Deputy Minister Lio Mon-Chi (center right) and the delegation were warmly welcomed by University of Maryland president Darryll Pines

Dr. Lio Mon-Chi 劉孟奇, Political Deputy Minister of Taiwan’s Ministry of Education led a delegation to the University of Maryland on March 4, 2024 to discuss possibilities for the university to collaborate with a university in Taiwan to train highly-skilled professionals in STEM and semiconductor fields. 
The delegation comprised Chu Chun-Chang朱俊彰, acting Director General of the Ministry of Education’s Department of Higher Education; Lee Yen-Yi 李彥儀, acting Director General of the Ministry’s Department of International and Cross-Strait Education; Liao Yi-Ken 廖苡亘,First Education Secretary in the Department of International and Cross-Strait Education; Robin Cheng 鄭榮俊, Deputy Representative at the Taipei Economic and Representative Office in the United States; and Sophie Chou 周慧宜, Director of the Ministry’s Education Division at the Taipei Economic and Representative Office in the United States.
They met with the university’s president Prof. Darryll Pines and other senior officials. Taiwan is strongly committed to promoting collaborative semiconductor education and research which actively involves industry in the development of this vital sector. Deputy Minister Lio explained that separate MOUs have already been signed between the University Academic Alliance in Taiwan and three university systems in the US: the University of Illinois System, the Texas A&M University System, and the University of Texas System, all in 2023. The MOUs place emphasis on training and research cooperation in semiconductor-related fields, and other STEM fields between the respective member universities of each of these university systems. A number of universities in Taiwan provide opportunities for students at universities overseas to do semiconductor internships.
The delegation gave details of six key semiconductor research centers—each at a university in Taiwan—and associated industry-academia collaboration. Deputy Minister Lio cited a partnership between National Taiwan University, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Kyushu University in Japan to set up a joint research center, as a model that the University of Maryland can consider if it is exploring possible semiconductor related collaboration with a university in Taiwan. Such a partnership would help make the University of Maryland a cornerstone for the advanced training of semiconductor professionals in the Mid-Atlantic region of the US. 
Semiconductors play a critical role in every aspect of modern life and the world economy and robust international semiconductor-related education and research collaboration foster innovation and advances that will help our world achieve its sustainable development goals.