Twelve University Representatives Meet at 2019 HAWtech-TAItech Roundtable Looking Forward to Building a Bridge for International Education Exchange between Taiwan and Germany from Five
2019 HAWtech-TAItech Roundtable was held by National Chin-Yi University of Technology on March 6th. Representatives of 12 universities from Taiwan and Germany discussed and signed a memorandum of cooperation (MoU) on five topics: student exchange, workplace/industry internships, research internships, summer schools, and visiting cultural tour. They hope that this HAWtech-TAItech alliance will cooperate closely in order to benefit students.
The German HAWtech Alliance was founded in 2009 by Aachen University of Applied Sciences, Berlin University of Applied Sciences, Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences, Dresden University of Applied Sciences, Esslingen University of Applied Sciences, and Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences. These six universities have outstanding characteristics and positive connections with industry.
The Taiwan TAItech Alliance was established in 2017. Professor, Ching-Jong Liao, President of Taiwan University of Science and Technology, served as the first chairman of TAItech. The members of TAItech include National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, National Taipei University of Technology, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, National Formosa University, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, and National Chin-Yi University of Technology. This alliance which is a combination of Taiwan’s prestigious universities links up the industrial development throughout Taiwan in order to promote international cooperation.
Wen-Yuan Chen, President of National Chin-Yi University of Technology, who is the chairman of TAItech chairman from 2019-2020, said that he hopes to improve the quality of technical and vocational education, strengthen students' innovative ability and accelerate the link between technical and vocational education and industrial needs by connecting HAWtech-TAItech system. Moreover, TAItech links the strengths and resources among the universities, and plans five cooperative topics to promote international exchange between Taiwan and Germany in order to foster the Taiwanese students’ global competitiveness.
The Ministry of Education added that the concept of Industry 4.0 initiated by Germany, which promotes intelligent manufacturing, emphasizes intellectualization and improves industrial efficiency, has become a global development trend. The collaboration between HAWtech and TAItech in Higher Education in two countries highlights on training professional skills, improving language skills, strengthening international mobility, and cultivating top tech talents to get hired after graduation.