In this week’s episode of Looking South, Eric Gau chats with Professor Liu Hsiang-lin, the Vice President for International Affairs at National Taiwan Normal University, about Taiwan’s industrial-academic collaboration efforts under the New Southbound Policy.
Transcript:
Eric Gau: Good morning, and welcome to this week’s installment of Looking South, ICRT’s regular look at the government’s New Southbound Policy. I’m Eric Gau, and today I am joined by Professor Liu Hsiang-lin, the Vice President for International Affairs at National Taiwan Normal University. Mr. Liu, welcome to the show.
Liu Hsiang-lin: Yes, good morning.
Eric: The Tsai administration has made talent cultivation one of the main pillars of its New Southbound Policy. Why is this issue so important for Taiwan, and for our regional neighbors?
Hsiang-lin: Well, this issue is very important for Taiwan because Taiwan does not have any natural resources. So talent cultivation becomes the foundation of development in Taiwan. However, we are facing three big problems regarding talent cultivation in Taiwan. First, Taiwan currently has more than 160 universities in a country with just 23 million people. So the percentage of our high school students who enter college is almost 100%. The overall quality of our college students is going down. Second, Taiwan has the world’s lowest birth rate, I believe it is .9 child per family. Already, many middle schools and high schools are seeing empty seats, so we need more students. Third, Taiwan young people are recently struggling with low salaries and long working hours, because Taiwanese companies are losing business to China-based competitors. I think the New Southbound Policy will be a good solution for these three big problems. And furthermore, the Southeast Asian countries are new lanes of opportunities for our Taiwanese young people.
Eric: I understand that both companies and schools are teaming up to help foster talent under the policy. What kind of joint projects are being carried out to nurture talented individuals?
Hsiang-lin: At my university, NTNU, first, we offer Southeast Asian language programs for our students. For example, Vietnamese language, Thai language, and bahasa Indonesia language. And second, we send these students to Southeast Asian countries for the summer industrial internships, for example with Formosa Plastic Indonesia, Moonlight Industry Indonesia, and Fuxing Securities Cooperation in Vietnam. And third, at NTNU, we implement a program to teach our students how to start their own business in Southeast Asian countries step-by-step, from deciding what kind of business the student wants, and researching the idea, writing a business plan, choosing a business structure, assembling the team, and so on.
Eric: What have these projects achieved in the two years that the New Southbound Policy has been in place?
Hsiang-lin: In 2017, 24 NTNU students went to the Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam, and joined the government New Southbound Policy Industrial Overseas Internship Program.
Eric: How did they enjoy it, what did they learn, what did they come away with?
Hsiang-lin: What I see the response from our NTNU students is very positive. This program helps our students strengthen their global vision and language skills and ability to adapt to live. Furthermore, our students that participated in this overseas internship can deeply understand the multiple appearances in the world and different cultures and different perspectives, and be more open-minded to embrace the world.
Eric: Moving forward, how do you envision these programs continuing into the future? Will any changes be made to make these programs even more effective or broader in scope?
Hsiang-lin: I really hope that the government will continue to run this program. It not only benefits our young students, but also the students in the Southeast Asian countries. At National Taiwan Normal University, in additional to sending our students to the Southeast Asian countries for the Industrial Overseas Internship Program, we also recruit lecturers from Southeast Asian countries to pursue their higher degree at NTNU and coordinate with the New Southbound Policy. We believe that NTNU is a bank for talent cultivation for these lecturers from the Southeast Asian countries. And I hope our government will offer more Taiwan scholarships and elite scholarships to attract these lecturers, and this will be a win-win situation for talent cultivation. Both for Taiwan, and for our regional neighbors.
Eric: This internship program has already been going on for a couple of years now. Do you have any students who have already graduated and have moved on to find jobs in certain industries?
Hsiang-lin: Not yet. We just started this program two years ago at NTNU, so it is still ongoing. I hope that our students who graduate will start their own businesses in Southeast Asian countries in the near future.
Eric: We’ve been chatting with Liu Hsiang-lin, vice president of International Affairs at NTNU. Mr. Liu, thank you for taking the time to join us on the air this morning.
Hsiang-lin: Thank you, have a nice day.
Eric: And that wraps up today’s look at the central government’s New Southbound Policy. For this and past episodes of the series, head on over to the ICRT Web site. You can find Looking South under the Podcasts section, and on our app or iTunes. I’m Eric Gau, thank you for joining us.