An internship program for college students has been launched in a bid to meet the needs of the nation’s key industries and for students to gain practical work experience, with the government providing partial funding for the initiative, the Ministry of Labor said on Friday.
Companies are eligible for up to NT$72,000 per intern, while each student can receive NT$10,000 as a reward if they get a job at the company after the internship, Deputy Minister of Labor Chen Ming-jen (陳明仁) said at a news briefing in Taipei.
The College Youth Internship Program, initiated by the ministry’s Workforce Development Agency, would apply to college and university students in their final year of study, Chen said.
Photo: CNA
The initiative would provide incentives to encourage cooperation among government agencies, education institutions and industrial sectors, he said.
Schools would match students with their intended occupation, while companies in industrial sectors with a workforce of 50 or more would benefit from the employment of student interns, he said.
Companies can start applying for the “on-the-job training” initiative from March 17, the ministry said.
The ministry would verify and approve internship programs that aim to provide medium to high-level technical training for internships at a maximum of one year, he said.
The ministry would monitor the quality of training, and the companies must provide at least 360 hours of work through the internship program, it said.
High-level employees must tutor the interns, and interns’ job roles should rotate around departments to ensure they gain skills in the industry’s core technologies, it added.
“The ministry will provide each company a maximum subsidy of NT$72,000 per person to cover the cost of training, which would help students gain work experience relevant to their future career,” Chen said.
Taiwan has about 220,000 college and university students in their final year of study each year, with more than 50 percent of students starting to search for employment after graduation, ministry data showed.
Most students encountered difficulties finding post-graduation employment, with the average job search taking two months, the data showed.
A survey showed that 25.38 percent of graduates struggle to find employment due to a “lack of relevant work experience,” while 25.16 percent are “not clear on what job skills are suitable” for them and 15.82 percent “have insufficient job-related skills.”
The survey showed that 68.84 percent of young people plan to work in retail, hospitality or other service sectors.
Huang Wan-ting (黃婉婷), a first- year student at Chung Hwa Medical University in Tainan, said she intends to apply for the internship program to gain experience and high-level technical skills relevant to her work.
Sigurd Microelectronics Corp head of human resources Lin Wen (林汶) said students enrolled in the company’s internship program would receive a monthly salary that is higher than minimum wage.
Colleges, universities and companies can contact the ministry to check details about the internship program, while students interested in working in key industries should register for the program when they select courses for next semester, the ministry said.
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