Taipei City Government

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je visited Yuan Ze University in Taoyuan on the morning of October 4 to attend the welcoming party of Northern Stream of Nanyang Talents for the 2019 academic year. He took the opportunity to thank the Far Eastern Group for donating NT$2 million to promote Taipei City's Northern Stream of Nanyang Talents - Taipei City ICT Southern Diamond Talent Convergence Plan. This is the first corporate sponsorship received for the plan since it was launched in Taipei City, and it is hoped that the gesture will encourage other enterprises to follow suit, so as to attract more students to partake in the plan and reinforce Taiwan's southbound competitiveness.

Mayor Ko mentioned that the Northern Stream of Nanyang Talents plan originated from his visit to Malaysia and India in 2017, where he discovered that the population of India will soon surpass that of China over the next several years, becoming the largest country in the world by population. Taiwanese businesses often encounter resistance when trying to tap into the Indian market because the country has a unique culture that forms a barrier to entry for Taiwanese manufacturers.

Consequently, he believes the easiest approach is to attract Indian students to come to Taiwan to receive tertiary education and continue to stay in the country to work for Taiwanese businesses. If these businesses are able to tap into the Indian market, the students will be able to work there in the future.

According to Mayor Ko, the plan initially targeted 2 countries: Malaysia and India. When he traveled to India, he also paid a visit to the Indian Institutes of Technology, which is more difficult to get into than National Taiwan University School of Medicine. If Indian management talent can be recruited to Taiwan, they will certainly benefit Taiwan's ICT industry tremendously.

Ko feels that Malaysia is a rather interesting country because, although 22% of its population speaks Chinese, the country's official religion is Islam. In other words, Malaysia is Taiwan's portal to the Islamic world; therefore he targeted Malaysia and India from the outset to promote Taiwan's strong suit – the ICT industry.

The mayor commented that the number of Taiwanese universities involved in the plan has increased from 6 to 8, including schools such as NTU, NTHU, NCTU, NTUST, NTUT, University of Taipei, Tatung University, and Yuan Ze University. Additionally, the number of enterprises involved has also risen from 12 to 14.

Regarding future possibilities, Ko suggested that the Northern Stream of Nanyang Talents plan is expected to be expanded to other universities and countries; as long as benefits can be reaped for the southbound policy, industries besides ICT can be incorporated as well. As it stands now, 93 students have already been recruited for the Northern Stream of Nanyang Talents plan. In the future, it is hoped that more schools, enterprises, and counties will become involved with the plan, and that even more partnerships will be forged in the future.

Mayor Ko said frankly that the Northern Stream of Nanyang Talents plan should have been implemented 2 decades ago. Now, albeit 20 years too late, it is time to play catch-up, and hopefully it will have a positive influence on Taiwan's southbound policy. Last but not least, he expressed his gratitude to The Far Eastern Group for its sponsorship, and he hopes that more enterprises will donate funds in the future to make the Northern Stream of Nanyang Talents plan an even more successful endeavor.