UNAIR NEWS  – For the second time in 2020, Taiwan Online Higher Education Fair was held again. On Saturday, November 21, 2020, it was streamed live via the taiwanedufair.com website. The agenda for the largest Taiwan higher education exhibition, initiated by Taiwan Education Center in Surabaya, based in Universitas Airlangga, provides opportunities to study in Taiwan for Indonesian students.
In his speech, Vice Minister of Education Dr. Mon-Chi Lio explained that Taiwan offers high quality higher education. Taiwan has more advanced educational and technological system than other countries in Asia.
“38 universities in Taiwan have been registered in the World University Ranking. And 12 universities are included in Top 500 QS World University Ranking, “he emphasized.
Furthermore, under the New Southbound Policy, Taiwan Government also offers various scholarships. In the last three years, 152 lecturers from Indonesia received scholarships to continue their Masters and Doctoral studies in Taiwan.
“We are providing more Huayu enrichment scholarships for Indonesian students to learn Mandarin and Taiwanese culture,” he said.
Meanwhile, data from the Taiwanese Ministry of Education reveals that the number of Indonesian students pursuing further studies in Taiwan increases significantly every year. In 2019, there were 13,907 Indonesian students studying in Taiwan.
“With a lot of support for scholarships to study in Taiwan, Indonesian students who continue to study in Taiwan will continue to increase gradually every year,” he said.
On that occasion, Rector of Universitas Airlangga Prof. Dr. Mohammad Nasih, SE., MT, Ak., CMA gave a speech. According to Prof. Nasih, internationalization is a crucial aspect in the process of improving the education quality. For this reason, Universitas Airlangga never stops expanding its academic activities with various universities in the world, including universities in Taiwan.
Through collaboration with Taiwan Education Center in Surabaya, Prof. Nasih hoped the cooperation between Indonesia and Taiwan in the field of education will continue well.
“Hopefully, Taiwan Higher Education Fair can be held in the following years and attract more participants from various parts of the world,” said the Rector of Universitas Airlangga.
For information, universities participating in Taiwan Higher Education Fair have increased from 27 universities in June 2020 to 41 universities. 26 of them are vocational universities.
Some of the participating universities are Asia University, National Taiwan University, National Taiwan Normal University, National Chengkung University, and National Dong Hwa University. There are also National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, National Chin Yi University of Technology, and National Yun Lin University of Science and Technology.
All universities in Taiwan have tried to provide campus facilities and prayer rooms for Muslim students. “We hope that these steps encourage more Indonesian students to study in Taiwan,” hoped Mon-Chi Lio. (*)
Author: Erika Eight Novanty
Editor: Binti Q. Masruroh
