2013.0315
NTNU to provide overseas teaching internship program
Professor Woon Chia Liu and G.C. Ivy Tan of the National Institute of Education (NIE) of Singapore visited NTNU on Jan. 8 this year. They signed an agreement with NTNU, which will initiate a 5-year bilateral exchange teaching internship program in 2013. The National Institute of Education is a scientific research-oriented university and is internationally reputed for its science and engineering studies. For years it has been the only university providing teacher training programs in Singapore, offering quality preparation training and developing related programs. It has also offered consultation services to other Singaporean education institutions with its superior software and hardware.
The National Institute of Education has signed agreements and facilitated internships and teacher exchange programs with Denmark, Finland and the United States. It recognized NTNU’s achievements and performances in teaching mathematics and sports and hopes to learn from the university for these two subjects through the internship exchange programs, through which students can learn teaching skills and learning atmosphere in Taiwan’s junior high schools and develop an international perspective. With the agreement with NTNU, the teachers and students of the Taiwanese university will be able to take teaching internships in Singapore. The NTNU’s Office of Teacher Education and Career Service will select teachers and students to take summer internships at junior high schools in Singapore. They will experience the life of local students as well as learn teaching skills and broaden their perspectives.
The two professors from NIE also visited the schools that have run internship programs with the NTNU: the Affiliated Senior High School of NTNU, New Taipei Municipal Fuhe Junior High School and Taipei Municipal SONG-SHAN Senior High School. The three Taiwanese schools held meetings and organized classroom observation in order to help the two professors understand the differences between Taiwanese and Singaporean schools in terms of culture, teacher training, administration, teaching styles and students’ learning attitudes
The cooperation with Singapore’s National Institute of Education is the first teaching internship exchange program which NTNU has signed with a foreign university. The Singaporean university will send four sophomores to the schools that run internship programs with NTNU in November and December this year. NTNU will also select and send four juniors to Singapore around June and July next year. This five-year program is expected to enhance mutual understanding in the policies and planning of education for teachers, internship system and students features. NTNU will internationalize its teacher training program through this collaboration. It hopes to facilitate more cooperation and collaboration with NIE on internship exchange programs and students counseling services in the future.