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.
Photo: Rachel Lin, Taipei Times
The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in entering Taiwanese companies, he said.
They could work in Taiwan for at least two years, and learn and gain practical experience in the nation’s industries, he added.
The government would continue to loosen regulations to allow international students to stay in Taiwan to work after graduation, so that people with excellent talent can more easily stay and contribute to the nation’s innovation and development, Yeh said.
To help those students enter the workforce more smoothly, the ministry also launched a career development counseling program, which offers services such as internship matching, Mandarin language improvement courses, vocational training and employment workshops, he said.
In other developments, to deepen Taiwan-US educational exchanges and cooperation, the ministry invited North Dakota Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Kirsten Baesler and the department’s Office of School Approval and Opportunity Director Josef Kolosky to visit Taiwan.
During their trip, Yeh, on behalf of the ministry, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Baesler to include the Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language in North Dakota’s Seal of Biliteracy and talked about providing scholarships to Taiwanese students who are to study in North Dakota’s universities, the ministry said.
They also discussed increasing exchanges between Taiwan and North Dakota in language and education, as well as establishing sister school relations between elementary and high schools in Taiwan and the US to strengthen mutual educational cooperation and expand students’ international perspectives, it added.
Since the US-Taiwan Education Initiative was launched in December 2020, 28 education-related MOUs have been signed with 25 states, the ministry said, adding that it is also working with the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange to bring English teachers and teaching assistants to Taiwan.
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