Minister Pan, AIT Taipei Office Director Christensen Vow to Deepen Taiwan-US Educational Exchanges

Minister of Education Pan Wen-Chung and Director of Taipei Office of American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) William Brent Christensen reiterated their intention to expand Taiwan-US educational cooperation on the existing friendly basis at a meeting on April 12.

Minister Pan, delighted to welcome Director Christensen back when AIT is celebrating its 40th anniversary, said “it’s our pleasure to witness this historic moment, and we also look forward to further expanding our cooperation with AIT.” 

According to Minister Pan, there are currently 22,454 students from Taiwan studying in the U.S., making the U.S. the 1st destination Taiwan students studying abroad; meanwhile, there are 3,770 students from the U.S. studying in Taiwan. “This shows how intensive Taiwan-US student exchanges are,” he added. 

 Internationalization has become a main trend in the world’s educational development, Pan said. “The Ministry of Education has been actively expanding international teacher and student exchanges at all levels of educational institutions. We expect more academic cooperation and exchange programs for building a better bilingual environment and attracting more American students to study in Taiwan,” he said. 

Minister Pan said his ministry will accelerate bilingual teaching by promoting English listening and speaking practice at all levels of schools and expanding English teaching human resources in order to upgrade the internationalization of our education system. “American teachers are more than welcome to come to Taiwan and work on English teaching with us,”he said. 

Director William Brent Christensen then expressed his gratitude to Minister Pan and the MOE’s support for AIT and its educational projects. “ To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act and AIT, September is designated Education Month and AIT will host a series of educational events to highlight the importance of education in the Taiwan-US relations,” said Mr. Christensen.

They also exchanged views on a wide range of topics, such as priority education policies, the new curriculum guidelines of 12-year basic education, Taiwan’s bilingual country policy, strengthening English teaching strategies, students from Taiwan studying in the United States, talent circulation alliance, and other Taiwan-US educational collaborations. Minister Pan then said he looked forward to deepening Taiwan-US cooperation and exchanges in education and academia.

Photo:Minister Pan Wen-Chung meets with AIT Taipei Office Director William Brent Christensen.