Liu Bang-Zyh, Deputy Representative at the Taipei Representative Office in France, gave a welcome address

On June 9, 2022, the Education Division of the Taipei Representative Office in France held a pre-departure orientation seminar for 63 scholarship holders and French language assistants who will be studying and working in Taiwan from this summer. Jennie Burke, Deputy Director of the Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Exchange Program of the French International Education Research Center, and Muriel Schmit, Attaché for French Books and Sports at the French Office in Taipei (Bureau Français de Taipei), participated in the pre-departure seminar by video, to assist the French-speaking guests and speakers.

The 21 French assistants who will be travelling to Taiwan to participate in this year’s  French language assistant program were selected during a joint review by the Education Division of Taipei Representative Office in France, the FEI (France Education internationale) and the French office in Taipei (Bureau Français de Taipei) on April 13, and they will arrive in Taiwan before September.

In April, the Education Division also reviewed the applicants for scholarships under the Taiwan Scholarship Program to study a degree program, and for scholarships to study Mandarin Chinese under the 2022 Huayu Enrichment Scholarship Program. Five applicants were awarded a Taiwan Scholarship and 47 were awarded a Huayu Enrichment Scholarship to study in Taiwan.

The orientation seminar began with opening remarks by Hsu Lih-Tien, secretary of the Education Division at the Taipei Representative Office in France, and a welcome address by Liu Bang-Zyh, the Deputy Representative. The first presentation, by Mr. Schmit, gave general information about French language assistants’ sojourn in Taiwan. Ms. Burke then gave a brief presentation on the French language assistant exchange program. The seminar ended with an outline of the rights and obligations of scholarship holders and French language assistants and the administrative procedures related to Covid-19 that they will need to undertake before and after their arrival in Taiwan.

After these informative presentations, the scholarship recipients thanked the Education Division for holding the pre-departure orientation seminar and expressed their hope that Taiwan’s government will soon ease the border restrictions.