Established by the Ministry of Education and operated from the campus of National Taiwan Normal University, the office is part of an eight-year project implemented since 2013 to enhance and promote the nation’s Mandarin learning environment through such measures as training instructors, developing text and digital teaching materials and establishing the Chinese Linguipedia language database.
“This office will take the lead in creating promotional strategies; aligning public and private sector resources and initiating international collaboration; and drafting brand building campaigns,” Yang Min-ling, director-general of the MOE’s Department of International and Cross-strait Education, said at the inauguration ceremony.
According to Yang, the office will provide policy advice based on data analysis and global market developments. “It will also serve as contact window, helping match local language institutions and foreign individuals seeking instruction,” she added.
NTNU President Chang Kuo-en, who doubles as the office’s director, said interest in learning Mandarin is continuing to grow throughout the region as well as in Western nations. “Nearly 4,000 foreign students studied the language at NTNU last year, with half of them coming from Asia.”
MOE statistics show that 46 tertiary institutions in Taiwan offer Mandarin classes or programs. Last year, 18,645 foreign students came to the nation to learn the language, up 20.09 percent from the year before. The MOE also organized Mandarin proficiency tests for 37,353 individuals in 26 countries and territories in 2015.
Taiwan’s position as a global Mandarin learning center was recognized in June when it was selected to take part in the U.S. Department of State’s Critical Language Scholarship Program. Under the initiative, 20 undergraduate and graduate students from the U.S. attended an eight-week intensive language course and cultural immersion program at the Chinese Language Center of National Cheng Kung University in southern Taiwan’s Tainan City. (SFC-E)
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