Taiwan offers high quality higher education, including higher education in the vital technical and vocational area, training the skilled professionals needed by modern industries. The pandemic has not yet subsided but this has not dampened Taiwan’s efforts to encourage international students to study in Taiwan. 

This year’s first Taiwan Higher Education Fair for Indonesian students was held on March 12 and March 13, using livestreaming. It was jointly organized by the Education Division at the Taipei Economic and Trade Office in Indonesia and the Taiwan Education Center in Surabaya (associated with Asia University). Representatives of 47 universities in Taiwan participated providing information about their programs, admission procedures and scholarships available and the Fair attracted more than 10,000 Indonesian students, as well as parents and teachers.  

The Director General of Higher Education Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, Ir. Nizam, attended on behalf of the Indonesian Government and delivered the opening speech. He thanked the organizers and said that the Taiwan Higher Education Fair offered a valuable opportunity for students from many parts of Indonesia to learn more about Taiwan’s university system.

In her opening remarks, Dr. Nicole Yen-Yi Lee, Director General of the Department of International and Cross-strait Education of the Ministry of Education of Taiwan, said that in recent years more than 200 lecturers working in universities in Indonesia have begun higher degree programs in Taiwan under the MOE Elite Scholarship program, and the Ministry of Education has also increased the number of Taiwan Scholarships and Huayu Enrichment Scholarships available for Indonesian students to study in Taiwan. Last year, there were more than 16,000 Indonesian students studying in Taiwan with more than 60% of this number were enrolled in a degree program. And Taiwan looks forward to welcoming more.

Mr. Chen Chung, Taiwan’s Representative in Indonesia, said that the Taipei Economic and Trade Office in Indonesia has made great efforts to expand links with Indonesia, in conjunction with Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy, and friendly exchanges between the two sides have become closer, especially in the education sector. In recent years, for example, the Indonesian Government has been working with the Taiwan Government promoting projects such as the Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards, and the 2+i Industry-Academia Collaboration Program. Indonesia is the country with the second largest number of international students in Taiwan and programs like these have opened up a wider range of opportunities for more Indonesian students to study in Taiwan. He expressed his hope that this education fair would strengthen the “Study in Taiwan” brand.

The two-day Higher Education Fair included an interactive consultation session from 2 pm to 4 pm each day, during which time representatives of the participating universities answered questions raised by Indonesian teachers and students. The sessions were extremely popular and drew enthusiastic participation. 

A second large-scale higher education fair will be held in September this year to continue strengthening the educational links between Taiwan and Indonesia.