Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) said yesterday that the government plans to recruit top professors by offering globally competitive wages as well as attract more international students as part of its effort to promote globalization.
Speaking at a national conference on nurturing talent, Siew said the government would step up its investment in education and increase the education budget each year.
The government will also recruit more international students by touting Taiwan's advantages in advanced education to other Southeast Asian nations, he said.
“The government will map out a comprehensive plan for nurturing, retaining and recruiting talent,” Siew said.
Globalization means every country is striving to recruit the best talent, he said, mentioning China, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea.
“Although Taiwan lacks natural resources, it has a wealth of outstanding talent,” Siew said.
The key to nation building is the government's ability to retain top human resources, whether locally or overseas trained, he said.
The government will take into consideration education, population and industrial policies as part of the process of charting the nation's development, the vice president said.
The plan will be designed on the basis of short, medium and long-term human resource needs, he said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education introduced a draft plan on recruiting and retaining top-quality university professors.
Under the proposal, the salaries of professors could be subsidized by the ministry's five-year allocation of NT$50 billion (US$1.56 billion) for the development of top-class universities, from special projects or from the National Science Council (NSC).
There will also be no cap on the pay offered, the proposal states.
“Allowing flexible salaries will help attract top teaching talent and boost Taiwan's international competitiveness,” NSC Minister Lee Lou-chuang (李羅權) said. “Taiwan cannot afford to be excluded from the world trend of recruiting the best talent.”
National Cheng Kung University president Michael Lai (賴明詔) agreed, saying the “salaries of Taiwan's teaching and research personnel are too low.”
“A salary increase will help attract the best,” Lai said. “Salary flexibility is crucial, although it will by no means suggest an across-the-board pay raise.”
The 150 representatives at the conference at the National Central Library also included Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠), Delta Electronics founder and chairman Bruce Cheng (鄭崇華), Minister of Education Wu Ching-chi (吳清基) and the presidents of several universities.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by