19 / 98
19
2
Special Reports
The accumulation of human
resources lies at the very root of a
country, no matter what the status
of its economic development,
and the application of educational
resources and the expansion
of opportunities are keys to the
development of a country’s economy,
society and environment. In terms
of the call of the MDGs to “achieve
universal primary education” and
to “eliminate gender disparity
in [...] all levels of education,”
the goal of gender equality has
been partially achieved as part
of efforts to provide educational
opportunities at a primary level in
the most underdeveloped countries.
Expanding on this, a primary goal
of the upcoming international
development agenda will be to
“ensure inclusive and equitable
quality education and promote life-
long learning opportunities for all.”
Building Capacity through
Scholarships,Workshops and
Vocational Training
The TaiwanICDF implements
its International Higher Education
S c h o l a r s h i p P r o g r am , a n d
i n t er na t i ona l wor kshops and
vocational training, to assist partner
countries in building human capital
and cultivating skilled labor, with
the scholarship program offering
degree programs in academic
disciplines such as agriculture, ICT,
public health and medicine, the
environment and education through
cooperation with prestigious public
and private universities in Taiwan.
Starting in 1998, the TaiwanICDF
has been applying Taiwan’s own
strengths to address par tner
countries’ national development
needs, by providing scholarships
for overseas students to undertake
high-level education, by offering a
variety of courses in core fields such
as agriculture and public health,
and by helping partner countries in
establishing local vocational training
systems. As part of our Vocational
Training Technical Assistance Project
in Burkina Faso, for example, we
are working in line with the country’s
human resources development
policy by training vocational seed
teachers, strengthening partnerships
among production, education and
vocational training systems, and
creating the technicians needed for
long-term economic development,
boosting the benefits of the project
through the horizontal integration of
components.
Promoting Mandarin-
Language Education
S i nce 2014 we have been
offering Mandarin-taught programs
as part of the curricula of our
undergraduate scholarships,
deepening the living and learning
experience of scholarship recipients
studying in Taiwan. This option has
been added to undergraduate
programs alongside the existing all-
English option for undergraduate
and postgraduate programs, with
cooperating institutions carrying out
such operations on a trial basis over
a two-year period. 2014 also saw the
TaiwanICDF bolster the government’s
effor ts to promote Mandarin-
language education by dispatching
Mandarin teachers overseas to
join with partner institutions in
training seed teachers and aiding
the successful development of
Mandarin-language education.
In response to the SDGs and
appeals for the development of
vocational and higher education, the
TaiwanICDF will continue to increase
its scholarships and the number
of recipients of Taiwan’s vocational
and higher education systems, as
well as focus on the TaiwanICDF’s
operational priorities, fostering the
professionals needed in the job
markets in partner countries.
Meeting Partners’
Development Strategies by
Training Professionals Skilled
In Emerging Specialties
To help cultivate the human
resources needed for long-term
development in developing small-
island and African countries, the
TaiwanICDF is actively looking to
provide effective programs linked
to the relevant educational and
employment programs in partner
countries. Such efforts will help in
preventing problems such as the
inability to effectively accumulate
human capital and the presence
of labor forces that lack the skill to
adapt to market changes, often as
result of risks such as a country’s
size, internal political factors or other
global crises. This is especially the
case with young people, women,
minorities and other underutilized
human resources, and limits a
country’s economic growth, industrial
development and ability to solve
long-standing issues of poverty.
In terms of cultivating talent
in highly specialized fields,the
TaiwanICDF will increase access
t o hea l t h ca re , eng i nee r i ng
and environmental curricula,
complementing partner countries’
national development strategies to
reinforce investment in emerging
local industries, and providing higher
education resources in areas such as
ICT, mechanical engineering and the
sciences, thereby adding leverage
to aid efforts.
Education