Taiwan’s Ministry of Education & Rhode Island Council on Postsecondary Education Renew MOU on Higher Education Cooperation
Taiwan’s Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Rhode Island Council on Postsecondary Education renewed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on higher education cooperation that the two parties first signed in 2023. Since then, they have engaged in strengthening education and learning-related links between Taiwan and Rhode Island, particularly Mandarin language education-related links under the framework of the U.S.-Taiwan Education Initiative. The University of Rhode Island, for example, has been recruiting Mandarin teachers and teaching assistants from Taiwan each year and it works with Tunghai University in Taiwan to offer students the Taiwan Huayu BEST Program. Brown University also hosts Mandarin teachers from Taiwan to support Mandarin language instruction in its Department of East Asian Studies.
The MOU on higher education cooperation between Taiwan and Rhode Island was renewed through an exchange of documents. Dr. Lee Yu-Jiuan 李毓娟, Director General of the Department of International and Cross-Strait Education at Taiwan’s Ministry of Education signed on behalf of the Ministry of Education. Dr. Shannon Gilkey, Rhode Island’s Commissioner of Postsecondary Education then signed it on behalf of the Rhode Island Council on Postsecondary Education at a signing ceremony on September 3, 2026, finalizing the renewal.
The signing ceremony was held at the Rhode Island State House. It was attended by Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee, and Alexander Tah-Ray Yui 俞大㵢, Taiwan’s Representative to the United States, and more than 50 people from government, academia, and the local community. Among them were Professor Beverly Bossler, Chair of the Department of East Asian Studies at Brown University; Dr. Kristin Johnson, Vice Provost for Global Initiatives at the University of Rhode Island; Dr. Wu Yu 吴瑜Director of the Chinese Flagship Program at the University of Rhode Island; Dr. Drew Echelson, the Rhode Island Department of Education Deputy Commissioner for systems transformation, and Stephen Osborn, Chief of Innovation at the Rhode Island Department of Education.
The renewal of this MOU reflects the commitment of Taiwan and Rhode Island to engaging in educational exchanges and long-term partnerships related to higher education and Mandarin language education.
