Faculty members at some universities are taking concrete steps to help students financially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic complete their studies.
Chihlee University of Technology chair professor Chen Chao-ming (陳超明) yesterday said that he is starting a campaign to ask the public to donate money saved from canceled travel plans during the pandemic to students at their alma mater who are having difficulty paying their tuition.
Chen said that since 2013, he has teamed up with a group in Orange County, California, to offer NT$20,000 (US$677) in tuition subsidies to four students in Taiwan from disadvantaged families who are not eligible for Ministry of Education subsidies.
The project has so far helped students at National Chengchi University, Shih Chien University and National Pingtung University (NPTU), but Chen said that more students have applied for the subsidy this year, possibly because their parents have been furloughed due to COVID-19.
NPTU president Mike Guu (古源光) said that his school raised more than NT$2 million from alumni and faculty members in one year for student subsidies.
The university’s administration can take action if students enrolling for next semester request help with their tuition, Guu said.
National Chengchi University Department of English chairwoman Chao Ching-chi (招靜琪) said that some students came to her for help with their tuition at the outset of the pandemic, possibly because their parents had become unemployed.
She said that she hired some of the students as teaching or research assistants in the hope that they could then afford to pay their tuition.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Education said that it notified institutions of higher education in February, March and June that it would subsidize emergency measures taken during the pandemic, as well as reimburse them for subsidies given to students.
As of Thursday, NT$21.1 million in subsidies had been issued, benefiting 8.61 million students, the ministry said, adding that discounts on tuition are offered each year to students from disadvantaged families.
In 2018, the discounts totaled NT$2.28 billion for universities and NT$3.88 billion for vocational colleges, benefiting 84,000 and 149,000 students respectively, the ministry said.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
China has reserved offshore airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts that are usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. The alerts, known as notice to air missions (NOTAMs), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert
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