A total of 700 Thai students expressed an interest in obtaining a degree in Taiwan during the recent Taiwan Higher Education Fair held in Thailand, Minister of Education Wu Ching-ji said Feb. 17.
Wu made the remarks after returning from a week-long student-recruitment trip to Thailand, which saw the MOE delegation visit Bangkok and Chiang Mai.
“Taiwan’s higher education is highly competitive,” Wu said. “Our vocational education appeals greatly to Thai students, because the highest level of their vocational system ends at the junior college level.”
“The Thai government will choose elite students to study in Taiwan and provide them with living expenses and plane tickets, while we will offer tuition waivers and scholarships,” the minister said.
In addition to the fair, the first Taiwan-Thailand Education Forum was held during the trip. Sister schools bonded with one another and 38 cooperative pacts were inked, including agreements to strengthen bilateral academic exchanges and for Taiwan to send Chinese teachers to Thai schools. “Mandarin teaching is one of our strengths,” Wu stressed.
Currently, there are 43,000 foreign students in Taiwan, accounting for 3.3 percent of all college students. “I hope the number will increase to 6 percent in the next five years,” Wu said. (HZW)
Write to Grace Kuo at morningk@mail.gio.gov.tw