NTNU Delegation of Multiple Colleges Visits Seven Universities in Vietnam for Student Recruitment
According to statistics from the Ministry of Education, the number of Vietnamese international students studying in Taiwan has been increasing year by year and ranks first among foreign students in the past three years. For National Taiwan Normal University, there were a total of 1,626 international students in 2022 (12% of the total student number), with Vietnamese overseas students ranking third (153 students) after number of students from Malaysia or Hong Kong. However, in terms of foreign students (excluding overseas Chinese students) and master's and doctoral students, Vietnamese students rank first for the University. Therefore, Vietnam is a significant country for recruitment to NTNU.
Recently, from 2016 to 2019, NTNU has actively recruited students from Vietnam and participated in education exhibitions in North Vietnam, Central Vietnam, and South Vietnam. In addition, frequent exchanges with Vietnamese universities were held. For example, the University visited 15 universities located in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Taiyuan, Haiphong, and Hue in order to recruit students.
From 5-11 February 2023, a NTNU delegation consisting of several colleges visited Vietnamese universities after three years in the largest university-level recruitment activity ever. The team was led by Executive Vice President Frank Yung-Hsiang Ying and consisted of Yi-De Liu, Vice President for International Affairs of International Affairs; Hsiu-Lan Tian, Dean of the College of Education; Chiou-Lan Chern, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts; Jein-Shan Chen, Dean of the College of Science, Kuen-Yi Lin, Vice Dean of the College of Technology and Engineering; Shih-Yu Chou, Director of International Affairs and Accreditation Office at the College of Management, Yan-Nan Hu, Dean of the School of Continuing Education, Professor Hsiang-Lin Liu and Assistant Professor Thi Kim Ngan Nguyen from the College of Science, Huang Ying-Jun Huang, a doctoral student from the College of Education, and Chen Chun, an administrative executive.
During the one-week visit, the 12 delegates visited seven universities located in Hue and Danang, including four schools within the Hue University System (Hue University of Education, Science and Technology University, University of Economics, and Foreign Language University) and three schools within the Danang University System (University of Education, Science and Technology University, and Foreign Language University). The recruitment model for this visit was different from previous ones, with the Office of International Affairs using innovative matchmaking strategies to facilitate in-depth and broad exchanges between the seven Colleges of National Taiwan Normal University and the seven universities in central Vietnam. Each meeting involved the president, executive vice president, and vice president of international affairs of the host school to deepen mutual understanding through presentations and discussions. Then, the heads of each College directly interacted their corresponding department's teachers and students to reach recruitment goals more effectively.
As pandemic restrictions ease and the government promotes policies to attract more overseas students to Taiwan, the Office of International Affairs is actively arranging this year's overseas recruitment schedule. After the completion of this trip, OIA plans to partner with the Academy of Preparatory Programs for Overseas Chinese Students to participate in the Malaysian Education Fair in early April and hold high school alliance signing ceremonies in Indonesia and Malaysia with three university systems at the end of April. It plans to attend an education fair in Japan in mid-June, an education fair in South Korea in late June, and the Hong Kong Education Fair in October.
In order to help the seven universities in Hue and Danang further understand NTNU and enhance interactions with NTNU teachers and staff, the Office of International Affairs also plans to invite administrators and teachers of these schools to NTNU. OIA’s future strategy for student recruitment is to promote enrollment through a variety of channels and target key countries and regions to attract international students so that the number of foreign students at NTNU will increase.