Taiwan Studies MOU signed with SOAS, University of London -Ministry of Education Republic of China (Taiwan)

Taiwan Studies MOU signed with SOAS, University of London

Date: 2016-12-21

On November 29, 2016, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the Director of SOAS, Baroness Valerie Amos, and the Taiwan Representative to the United Kingdom, David Y.L. Lin, on behalf of the Taiwanese government, to continue co-operation between Taiwan and SOAS regarding the SOAS Taiwan Studies programme at the University of London. This programme was launched in 1999, to promote and broaden understanding of Taiwan’s politics, history, society, languages, and culture.

The MOU incorporates agreements with Taiwan’s Ministry of Education and with Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, providing funding for Taiwan-related research activities, courses, degree programmes, academic publications, and Taiwan Studies events.

The signing ceremony took place at the Taipei Representative Office in the U.K. headquarters in London. During the ceremony, David Lin thanked the current Director of the SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies, Dr Dafydd Fell, for promoting Taiwan Studies in the U.K. and he praised the Centre for its many achievements and for contributing to stronger academic links between the U.K. and Taiwan. Baroness Amos also spoke positively regarding the long-standing co-operation between Taiwan and SOAS and thanked Taiwan for all its support over the years. This has helped SOAS to become the world leader in Taiwan Studies, offering a wider range of study programmes and featuring more seminars, conferences, festivals, and other activities relating to Taiwan than any other higher education institution in Europe or North America.

The signing was followed by a Q&A session with SOAS Politics students, during which David Lin answered a series of questions regarding international relations in Taiwan.
Under this latest MOU, co-operation will continue until at least 2018, marking another exciting chapter for Taiwan Studies at SOAS.