Taiwan is to grant visas to an estimated 13,000 foreign students before schools open next month, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) said yesterday at a news conference in Taipei after a reporter asked about the status of international students amid a nationwide level 2 COVID-19 alert.
The visas are to be granted to those studying for a degree and people enrolled in Chinese-language scholarship programs, but not exchange students or those in short-term language classes, Pan said.
The ministry’s plans for international students were approved last week at a meeting of government agencies, with COVID-19 prevention being the main concern, he said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Education via CNA
“The most comprehensive disease prevention measures and border control regulations will be implemented when international students enter the nation,” he said.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Immigration Agency and the Mainland Affairs Council would be involved in the process, he said.
Eligible foreign students have been informed of their acceptance by their schools and the ministry has not made changes to the order in which different classes of students receive their visas, he added.
The Ministry of Education has established a special program to take care of international students who cannot travel to Taiwan due to COVID-19 outbreaks in their home country, Pan said.
They will receive help from a task force established by the education ministry, he said, adding that online learning would be available.
Measures implemented last year that enable students to defer enrollment or extend their student visa due to pandemic-related concerns would continue, he added.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS