Education Division of the Representative Office in Moscow for the Taipei-Moscow Economic and Cultural Coordination Commission (TMECC) Presentation on

The People’s Friendship University of Russia held its 8^th International Research Conference in late April, 2018, and representatives of eight foreign countries were invited to attend. William Lu, Secretary of the Education Division of the Taipei-Moscow Economic and Cultural Coordination Commission (TMECCC) was invited to give a presentation on Taiwan’s Mandarin Chinese Education in a section of the session on Oriental Languages, addressing Topical Issues of Modern Linguistics.

William began his presentation by pointing out that Chinese has the highest number of speakers of all the languages: 1.39 billion and outlined many reasons for studying Mandarin Chinese in Taiwan and how Taiwan’s Mandarin Chinese Education is being promoted abroad. He mentioned the Huayu Enrichment Scholarship program which has been run in conjunction with language exchange programs at key Russian universities, and the sending of Taiwanese Mandarin Chinese teachers to major Russian universities.

He also talked about the Overseas Mandarin Chinese Teacher Internship program and the Chinese Internship for Foreign Students program, and encouraged Russian teachers and students who are learning Chinese to visit Taiwan. His presentation attracted an audience of 50 people, mainly students and faculty of the university, and it received a warm response.

What is now called the People’s Friendship University of Russia was founded on February 5^th, 1960 by the government of the former USSR, then on February 5, 1992, the university was renamed the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia. It is considered one of Russia’s “Ivy League” universities and it is one of the 21 elite Russian universities participating in Russia’s Project 5-100, an initiative designed to enhance academic excellence. The university is ranked 446 in the latest QS World University Rankings, for 2019, and it has approximately 23,000 students, of whom 5,200 come from 102 foreign countries.

Photo:William Lu, Secretary of the Education Division of the Taipei-Moscow Economic and Cultural Coordination Commission (TMECCC) outlining Taiwan’s Mandarin Chinese Education at the international conference at the People’s Friendship University of Russia.