104 graduates of New Southbound Policy study program heading home

Taipei, Jan. 7 (CNA) Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) has praised the 104 college students who recently concluded a five-month study program offered to New Southbound Policy (NSP) countries, hoping they will strengthen people-to-people exchanges with Taiwan in the future.

The 104 graduates of the 2024 New Southbound Policy Elite Study Program came from 12 partner countries from among the 18 covered under the NSP, consisting of ASEAN bloc and South Asia countries, Australia and New Zealand.

They underwent a five-month immersive program introducing them to Taiwan's society and democracy and teaching them Chinese Mandarin, Lin said in his address at a ceremony marking the program's conclusion at Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) headquarters in Taipei.

The program also included a series of cultural activities and tours of local businesses, focused particularly on some of Taiwan's more advanced medical, semiconductor, and smart agriculture sectors, Lin said.

"Through the friendships that you have made here, relations between Taiwan and the nations that you represent will deepen," the minister said.

He called on the graduates from Australia, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, to share their Taiwan experience with their families and friends in their home countries.

"In the coming years, I hope to welcome even more participants from partner countries to this program so that our nations can grow and prosper together," he added.

According to MOFA, the New Southbound Policy Elite Study Program, launched in 2022, is aimed at facilitating the training of talented individuals from NSP partner countries.

In its third year, the program has generated a total of 221 graduates.

Open to university students from NSP countries, the program covers each student's tuition and round-trip airfare, while also providing free accommodation and a monthly stipend of NT$8,000 (US$244).

This year's program partnered with five Taiwanese universities -- Taipei Medical University and National Taipei University of Technology in Taipei; National Pingtung University of Science and Technology in Pingtung County; National Chung Hsing University in Taichung, and National Quemoy University in Kinmen.

The program is among the initiatives under the NSP, which was launched in 2016 under former President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to expand the country's economic, educational and cultural links with Southeast Asian and Asia-Pacific nations.