The Education Division at the Taipei Economic and Trade Office in Indonesia and the Taiwan Education Center in Surabaya once again held an online Taiwan Higher Education Fair to promote the high-quality education available in Taiwan and attract outstanding Indonesian students to study there. The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed but the education fair was still held online in order to reduce the possibility of further infection clusters and to allow more Indonesian students to participate.

Sixty universities in Taiwan and more than 20,000 Indonesian students enthusiastically participated in the three-day higher education fair from October 5 to October 7. In his opening remarks, Dr. Mon-Chi Lio, the Political Deputy Minister of Education, said that Taiwan’s government has been working to strengthen the bilateral cooperation between Taiwan and Indonesia in the education sector for many years.

There are now more than 16,000 Indonesian students currently studying in Taiwan, and in recent years, more than 200 lecturers from different universities in Indonesia have undertaken higher degree programs in Taiwan through the Ministry of Education’s New Southbound Elite Scholarship Program. The Ministry of Education and universities in Taiwan also offer many other scholarships that give outstanding students from Indonesia opportunities to study in Taiwan.

Dr. Lio also mentioned that in the last two years, 24 language teachers from Taiwan have received subsidies from the Ministry of Education of Taiwan to teach Mandarin in Indonesia. These are just some examples of the very close exchanges between Taiwan and Indonesia in the education sector.

John C. Chen, Taiwan’s Representative in Indonesia, also emphasized that Indonesia is a very important partner for Taiwan in the education sector. The Indonesia government has established a program called the Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards (IISMA) to assist Indonesian students to study abroad for one semester, and Taiwan is one of the study destinations. In 2022, 12 universities in Taiwan were selected to be suitable destinations for 120 Indonesian students who chose Taiwan as their IISMA short-term study destination. John C. Chen added that Taiwan’s government has relaxed the regulations permitting international students to work in Taiwan after graduation, in order to encourage more Indonesian students to study in Taiwan.

Prof. Ir. Nizam, the Director General of Higher Education of Indonesia’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, made opening remarks on behalf of the Indonesian government, and Deputy Representative Zulmartinof at the Indonesian Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan, attended the opening ceremony virtually.

As well as providing information about programs and courses offered by the participating universities,  the education fair provided local people with details of Taiwan’s New Southbound Talent Cultivation Program. This government umbrella program assists Taiwan universities to actively expand their admission of Indonesian students and effectively promotes the high-quality education available in Taiwan.