The Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan established the MOE Huayu Enrichment Scholarship program in 2004 to encourage foreign students to study Mandarin Chinese in Taiwan and deepen their understanding of Taiwan's cultural and social developments, and thereby enhance exchanges between the Republic of China (Taiwan) and their own country. The term “Huayu” is one of several common Chinese words used for “Mandarin Chinese”.

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand has been authorized to select the students in Thailand to be awarded a MOE Huayu Enrichment Scholarship. Twenty-one Thai officials, teachers, and students were awarded a scholarship this year. Each scholarship recipient will receive a monthly stipend of NT$25,000. The length of time that each scholarship has been awarded for varies from three months to six months.

The reasons that the successful applicants wanted to receive a scholarship and study Chinese in Taiwan include the high quality education and friendly living environment of Taiwan. Being able to study in Taiwan is truly a case of a-dream-come-true! Many former scholarship recipients who had returned to Thailand felt very interested in studying in Taiwan for a degree. Some of them then applied for a Taiwan Scholarship to study for a degree in Taiwan, or paid to do so themselves. We hope that after their graduation, they will provide great support to promoting exchange programs for faculty members and students between the universities in Taiwan and those in Thailand.

To facilitate the scholarship recipients’ study journey to Taiwan in the coming months, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand hosted an information seminar on August 9. The Thai students were given a briefing about important details of the MOE Huayu Scholarship regulations and Taiwan’s immigration rules. The seminar attendees found the information very useful and it was a great opportunity to meet one another before they begin studying Mandarin at different Chinese Language Centers at different universities all around the island.

The Ministry of Education in Taiwan hopes that the scholarship recipients will enjoy getting some mastery of Mandarin and some understanding of Taiwanese culture and society from spending time studying in Taiwan, and that this will lead to the ties between Taiwan and Thailand in many fields growing stronger.

Photo:21 Thai students awarded an MOE Huayu Enrichment Scholarship attended the Seminar at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand.