The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) has allocated more than NT$760 million (USD$24 million) to a special program enabling overseas Chinese students to undergo three years of education at a vocational high school followed by four years at a science and technology university. Since the program was further refined in 2022, the number of students coming to Taiwan to study has grown exponentially which is expected to continue.
At a legislative meeting with members of the Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday, DPP legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) expressed concerns about the program’s university-industry cooperation under the New Southbound Policy, particularly with regard to talent recruitment and retention. OCAC minister Hsu Chia-Ching (徐佳青) explained that when the program was first launched it was experimental and lacked long term solutions for students coming to Taiwan. As a result, a high proportion of students were unable to complete their education.
This issue improved after the OCAC added thresholds for age and language ability, Hsu said. She pointed out that, since these adjustments were made, the number of overseas Chinese students utilizing the program has increased from 2,000 to 5,700.
Hsu said that the OCAC will continue striving to improve teacher enthusiasm and teaching methods through the use of incentives.