《TAIPEI TIMES》 MOE fulfills overseas study dreams

By Rachel Lin and Liu Tzu-hsuan / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Ministry of Education’s （MOE） Overseas Study Dream Program has sent 43,000 students to study or work in 85 countries in the past 15 years, the ministry said.

請繼續往下閱讀...

The program provides subsidies to students recommended by their universities to study or intern at universities or businesses abroad for up to one year.

The program “allows students to dream and see the world beyond Taiwan,” which can make them appreciate their home country more after they return from abroad, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung （潘文忠） said on Friday.

With the COVID-19 situation easing around the world, many students applied for the program during the first round of applications earlier this year, he said.

Taiwan has been gradually opening its borders to foreign travelers and Taiwanese universities are also welcoming foreign students, he said.

Taiwan’s democracy, freedom and friendliness of tis people should leave a good impression on students who come to Taiwan, he added.

Lin Yu-ting （林育廷）, a student in National Chiayi University’s Department of Wood Based Materials and Design attended Ecole Superieure du Bois’ international timber trade program in Nantes, France.

Lin said that as the only Asian in his class, he witnessed firsthand how diverse ideas were sparked through rational debate.

Wang Tzu-chi （汪子琦）, a student in the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology’s Department of Applied Foreign Languages studied economics and management at the University of Malaga in Spain.

Wang said that students from different backgrounds had different attitudes toward the COVID-19 pandemic, but were able to exchange and learn from each other with an open mind.

Wang Tzu-ching （王資晴）, a student in Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology’s Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, worked as an intern at the Fresno Mobile Clinic in California.

The pandemic highlighted the importance of mobile clinics, she said, adding that by administrating vaccines and teaching children about medicine, she learned that medical systems rely on solid teamwork.

Chen I-chen （陳怡蓁）, a student at Chihlee Institute of Technology’s Department of Leisure and Recreation Management, was an intern at Evergreen Laurel Hotel Bangkok.

She said she fondly remembered a Taiwanese couple who had left her a handwritten card thanking her for helping them contact the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES