INTENSE Education Fair 2026 Deepens Taiwan–Indonesia Higher Education Cooperation
To strengthen higher education related cooperation between Taiwan and Indonesia and promote international training of skilled professionals, the Indonesian INTACT Hub organized the 2026 INTENSE Education Fair, held at Padang Institute of Technology on April 21, and at Diponegoro University on April 23. The two education fairs brought together people from government, universities, and industry sectors to advance student mobility, academic exchanges, and international workforce development related collaboration through the INTENSE program. The INTENSE program, which integrates resources from the government, industry, and partner universities, is designed to expand the recruitment of international students to Taiwan to study and then work after graduation.
Among the distinguished guests at the education fairs were the mayor of Padang, a special advisor to Indonesia’s Ministry of Higher Education, and the rectors of the host universities. They spoke in their remarks about the importance of international collaboration for preparing students to meet the challenges of an increasingly interconnected global environment and the important role that the INTENSE program plays linking academia, industry, and skills training.
Taiwan’s Administrative Deputy Minister of Education Chu Chun-Chang 朱俊彰 addressed each education fair by video, speaking about the support measures that are available to Indonesian students as part of the Ministry of Education’s International Industrial Talents Education Special Program—the INTENSE program. These include scholarships of up to NT$100,000 a year for two years, airfare subsidies, and administrative assistance to undertake higher education in Taiwan. He outlined Taiwan’s integrated pathway of study, internship, and employment, that allows international students to work in Taiwan after they graduate, offering further opportunities for career development.
Ms. Shih Mei-Chi 施眉綺, the Director of the Education Division of the Taipei Economic and Trade Office in Indonesia (TETO), confirmed that Indonesian students are an important component of Taiwan’s international higher education landscape. There are more than 19,300 students from Indonesia among the more than 140,400 international students that Taiwan is hosting in the 2025 academic year, reflecting the close and growing educational ties between the two sides.
Taiwan is continuing its efforts to expand opportunities for collaboration among government, universities, and industry partners, to provide training internships, combined with Mandarin Chinese language training to equip students with both practical skills and language proficiency for further study and career development in Taiwan.
A key outcome of the education fairs was 16 Indonesian universities signing memoranda of collaboration with Indonesian INTACT Hub; a demonstration of the growing momentum in higher education related cooperation between Taiwan and Indonesia. These signings are expected to enhance institutional partnerships, expand opportunities for student mobility and joint research, and support long-term international skilled workforce development collaboration.
The education fairs in Padang and Semarang and the INTENSE program have further expanded higher education related opportunities for bilateral cooperation, that strengthen long-term academic and industrial partnerships, and provide more opportunities for students that will equip them with global skills and competencies.
