Taipei, Oct. 25 (CNA) Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) reiterated the government’s goal to have up to 47,000 overseas compatriot students stay on in Taiwan after graduation by 2030 in a bid to boost the country’s workforce, during a meeting with a visiting delegation of overseas alumni on Tuesday.
Addressing his visitors from the World Federation of Taiwan Alumni Associations (WFOTAA), Chen said that alumni and alumnae from different levels of schools and universities in Taiwan living or staying in Taiwan play an important role in promoting exchanges between Taiwan and their home countries.
As such, the Cabinet last year approved a 2023-2026 plan formulated by the Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) to enhance the cultivation and retention of overseas compatriot students, with the goal of retaining up to 47,000 individuals in Taiwan for employment by 2030, with the aim of maintaining Taiwan’s economic growth momentum, according to Chen.
Under the policy, to maximize the development and retention of overseas compatriot students, the government has adopted new measures to make their enrollment more flexible, including encouraging schools to establish special study programs for international students.
Other measures include expanding Industry-Academia Collaborative Education Programs for overseas compatriot students and transforming the Overseas Youth Vocational Training School into two-year associate degree programs.
Meanwhile, the government has also relaxed the requirements to stay and work after graduation, including allowing overseas compatriot students who have obtained an associate degree or above in Taiwan to apply through their employers to become intermediate skilled workers in Taiwan, which grants them exemption from certain requirements such as work experience.
In addition, students on short-term study programs are also allowed to remain and work in Taiwan under certain conditions.
The premier said since the government introduced the New Southbound Policy in 2016 to strengthen Taiwan’s relations with its neighbors to the south, from South and Southeast Asia to Australia and New Zealand, many Taiwanese enterprises have pinned their hopes on overseas compatriot students remaining in Taiwan after graduation, to help expand their international markets.
Since the overseas compatriot education policy in Taiwan was implemented 70 years ago, over 170,000 overseas compatriot alumni have graduated from different levels of schools and universities in Taiwan, said OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) who accompanied the WFOTAA delegation on the visit.
The number of overseas compatriot students who remain in Taiwan after finishing their studies or programs in universities and colleges has increased, from 2,000 in 2020, to 4,000 in 2021, 6,000 in 2022, and is expected to reach 8,000 this year, Hsu said.
The OCAC on its Website defines an “overseas compatriot student” as a person of Taiwanese or Chinese descent who “has come to Taiwan to study, who was born and lived overseas until the present time, or who has been living overseas for six or more consecutive years in the immediate past and obtained permanent or long-term residency status overseas.”
