Philippine High Schools Delegation Visits Taiwan to Advance Exchanges as Taiwan–Philippines Educational Collaboration Reaches a New Milestone
A delegation of 14 high school principals and education officials from the Philippines—including Maridon O. Sahagun, Undersecretary of Science and Technology Services at the Philippine Department of Science and Technology (DOST) —undertook a four-day educational visit to Taiwan from July 15 to 18, 2026. This was in response to an invitation from the Education Division of Taiwan’s Ministry of Education, stationed at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines.
The delegation included people from the Philippine Science High School System, De La Salle Santiago Zobel School, Far Eastern University Alabang Senior High School, the Polytechnic University of the Philippines Laboratory High School, the University of Baguio Science High School, and the University of the East Senior High School. The Ministry of Education’s Department of International and Cross-strait Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted a welcome banquet where the delegation was warmly received by Dr. Joyce Yu-Jiuan Lee, Director-General of the Department of International and Cross-strait Education.
During the banquet, officials from the Ministry of Education and its K–12 Education Administration spoke about the long-term goals of educational cooperation between Taiwan and the Philippines. These include cooperatively training highly-skilled with global mobility, research development, and developing pathways to higher education in Taiwan with the Taiwan-Philippine high school exchange program. And members of the delegation expressed similar interest in engaging in educational exchanges between Taiwan and the Philippines during their visits to a number of Taiwan’s prominent secondary schools, universities, and research institutions.
The delegation’s visits to National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Academica Sinica, and National Sun Yat-sen University led to productive discussions about establishing closer cooperation in areas such as training skilled people in several science and technology fields, research development, and recruitment initiatives to encourage aspiring Filipino students to undertake studies and training in Taiwan.
Another of many highlights took place on July 15 when De La Salle Santiago Zobel School in the Philippines signed a memorandum of understanding with Taipei Municipal Zhong Zheng Senior High School establishing a sister-school partnership.
On July 17, the fourth Taiwan–Philippines High School Exchange Roundtable Forum was held at National Sun Yat-sen University and attended by personnel from more than 30 Taiwanese secondary schools. During the forum, personnel from several high schools in Taiwan that have established partnerships with secondary schools in the Philippines shared details of their years of exchange experiences. And nine secondary schools in Taiwan extended exchange and cooperation invitations to high schools in the Philippines, demonstrating the growing momentum of such secondary school exchanges and partnerships.
The delegation also attended the presentations at the end of the fourth annual Science & Innovation Camp hosted by National Sun Yat-sen University. Thirty-six senior secondary school students from Taiwan, the Philippines, and Vietnam completed laboratory research, interdisciplinary courses, and entrepreneurship training in just five days. The Camp culminated in a Shark Tank Final Pitch, presented to an international panel of one hundred high school educators from Taiwan and the Philippines. The students’ collaborative efforts to transform laboratory research results into innovative proposals unanimously impressed the panel. It found their teamwork, interdisciplinary skills, and bilingual education future-ready.
This is the fourth consecutive year that the Education Division of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines has promoted the Taiwan–Philippines high school exchange program. This year’s exchange represents a milestone with the number of exchange and cooperation invitations extended to high schools in the Philippines by high schools in Taiwan, and the signing of the MOU between Taipei Municipal Zhong Zheng Senior High School and De La Salle Santiago Zobel School.
The Taiwan Education Center in the Philippines will also assist National Taiwan University with its student recruitment and exchange programs in the Philippines and promote a series of activities, including the next Taiwan Education Fair and Taiwan Scholarship Day in the Philippines. The center remains dedicated to working hand in hand with its educational partners in the Philippines in order to deepen educational cooperation and attract more outstanding Filipino students to study in Taiwan, and jointly train a new generation of highly skilled people with an international perspective, cross-cultural communication skills, and an innovative outlook.
