Paraguayan students from Taiwan-Paraguay Polytechnic University expressed eagerness to promote Taiwan following a ceremony on Friday to celebrate their completion of three semesters of a Taiwan-based study exchange.
The university, a joint venture between Taiwan and Paraguay, is located in the Paraguayan city of Luque.
At a ceremony held at the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (Taiwan Tech), which hosted the students since March last year, about 100 Paraguayan students celebrated the completion of their exchange program, which involved academic courses, business visits and cultural events that gave them opportunities to learn about Taiwanese values and society.
Civil engineering student Sebastian Estigarribia Romeo said that the key point to take home is that “Taiwan can help.”
“Paraguay is also willing to accept that help, and [we should] let other countries know that Taiwan is capable of helping. Taiwan has a lot to teach to the rest of the world,” he said.
Romeo said that he is looking forward to applying what he has learned from Taiwan’s advanced civil engineering when he graduates in Paraguay in six months.
Milko Gutierrez, a computer science and information engineering student, said a large portion of his studies has been based on programming and artificial intelligence.
“I would love to keep researching about artificial intelligence models. I would love to work in that area in Paraguay, but if there are none, I would love to build one myself,” Gutierrez said.
He said he will highly recommend to his home country’s young people to study at the polytechnic and take the opportunities to engage in the exchange program in Taiwan.
Another computer science student, Abel Ferreira Roig Ocampos, who is a wheelchair user, commended the accessibility of Taipei’s infrastructure, which he said makes traveling easy.
“Especially with the MRT and the buses ... [they are] very well prepared for my wheelchair,” he said. “In my country, it was very difficult for me to go out alone, but here I could very easily.”
Taiwan will hopefully continue to give Paraguayan students opportunities to study in the country, Roig said, adding that he hopes the relationship between the two countries remains strong.
“I, for example, am not 100 percent sure about where I will go for my masters, but maybe I could come back here to Taiwan,” Roig said.
At the ceremony, Taiwan Tech president Yen Jia-yush (顏家鈺) commended the Paraguayan students for undertaking the exchange program, and said he believes that the knowledge and experience they gained in Taiwan will provide advantages in their lives.
“I hope that you will find your dream jobs after graduation, contribute to your country, help build up Paraguay, but don’t forget Taiwan and what we have achieved here together,” Yen said. “I wish you a bright future and everlasting friendship between Taiwan and Paraguay.”
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) also attended the ceremony and said it was satisfying to see the talented young students thrive in the study exchange.
“Education has been at the root of Taiwan’s national development. By cultivating outstanding talent in science and technology, Taiwan and Paraguay are sowing the seeds of future growth, prosperity and friendship,” Tsai said.
The first entrance exams at the polytechnic in Paraguay were held in March 2019, with 255 potential students competing for 109 spots, the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan said.
With the aim of cultivating engineering and technological talent in Paraguay, the polytechnic admits about 100 new students annually, with freshman and sophomore classes held in the South American country.
The students’ junior year and the first semester of their senior year are completed in Taiwan, with the first batch of students having arrived last year.
A Keelung high school on Saturday night apologized for using a picture containing a Chinese flag on the cover of the senior yearbook, adding that it has recalled the books and pledged to provide students new ones before graduation on Thursday. Of 309 Affiliated Keelung Maritime Senior High School of National Taiwan Ocean University graduates, 248 had purchased the yearbook. Some students said that the printer committed an outrageous error in including the picture, while others said that nobody would notice such a small flag on the cover. Other students said that they cared more about the photographs of classmates and what was
GOING INTERNATIONAL: Rakuten Girls squad leader Ula Shen said she was surprised that baseball fans outside of Taiwan not only knew of them, but also knew their names Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Oakland Athletics on Saturday hosted its first Taiwanese Heritage Day event at the Oakland Coliseum with a performance by Taiwanese cheerleading squad the Rakuten Girls and a video message from Vice President William Lai (賴清德). The Rakuten Girls, who are the cheerleaders for the CPBL’s Rakuten Monkeys, performed in front of a crowd of more than 2,000 people, followed by a prerecorded address by Lai about Taiwan’s baseball culture and democratic spirit. Taiwanese pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸), who was signed by the Athletics earlier this year, was also present. Mizuki Lin (林襄), considered a “baseball cheerleading goddess” by Taiwanese
A 14-legged giant isopod is the highlight of a new dish at a ramen restaurant in Taipei and it has people lining up — both for pictures and for a bite from this bowl of noodles. Since “The Ramen Boy” launched the limited-edition noodle bowl on Monday last week, declaring in a social media post that it had “finally got this dream ingredient,” more than 100 people have joined a waiting list to dine at the restaurant. “It is so attractive because of its appearance — it looks very cute,” said the 37-year-old owner of the restaurant, who wanted to be
A promotional event for the launch of a drinks store led to police questioning a 26-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), the Taichung Police Department said yesterday. Police said that they questioned Chang and forwarded the case to prosecutors, accusing her of producing, distributing, broadcasting or selling pornography. Police said she faces charges related to the alleged distribution of indecent photographs on Twitter and using overtly sexual innuendos to promote the store on Monday night. Officers stumbled upon the content during a routine Internet “patrol.” Chang faces a prison sentence of up to two years and up to a NT$90,000 fine if found guilty
RSS