A relatively lower number of 1,444 students came from South Asia last year, with the majority from India.
TALENT DEVELOPMENT
The figures are expected to rise in the coming years as Taiwan welcomes international students with open arms under the government’s “new southbound policy.”
While the policy covers all nations of South and Southeast Asia, in addition to Australia and New Zealand, the first phase prioritizes intensifying interaction with India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.
As a part of the policy, the Ministry of Education has earmarked NT$1 billion (US$33.2 million) for the New Southbound Talent Development Program.
One of the program’s main goals is to increase the number of students from ASEAN and South Asia by 20 percent each year, with the aim of reaching 58,000 by 2019, according to Department of International and Cross-Strait Education Director-General Yang Min-ling (楊敏玲).
“The program allows us to cultivate top-quality talent for businesses and industries, while helping Taiwan’s colleges and universities forge links to the outside world, and to promote international networking and people-to-people interactions with other Asian nations,” Yang said.
The program could encourage students to stay and work in Taiwan after graduation, which could boost the industrial workforce and raise Taiwan’s international competitiveness, she said, adding that there would also be projects for youth and for educational development in cultural and sports exchange events.
The program works in both directions and financial subsidies are on offer for young Taiwanese to study, undertake internships and job training, or do volunteer work in ASEAN and South Asia, where 4,000 such opportunities are to be provided starting this year.
Although Taiwan boasts affordable tuition and reasonable living costs, Yang said the government has set up financial aid and subsidy programs to attract talented students from ASEAN and South Asian nations for academic studies, technical training or research work.
These include the ministry’s Taiwan Scholarship — which waives tuition and fees on top of a monthly stipend of NT$15,000 for undergraduate students — and the the Huayu Enrichment Scholarship — a monthly stipend of NT$25,000 for Mandarin learning.
The financial support goes a long way to offset students’ accommodation and living expenses, she said.
Other stipends and scholarships include: the MOST Taiwan Scholarship, a monthly stipend of NT$30,000 for master’s or doctoral degrees offered by the Ministry of Science and Technology; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Scholarship, a monthly stipend of NT$30,000 for degree programs; and the International Cooperation and Development Fund’s International Higher Education Scholarship Program, which offers a monthly stipend of NT$12,000 toward undergraduate studies.
INDUSTRY PARTICIPATION
Besides the academic studies and research work at Taiwanese universities, cooperation with industries to provide internship opportunities and on-the-job training is an important pillar of the New Southbound Talent Development Program.
Among the first notable successes is a collaboration between Far East Machinery Co (FEMCO) and Wufeng University, a school just outside of Chiayi City specializing in vocational and technical training to suit the needs of industries.
FEMCO is a Taiwanese metal tool manufacturer based in Chiayi County whose products range from steel pipes and machine parts to golf clubs. The company has production plants in India, Thailand and China.
“We have had 87 students from India at our school since the project began a few years ago. They take courses in technical fields along with Mandarin classes in the first year. During the second and third year of the academic program, they spend half of the week training as interns at FEMCO,” University International Affairs Office director Lin Chih-ta (林志達) said.
The partnership between industry and academia has been good for FEMCO and they have committed to investing more in the program, as the company needs graduates with technical training in various specific skills, Lin said.
“The students go through the academic program, which emphasizes on-the-job training, and develop their skills through the internship program. After graduation, they can start work right away. Some have stayed in Taiwan, accepting jobs at FEMCO, and other graduates have returned home to work at FEMCO’s plant in India,” he said.
The presence of foreign students on campus has nudged Wufeng University toward more internationalization and encouraged Taiwanese students to speak English with their new Indian friends, he said.
Adjustment has been necessary on both sides: Some teachers and trainers are not proficient in English, so those courses are taught through interpretation by a teaching assistant in the classroom, Lin said.
However, “the Indian students are diligent and have good attitude, and most of them are quick to learn the language, so they are able to communicate in Mandarin after the first year,” he said.
One of the students is 25-year-old Abhijeet Utekar.
“Picking up an advanced education degree with training in the machine tool industry in Taiwan is a dream come true for me. One of the incentives is to learn Chinese, which will help my career development in the future,” Utekar said.
HEALTHCARE EXPERTISE
Another much-lauded program combines education and specialized training for overseas students at National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences (NTUNHS). The program at NTUNHS provides academic training, clinical training and skills upgrades to nurses and medical school teachers from Southeast Asia.
“At the start, we focused on Indonesia, because we already had bilateral exchanges and sister-school arrangement with medical and nursing schools in Indonesia. Also, because of Indonesia’s large population, there is a high demand for trained health workers who can provide local nursing and midwifery services,” NTUNHS International and Cross-Strait Education Center director Lin Li-ju (林莉如) said.
“These arrangements have achieved their targets and all our programs are taught in English, so we can now offer similar collaborations with Vietnam, Cambodia, and Singapore,” she said.
“Nursing professionals from these Southeast Asia countries come to our school for short-term upgrading and on-the-job clinical training, which can take between one and three months. Others have enrolled in our international nursing master’s and doctoral programs.”
Officials in these nations are pleased with the results and will be sending more students to NTUNHS in the coming years, because they recognize Taiwan’s advanced level of healthcare services and its well-established education and training programs for nursing and medical professionals, Lin Li-ju said.
Besides the opportunity to pick up the Chinese language mentioned by Utekar, other foreign students cited affordable tuition, the high quality of school facilities, opportunities for further study, the availability of scholarships and improved job prospects back home as reasons for coming to study in Taiwan.
According to surveys conducted by universities and the Ministry of Education, foreign students were pleasantly surprised by many aspects of their experience in Taiwan, such as the diversity of cultures, a relatively safe environment, the ease of getting around, the friendliness of the people and the dynamism of a democratic society.
The Taipei Times is to publish a series of articles focusing on President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) government’s “new southbound policy” in collaboration with the Office of Trade Negotiations of the Executive Yuan. The articles will be printed every Saturday on this page.
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