Taiwan and Australia are to collaborate on language courses and training teachers after the Ministry of Education, the National Development Council and the Australian Office in Taipei yesterday signed the Taiwan-Australia English Learning Partners Action Plan.
The program aims to increase focus on the average proficiency of Taiwanese in bilingual communications, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) said.
The program includes expedited development of bilingual high-education facilities, creating a bilingual learning environment in elementary and junior-high schools, enhancing the digital learning environment for English, promoting the acceptance of Taiwan’s General English Proficiency Test among international facilities and universities, boosting Mandarin education, and fostering and increasing the talent pool for bilingual education.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Education
The ministry looks forward to working with its Australian peers on bilingual education for students under the 12-Year National Education Program and those in higher education to create online teaching programs and to help English-language teaching at vocational schools, Pan said.
Australia’s efforts to train bilingual talent and step up English-language training for vocational education would interface with professional associations and private organizations based on the needs of both sides, the ministry said.
The project aims to produce more bilingual individuals in the fields of tourism, medicare and in the technology sector, as well as in other industries, the ministry said.
The program was first discussed in March, and the ceremony yesterday marked an excellent beginning for a Taiwan-Australia partnership, National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said.
The program also highlights the council’s resolve to implement the government’s 2030 bilingual policy by offering more diverse channels to learn English and creating more opportunities for bilingual Taiwanese to excel and shine on the international stage, Kung said.
Australian Representative to Taiwan Jenny Bloomfield said that the program would deepen Taiwan-Australia collaboration in education, vocational training and youth interaction by establishing more sister-school ties and introducing more joint degree programs.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s New Colombo plan, which was enacted in 2015, has seen thousands of participants travel to Taiwan for academic discussions and other interactions, the ministry said.
These efforts will allow Taiwan to train more talented individuals who can travel the world based on their professional knowledge and proficiency in English, it said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
RSS