A 19-member delegation from National Yunlin University of Science and Technology (YunTech) visited Amity Business School in Noida in Uttar Pradesh in northern India and attended the Forum on India-Taiwan Education Cooperation and Economic Development on January 18, 2016. Its aim is to be an interactive forum promoting bilateral communication where all the participants can speak, and present their ideas for future collaborations. The delegation of 18 business students was led by Dr. Chen Cheng-Hsui, Dean of the Management College at YunTech. This was the eighth consecutive year that a YunTech delegation has visited India.

Dr. Sanjeev Bansal, Director & Head of Amity Business School was the keynote speaker at the forum. He began with an informal talk about some aspects of India culture, from “Bollywood” to India’s economic growth and its emergence in the global market. He gave the delegates a range of facts and figures about India, and spoke about the achievements and history of Amity University and the Amity Business School.

Mr. Chen Yi-Ta, acting director of the Education Division at the Taipei Economic & Cultural Center in India (TECC) spoke about the objectives and functions of his mission in India. He introduced some facts about higher education in Taiwan to the audience: “Focusing on the matter of the tuition fee and quality of education along with the global exposure, Taiwan offers the best opportunity to the international students. Taiwan also offers the benefits of scholarships and a chance to explore a new language and culture”. Mr. Chen emphasized that there are 13 business schools in Taiwan that have been accredited by AACSB, including the College of Management at YunTech. He encouraged business colleges in India to cooperate with Taiwan and pointed out that Indian students can choose Taiwan as their further study destination.

Ms. Amber Feng from the Taiwan Education Center at Amity University talked about how they conduct classes and plan events to maintain an interesting and interactive classroom environment. This includes movie screening, calligraphy, classes on cooking dumplings & using chopsticks, and celebrating festivals. Ms. Feng mentioned that learning Mandarin Chinese is very challenging for the Indian students, so her team emphasizes making the classes entertaining for students by constantly adding more “hands-on” activities.

Dr. Lee Guann-Jyh, Director of the Economic Division at TECC in New Delhi, shared some of his experiences of dealing with high bureaucracy among Indian authorities, and India-Taiwan economic relations, with the business students and delegates. He spoke about Taiwanese firms operating in India and future opportunities for Taiwan to enter the Indian market, the trade volume between India and Taiwan, and the major commodities traded between the two countries. China Steel Corporation India Pvt. Ltd., the largest steel maker in Taiwan, entered India four years ago. The corporation’s chief representative, Mr. Lin, spoke about doing business with India, and his understanding of the market culture, the taxation policy, and some biased attitudes on the part of the government. Combined together, all these factors pose a threat to a firm’s smooth operations in India.

The forum concluded with a Q&A session in which the delegates and the students from Amity Business School raised questions and aired doubts to the panelists. This event was a successful effort by TECC, Taiwan Education Center, and Amity Business School. It helped the business students understand both the potential opportunities and the challenges an organization will be exposed to, and how organizations can utilize these opportunities and face these challenges and emerge as a successful market leader. The delegates had a fruitful interaction with Amity faculty members and students, and also acquired valuable knowledge from industry representatives.

Photo:The YunTech delegation to the Forum on India-Taiwan Education Cooperation and Economic Development held at Amity Business School.