Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀), along with representatives of 25 universities, yesterday announced the establishment of the Taiwan Artificial Intelligence College Alliance to enable students to take intercollegiate courses on artificial intelligence (AI) and obtain certificates.
The alliance, which begins official operations in the academic year starting this month, aims to prepare more than 10,000 students with AI-related expertise in the next three years, Cheng said.
In response to an urgent demand for AI talent in Taiwan’s technology industry, universities should have AI-related undergraduate courses, Cheng said, adding that the strategy must move from competition between universities, to intercollegiate cooperation and the forming of a “Team Taiwan.”
.Photo: Rachel Lin, Taipei Times
The alliance is led by the Ministry of Education and several universities, with National Taiwan University, National Tsing Hua University and National Cheng Kung University as the main institutions participating in the initial stage, while other universities would have an opportunity to join later, he said.
With the alliance’s launch, AI learning resources would be popularized in universities across the nation, and if students from other countries in the region want to learn about AI, Taiwan would be the best destination for them, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said.
Based on the idea of “it takes a village to raise a child,” the ministry spent two months coordinating with top AI academics to overcome initial difficulties, Yeh said.
Students who complete the required courses would receive a program certificate from the ministry, he added.
“Industries can look for this certificate when they recruit AI talent,” he said.
The alliance plans to open four programs: AI exploration and application, AI industrial application, AI and natural language processing, and AI and visual technology application, Yeh said.
Each program would have five required courses, totaling 15 credits, and the maximum number of students for each course is set at 1,500, which could increase as more universities join the alliance, he said.
The alliance would have leading courses, satellite courses and regular courses, provided through an online digital learning platform, and students can interact with course instructors if they take the course synchronously, or with teaching assistants if they take them asynchronously, he said.
IBM Consulting, Taiwan manager Han Lin (林翰則) said the industry has a positive attitude about the alliance, and supports its establishment.
The alliance can integrate AI educational resources from universities across the nation to cultivate talent to meet a shortage of workers with AI specializations, he said.
IBM Consulting, Taiwan students who obtained the alliance’s certificate would be seen as having expertise in AI, so the company would consider recruiting them first, Lin said.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
RSS