Education cooperation pact renewed by Taiwan, France in Taipei

2020/07/28

An education cooperation agreement was renewed by representatives from Taiwan and France on the sidelines of an annual bilateral meeting on related exchanges July 16 in Taipei City.
 
 Signed by Andy Cheu-an Bi, director general of the Ministry of Education’s Department of International and Cross-strait Education, and David Kibler, head of the French Office in Taipei’s Culture, Education and Science Section, the pact seeks to boost collaboration in the key areas of interagency partnerships, language teaching and student exchange programs. Another component involves cultivating opportunities for mutually beneficial Taiwan-France tie-ups via regularly staged joint meetings.
 
 MOE Deputy Minister Lio Mon-chi and French Office in Taipei Director Jean-Francois Casabonne-Masonnave witnessed the ceremony before delivering respective remarks.
 
 The ministry said the renewal and meeting comes at a time when Taiwan is gradually easing restrictions on international education exchanges imposed in response to coronavirus—first reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
 
 Given the effectiveness of the Taiwan Model and the country’s success in managing the COVID-19 pandemic, the time is ripe to discuss a timetable for restarting exchange programs and greenlighting student arrivals, the MOE added.
 
 In addition, the ministry said both sides agreed the annual language assistant exchange project should proceed as normal. A total of 19 talents each from Taiwan and France will be selected to strengthen instructional undertakings in Mandarin and French.
 
 Other issues broached during the daylong meeting include laying the foundations for closer cooperation in engineering and science education, as well as devising fresh approaches for harnessing the potential of both sides in experimental teaching courses and techniques.

Source: Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/index.php)