Taipei, Sept. 12 (CNA) Vice President and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Lai Ching-te (賴清德) on Tuesday said he would launch a new fund to provide grants for Taiwanese students who wish to study abroad.
The NT$10 billion (US$312.39 million) planned fund, to be set up if Lai is elected president, will mainly be used to encourage the nation’s students to go abroad to “broaden their horizons” and “increase their global competitiveness,” Lai told a press conference at the DPP headquarters.
It remains unclear, however, whether the pledged fund will be available for students wishing to pursue a full degree at an overseas institution, for short-term study tours, or both.
In addition, part of the fund will be allocated to provide scholarships for foreign students to do exchange programs in Taiwan, Lai said, noting that this would help promote understanding of Taiwan in the international community.
Former Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) made similar pledges in 2019, when he was vying for president as the main opposition Kuomintang’s (KMT) candidate, saying he would launch a program to fund all university students in Taiwan to study abroad for one year.
At that time, the Ministry of Education estimated that such a plan would cost the ministry around NT$5 billion to NT$10 billion.
In response to a reporter’s question on how his plan would be funded, Lai said it would mainly draw from government budgets but that his administration would welcome donations from private citizens or organizations.
The plan to establish a new fund is part of a policy platform, dubbed the “National Project of Hope,” launched by Lai last week.
Lai said he was prepared to “invest in future generations” by supporting families with children and students aged from 0 to 22 with subsidies and various programs built on those rolled out by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) over the past seven years.
For every individual, their development from 0 to 22 years old is key to their life, and therefore the government “has a responsibility” to provide “adequate support” to people in that age group, Lai said.
In particular, he said he would expand the monthly subsidies to families sending firstborn children aged 2 and under to the public childcare center from the currently NT$5,500 to NT$7,000.
In the meantime, families sending their firstborn child in that age group to quasi-public care centers would get a monthly grant of NT$13,000, instead of the current NT$8,500, he said.
The idea is to share the financial burden on families with newborns and encourage both parents to continue working provided that they could send their children to care facilities, Lai said, noting that the expansion of the subsidy program would require an additional NT$3.9 billion a year.
The vice president also promised to introduce a new law providing a legal basis for a Ministry of Labor (MOL) committee to convene annually to decide whether to raise the minimum wage, a piece of legislation labor groups have called for for years.
Currently, it is left to the discretion of the MOL to form a review committee to determine the issue each year according to the Regulations for the Deliberation of Basic Wage.
Tsai also pledged the legislation when she was running for reelection in 2020, but according to the Taiwan Labour Front, which has been monitoring the situation, the Cabinet has yet to finalize its proposal and send it to the Legislature for approval.
