Asia University launched an On-line Taiwan Education Fair in Taichung for Indonesian students on March 27, 2021. Indonesia is an important partner to Taiwan in many fields, including academic cooperation in higher education. As of this writing, we have 13,804 Indonesian students studying in Taiwan, the 3rd largest group of international students. Taiwan is a technologically advanced nation and excels in quality teaching and innovative research. Taiwan is also a Muslim-friendly country, with a free, democratic, and prosperous society, which creates further incentive for Indonesian students to choose Taiwan as their primary destination for studying abroad. There is a strong academic tie between Indonesia and Taiwan and, as a result, the number of Indonesian students in Taiwan is increasing every year.
In his opening remarks, Dr. Jeffrey J.P. Tsai, President of Asia University, observes that “many Indonesian students receivea good education in Taiwan and are all able to find good jobs after they return to Indonesia or to continue their studies either here in Taiwan or elsewhere.” In addition, for this special occasion, Dr. Nicole Yen-Yi Lee, Director General, Department of International and Cross-strait Education, Ministry of Education, and Mr. John C. Chen, Representative of TETO, Jakarta, were also invited to deliver some important messages to the prospective students, regarding Taiwan government’s New South Bound Policy and Taiwan Scholarship opportunities.
On the Indonesian side, three rectors from AU’s partner universities in Indonesia were invited to give remarks to encourage Indonesian students to study in Taiwan. They are Prof. Dr. Mohammad Nasih, Rector, UNAIR, Prof. Komarudin, M.Si, Rector, UNJ, and Dr. Ir. Gunawan Budiyanto, Rector, UMY.
There are 43 Taiwan universities, both private and public, attending this fair today. The representatives from each university will introduce their respective universities. It is a rare opportunity for Indonesian students to get to know so many good Taiwan universities at one time. The fair comes to an end around 5 o’clock in the afternoon with 10,000 prospective Indonesian students joining the fair on line.
