The Ministry of Education yesterday said that it plans to budget more than NT$200 million (US$6.4 million) this year to subsidize “customized” courses offered by vocational institutions to students from India and Southeast Asian countries, in an effort to promote the government’s “new southbound policy.”
The ministry cited schools that have been promoting exchanges with institutions in the regions over the past few years, calling on vocational colleges that are designing courses aimed at bringing their recruitment programs in line with the policy to model their programs after such examples.
Among the institutions cited by the ministry was Wufeng University, which has been offering mechanical engineering courses to Indian students.
Wufeng University president Su Ming-hung (蘇銘宏) said it teamed up with Far Eastern Machinery Co in 2013 to offer a program that accommodates the company’s needs.
As part of seven-year contracts with Far Eastern, Indian students spend their first year at the university learning Mandarin and basic concepts, followed by an internship at the company during their second through fourth years, Su said.
Students hired by the company after graduation receive monthly salaries of NT$37,619 or more — roughly equivalent to four times the average monthly wage in India — in the final three years of their contracts, in accordance with the minimum wage requirement for foreign workers, he said.
Of an initial group of 33 students who enrolled in the program, about one-third received job offers from Far Eastern, while the rest looked elsewhere for employment, Su said.
The ministry and the university have jointly invested NT$1.2 million to establish an incubator near a Far Eastern branch office in the industrial zone of Pune, India, to recruit high-school graduates, college students and employees of Taiwanese businesses who would like to receive more specialized training at the university, he said.
The university has requested a list of Taiwanese firms operating in the area from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to which it can supply the talent it cultivates, Su said, adding that the school hopes to diversify its curricula for Indian students by working with more companies.
Another example provided by the ministry was National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences, which since 2015 has provided on-the-job training to 156 midwives, nurses and long-term caregivers from Indonesia, Singapore and Cambodia.
Training programs last from two weeks to two months, depending on their objectives, providing students with medical skills lacking in their home nations, National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences official Lin Li-ju (林莉如) said.
While Taiwan’s healthcare system is considered more advanced, local students have benefited from intership programs in Southeast Asian countries, Lin said, citing as an example a program at a facility that treats diabetes patients in Kota Pontianak, Indonesia, in which students learn to treat wounds caused by diabetes with traditional therapies.
“Even though such therapies have not gained recognition in Western medicine, they really work,” Lin said, adding that on a trip to the facility, a group of students from the University of Tokyo were visiting to learn the therapies.
“I think this model for collaboration would be a good reference for Taiwanese medical universities, as it would help to broaden their horizons and allow them to learn from other nations,” she said.
The ministry also highlighted China University of Science and Technology, which has been training civilian aircraft technicians for Singapore Polytechnic since 2012.
China University of Science and Technology official Su Sheng-chu (蘇盛竹) said it was the first institution authorized by the Civil Aeronautics Administration to offer a training program in the field.
Taiwan has an advantage over its neighbors in terms of civilian aircraft maintenance, Su Sheng-chu said, adding that in recent years the number of Singapore Polytechnic students in the program has surpassed that of Chinese institutions.
China University of Science and Technology has begun talks with Thai and Philippine institutions interested in boosting their aircraft maintenance capabilities in the hopes of expanding the program, he added.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS