More opportunities to open for Malaysians to study in Taiwan
TAIPEI: More young Malaysians may have the opportunity to further their studies or learn industrial skills in Taiwan with the expansion of a talent exchange programme under its New Southbound Policy (NSP).
Taiwan president Tsai Ing-Wen said today that more opportunity will be given to young people from South East Asia, particularly Malaysia which already has the most number of students in Taiwan compared to other countries.
The NSP which was launched in August 2016 is aimed at boosting ties with the 10 Asean countries, Australia and New Zealand, and six south Asian nations like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan.
"We want to open our colleges, universities for studies and provide training in our industries for more students from NSP countries," Tsai said.
"We also have 100 vacancies for teachers and university lecturers to come here for their post-graduate studies this year," she added.
Besides scholarships offered by the government, Tsai said the private sector in Taiwan had also been urged to sponsor students for academic as well technical studies, or provide places for internship and industrial training in the republic.
"This summer, about 5,000 youths from South East Asia will be In Taiwan on sponsored industrial training or internships with our companies here," she said.
In only her second engagement with foreign media since taking office in May last year, the president had held a round table interview with six journalists from India, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia, which was represented by theSun.
Although she could not say for certain how many more places would be given, she gave an assurance that the number of scholarships and sponsored training for Malaysians would be steadily increased from year to year.
Reflective of the trend, there was a total of 31,531 students from NSP countries comprising South East Asia, South Asia, Australia and New Zealand studying in Taiwan last year, which is about 10% more than the previous year.
Tsai noted that Malaysians in particular have found it easy to adapt to life in Taiwan given similarities in language, food and culture.
Taiwan has for a number of years been a choice destination for Malaysian students seeking to further their education. (see chart).
As part of its Talent Exchange Programme under the NSP, the Taiwan government has allocated a budget of NT$1billion (RM143.79 million) for this year.
The fund will be used not only to provide foreign students scholarships, but also to send Taiwanese youth to study or go on exchanges in NSP countries.
Tsai said it was the hope that after studying or training in Taiwan, young people from NSP countries would choose to stay on and work, which would benefit them and Taiwanese companies which would gain from having more trained and skilled human resources.
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