Two members of Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan, Fan Yun and Lin I-Chin, travelled to the UK at the beginning of August 2022. Dr. Fan and Ms. Lin are both members of the Education and Culture Committee, a standing committee of the Legislative Yuan, described on its website (https://www.ly.gov.tw/EngPages/List.aspx?nodeid=452) as responsible for deliberating “policies of education and culture, and bills related to powers of the Ministry of Education, Council for Cultural Affairs, National Palace Museum, Government Information Office, National Youth Commission, National Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, Academia Sinica, National Science Council of the Executive Yuan, and the Atomic Energy Council of the Executive Yuan” .

A new Ministry of Digital Affairs was scheduled to launch in Taiwan at the end of August and the purpose of their visit was to learn more about digital education policy in the UK, in particular regarding the UK’s vision in the wake of digitalisation and practical implementation in the field of education. Digital transformation is underway in the UK and the new Ministry aims to draw upon the valuable experiences of other countries to identify best practices and develop strategic recommendations.

On Tuesday morning, August 2, the two delegates attended a meeting at the UK government’s Department for Education, accompanied by Mr. Kelly Wu-Chiao Hsieh, the Taiwan Representative in the UK, and Mr. Andy Cheu-An Bi, Director of the Education Division of the Taipei Representative Office in the UK. They met with Kath Moulds, a Deputy Director for the Digital Strategy for Education, who works leading initiatives to help schools and colleges use technology effectively, and Jessica Watson, Senior Policy and Evaluation Officer, responsible for international research in digital strategy, together with Matthew Williams, International Partnerships Team Leader, and Nadiah Kazzan, International Partnerships Policy Advisor, from the International Education Directorate.

The attendees outlined the respective digital education strategies of the UK and of Taiwan and discussed how these strategies had developed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. They also talked about their experiences and approaches to related challenges, such as training teachers to deliver digital learning, ensuring that cyber security is upheld, confronting disparities in resources between students caused by geographic location and/or socio-economic status, and supporting the growing digital education industry.