Subsidies to foster higher education would be increased by NT$1.5 billion (US$46.83 million) so doctoral and post-doctoral students would receive more funding for research, the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) said yesterday.
Last week’s Semicon Taiwan event highlighted the competitiveness of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, but the nation must not be complacent, NSTC Minister Wu Tsung-tsong (吳政忠) said.
The council is increasing the number of students eligible for subsidies from 300 annually to 1,000, Wu said, adding that they would receive NT$40,000 per month in the first three years of their doctoral studies.
Photo: Yang Yuan-ting, Taipei Times
However, students must choose between the NSTC’s subsidies and those offered by the Ministry of Education, he said.
NSTC Department of International Cooperation and Science Education director Yeh Chih-cheng (葉至誠) said the program’s funding this year stands at NT$4.94 billion, with the total to be NT$6.509 billion next year.
Postdoctoral researchers are expected to receive NT$62,400 per month starting next year, Yeh said.
The council has increased the cap on postdoctoral researchers who can be hired to 2,400 from 2,300, he said.
Academia Sinica’s Institute of Statistical Science postdoctoral researcher Tung Yi-hsien (董奕賢), a beneficiary of the subsidies, said the grants would affect students’ inclination to continue studying, as they would alleviate financial pressures.
National Central University Institute of Material Science and Engineering student Pan Tse-an (潘則銨) said the subsidies would incentivize students in his field to continue their studies, as the industrial sector offers good pay graduates in his field.
National Taiwan University Department of Animal Science and Technology alumnus Lee Sin-jin (李欣瑾) said that the subsidy program was why she could further her studies in mitochondrion research.
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
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The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
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