Mandarin Mashup August 2, 2012

• Taiwan's future hub for Indian students' - Daily Pioneer
  Ambassador Wenchyi Ong, representative, TECC talks about learning Mandarin & Taiwan's offer of scholarships

  The Taiwan administration said that it is important for Indians to learn Mandarin (Chinese language) to help grow trade and cultural ties in South-east Asia.

  Ambassador Wenchyi Ong, Representative of Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre (TECC) said: "Mandarin is a commercially viable language and there should be more centres or academics institutes in India to impart knowledge of this language. I believe Chinese language will bridge the gap between the two ancient (India and China) cultures. The most important thing is we have been making investments but there is a lack of Chinese speaking middle-level management in companies in India," Ong said.

  He also mentioned that shortly a programme on Chinese culture and Mandarin language would be initiated at the Jamia Milia University, New Delhi. The Taiwan education centres have already set up these centres on the campuses of two private universities in India last year.

  "The project is aimed at cultivating Chinese proficient professionals through Mandarin Chinese speaking teachers from Taiwan. As the relationship between India and the Greater China area are becoming closer, acquiring proficiency in Mandarin Chinese would be an additional advantage for Indian students," Ong stated and simultaneously rued the fact that there are less than 0.1 per cent Chinese speaking people including professionals in India which acts as a hindrance in economic and social activities.

  Ong added that Taiwan is the future academic hub for Indian students as it has the infrastructure, knowledge, awareness, facility and academics to impart world class education in any field.

  He awarded scholarships to 10 Indian students for studying in Taiwan for the September 2012 batch. These scholarships were granted under two categories — Mandarin Chinese Enrichment Programme and Taiwan Scholarship Programme for graduate or undergraduate degree.

  Each student will receive approximately `6.6 lakh per annum, with aggregate value of about `1.4 crore. During the last eight years, the TECC has given away Taiwan scholarships to around 200 Indian students in various fields. At present, there are around 50,000 foreign students in Taiwan, out of which only 500 are from India.

  "It is an official policy of the Taiwan Government to increase the size of the foreign student body, India being one of the priority targets. The goal of the two programmes is to deliver world-class education to Indian students," Ong tells you.

  "Given the similarity of Indian and Taiwanese cultures and commonly cherished values, Taiwan is one of the best choices for Indian students. We are hoping that after spending one to three years in Taiwan, the students will become cultural envoys for Taiwan," Ong concluded.