4
Recreational, intercollegiate activities, organized each year as
part of the International Higher Education Scholarship Program,
promote exchanges between scholarship students. To assist
partner countries to nurture talent, the program draws on Taiwan’s
experience and higher education resources, providing students
with full scholarships for a range of professional, English-language
courses.
Special Reports - Education
Assisting Partners to Cultivate Talent through Higher
Education:
The accumulation of knowledge is crucial to long-term
development in our partner countries. We will continue to
assist partners to cultivate talent through higher education
as part of our approach toward technical cooperation, and
by strengthening academic exchanges. This will provide
the human capital needed for development in such nations
and build Taiwan’s “soft power.” Through our International
Higher Education Scholarship Program, we are presently
providing full scholarships to talented young people who
come recommended by our partner countries, providing
undergraduate and graduate courses, taught entirely in
English, to help such countries to cultivate high-quality
professionals.
Providing Short-term Training and Promoting
Projects involving Seed Teachers:
Since 2005, our Healthcare Personnel Training
Program has drawn on cooperation with dozens of
Taiwanese medical institutions to provide two to three
months of clinical training to medics from our partner
countries. On returning home, these participants become
seed teachers responsible for promoting TaiwanICDF
medical projects, or become involved in project-
related assistance. This expands the depth and scale of
bilateral medical and technical cooperation between our
organization and our partner countries, creating a pool
of local personnel who have the potential to serve as
contacts during future cooperation with Taiwan and laying
the foundation and the pipeline for long-term bilateral
medical cooperation.
A Commitment to Enhancing Vocational Training
Programs:
We promote vocational training in order to assist
partner countries’ economic development and to meet the
private sector’s need for a range of professional human
resources. Emphasizing quality and professionalism
as part of the development of vocational training in
our partner countries, promoting industrial-academic
cooperation and convergence, enhancing students’
employability through TVET and helping local people to
actively seek employment opportunities all advance the
objective of realizing economic and social prosperity. For
example, in the Marshall Islands and The Gambia, where
we have been promoting TVET-related projects, in addition
to cultivating the talents of the actual trainees involved,
we have also assisted government or cooperating units
to build capacity, which enables such stakeholders to
take on and continue to operate these projects, ultimately
enhancing the skills and quality of the local workforce.
Utilizing Financial Instruments and Consulting
Services:
Other than technical cooperation, we also utilize
financial instruments and consulting services which,
through their close connection to industrial trends, assist
partner countries to strengthen their TVET systems.
As part of our Technical and Vocational Education and
Training Project in The Gambia, for example, we are hiring
Taiwanese consultants who will assist Gambian authorities
to develop factory management standards and security
measures, as well as plan professional training courses for
personnel. At this stage of human resources development
we are focusing on youth capacity and providing timely,
lending-based assistance, to encourage entrepreneurs in
our partner countries to study and then become actively
involved in social and economic endeavors.
48
