The speakers at the 3rd Taiwan–Japan University Presidents Forum

The Taiwan–Japan Forum of University Presidents is a platform for higher education exchange held every two years since 2016. The 3rd Taiwan–Japan University Presidents' Forum was originally scheduled to be held at National Jinan University last year but it was postponed to November 18 this year and held online, because of the coronavirus pandemic. One hundred and seventeen university presidents and vice presidents took part, representing 61 universities in Taiwan and 56 in Japan. 

The theme of the forum was Taiwan–Japan Academic Collaboration in the New Era Experiencing the Global Pandemic and the participants discussed topics such as Building Resilience in Universities in the New Era Triggered by COVID-19, and Collaboration between Taiwan and Japan to Achieve University Social Responsibility and Sustainability.

They pointed out that international educational exchanges had been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, and that physical student exchanges had to be suspended, scaled down, or conducted online. The pandemic prompted universities to improve their student exchange methods to maintain the effectiveness of the exchanges.

But according to statistics from the Ministry of Education and the Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO), there were 7,458 students from Japan studying in Taiwan in 2020, despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, of whom 2,147 were undertaking a degree program.