NTNU Visits Partners and Alumni, Signs Alliance in Indonesia
Indonesia is increasingly becoming a major country of origin for international students studying in Taiwan, taking second place in 2022 with 16,639 students from Indonesia. At National Taiwan Normal University, students from Indonesia rank fifth in number following Malaysia, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Macau. Meanwhile, Indonesian students comprise the largest overseas group in NTNU doctoral programs. Thus, Indonesia is a key recruitment source for NTNU. On 11-15 August, President Cheng-Chih Wu led a delegation consisting of members from the Office of International Affairs, Department of Chinese as a Second Language, College of Education, and Office of Research and Development to Jakarta and Bandung. Their itinerary included attending the Taiwan Higher Education Fair in Indonesia, signing a cooperation agreement with an International High School Alliance, and visiting Indonesia University of Education as well as local NTNU alumni.
The NTNU delegates along with more than 40 other Taiwan universities and colleges participated in the Higher Education Fair in Indonesia on August 12. This event, held in Jakarta, Pekanbaru, and Medan, was organized by the Indonesian Federation of Taiwan Alumni Associations and the University Entrance Committee for Overseas Chinese Students. Every booth at the fair was met with great interest from Indonesian students and their parents, with the majority of inquiries being centered around the fields of business administration and information technology.
On that same day, an official signing ceremony was held between the National Taiwan University System and the International High School Alliance. The three schools that form the NTU System, National Taiwan Normal University, National Taiwan University, and National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, signed a cooperation agreement with eight top-ranking high schools throughout Indonesia, with three in Jakarta, two in Surabaya, one in Medan, one in Pekanbaru, and one in Dangalang.
Two days later, on August 14th, the NTNU delegates visited the Indonesia University of Education (UPI), a partner institution in Bandung. They were received by the University President, the Vice President for International Affairs, and other UPI representatives from various faculties. Similar in history to National Taiwan Normal University, UPI was established in 1954 as the Teachers Education College and gradually developed other professional disciplines until it became a public comprehensive university. NTNU and UPI have already reached a dual degree agreement in the field of science education, and discussed during this visit about the possibility of more cooperation at every level, including more dual degree programs, student exchange, and academic collaboration. In addition, the Indonesian University of Education seeks further higher education training for its faculty members, and NTNU is a good option for those seeking doctoral studies of this nature. In addition, since UPI and the College of Education at NTNU share similar structures, the two parties have plenty of common ground to explore regarding potential dual degrees, joint research, co-teaching and other matters. Indonesian University of Education also plans to attend the Asia-Pacific Academic Conference on Teacher Education taking place in Taiwan this October.
While in Jakarta, the delegation was able to meet with 14 NTNU alumni. Among the talented cohort, several people help to strength the connection between Taiwan and Indonesia through their posts at the Taipei Economic and Trade Office in Indonesia and educational institutions such as Tzu Chi School Indonesia, Surabaya Taipei School, Jakarta Taipei School, etc., or within the education industry for Mandarin language and culture. This visit marks NTNU's first outreach in the cities of Pekan and Medan. In particular, Medan's population is 30% ethnically Chinese and it is currently the hometown of the majority of NTNU students from Indonesia. NTNU plans to increase the number of international students from abroad every year by developing appropriate strategies to attract overseas students to study here.