The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday announced a Taiwan-Europe Connectivity Scholarship program to attract more European students to study Mandarin in the nation and advance bilateral relations.
The program aims to fortify Taiwan-Europe ties and encourage local universities to build up English-teaching environments, Department of European Affairs Deputy Director-General Kendra Chen (陳詠韶) told a news briefing in Taipei.
The program echoes the EU’s Europe-Asia Connectivity Strategy and the UK’s Global Britain vision, she said, expressing the hope that academic partnership would foster collaboration in other areas.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
The umbrella program includes three projects targeting the Czech Republic, Hungary and the UK, Chen said.
In the project targeting the Czech Republic, seven local universities would provide 50 scholarships per year to students from 14 Czech universities, she said, adding that 11 Czech students have enrolled in National Chengchi University and National Sun Yat-sen University.
The project, resulting from Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil’s visit to Taiwan in August last year, was first announced by the ministry in September last year.
In the project targeting Hungary, 11 local universities would provide 30 scholarships per year to students from nine Hungarian universities, Chen said.
In the project targeting the UK, 18 local universities would provide 100 scholarships per year to students from 42 British universities, she said, adding that six British students have enrolled in National Taiwan University.
The 18 local universities are also required to make plans regarding how the British students might assist English teaching or increase interactions with Taiwanese students on campuses, as part of the government’s efforts to make Taiwan fully bilingual by 2030, Chen said.
The Ministry of Education and the British Office Taipei in October last year signed a letter of intent to further bilateral cooperation in English-language education.
The foreign ministry offers subsidies to local universities based on their scholarship quotas, while they should provide a monthly stipend of at least NT$15,000 to each recipient, Chen said.
The recipients are required to take at least one Mandarin-learning course, she added.
The foreign students were isolated for 14 days upon entering Taiwan, followed by seven days of self-health management, in accordance with the Central Epidemic Command Center’ regulations, she said.
The ministry plans to extend the program to other European countries, especially those that have established representative offices in Taiwan, Chen said.
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
STAY VIGILANT: When experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as dizziness or fatigue, near a water heater, open windows and doors to ventilate the area Rooftop flue water heaters should only be installed outdoors or in properly ventilated areas to prevent toxic gas from building up, the Yilan County Fire Department said, after a man in Taipei died of carbon monoxide poisoning on Monday last week. The 39-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), an assistant professor at Providence University in Taichung, was at his Taipei home for the holidays when the incident occurred, news reports said. He was taking a shower in the bathroom of a rooftop addition when carbon monoxide — a poisonous byproduct of combustion — leaked from a water heater installed in a poorly ventilated
RSS