Fostering local talent in the digital technology sector, expanding efforts to hire talent internationally and improving bilingual education in Taiwan are the three goals that should be met to ensure that the nation plays a critical role in the dynamic restructuring of the global supply chain in the post-COVID-19 era, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday.
The council made the remarks in a briefing to Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) at the weekly Cabinet meeting.
The government would promote measures to encourage companies to invest in fostering talent, increase higher-education capacity and boost university-industry colearning experiences, the council said.
Photo: CNA
We hope to increase the number of students in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics field, so the nation would have more locally fostered experts in digital technology, it said.
An increase in the number of Taiwanese in those fields would expedite an industrial transition into a high-tech-based sector, it said.
Further measures to increase Taiwanese-taught and trained experts include establishing institutes with a focus on vital technologies — such as semiconductors — while encouraging people to use the Ministry of Finance-approved Industry Professional Assessment System (iPAS).
The talent pool would shift and reorient itself around the newly reorganized supply chains and the government would increase recruitment efforts by focusing on students from ASEAN, as well as Australia, India and New Zealand, it said.
Amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) to further relax regulations for work and residency are being mulled, while tax and social welfare benefits for foreign nationals are also being considered, it said.
The council is to promote teaching university courses entirely in English, with a focus on terminology, vocabulary and phrases from specific industries and jobs, it said.
We hope that the industrial and corporate sectors will work with universities to establish programs that would allow students to experience target industries and vocations, it said, adding that it would set aside funds to subsidize students, lecturers and experts to study abroad.
Su instructed the council to work with other government agencies and propose further incentives, such as permanent residency, preferential tax rates and other measures to attract more foreign talent to Taiwan.
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