Taiwan's students shine at international Biology, Chemistry Olympiads

Taipei/Vilnius, July 19 (CNA) Taiwanese students won four gold medals at the International Biology Olympiad and three golds and one silver at the International Chemistry Olympiad, ranking first and third, respectively, in gold medal tallies, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said Sunday.

At the 37th International Biology Olympiad in Vilnius, Lithuania, Taiwan swept all four gold medals available to its team, with Yao I-keng (姚亦耕) from Taipei Municipal Chien Kuo High School (CKHS) placing fourth individually.

Chan Wei-chun (詹緯濬), also of CKHS, placed fifth overall, while Chen Yu-chen (陳語晨) of Taipei First Girls High School ranked 18th and Hsu Ting-jui (許庭睿) of Taichung Municipal Taichung First Senior High School (TCFSH) finished 19th.

Taiwan's four-gold haul topped the medal table among 78 participating countries and 302 contestants. The awards ceremony was held Saturday (local time), according to an MOE news release.

Taiwan's representative to Lithuania, Constance Wang (王雪虹), attended the ceremony and conveyed congratulations from President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) and Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania said.

Meanwhile, at the 58th International Chemistry Olympiad in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Taiwan won three gold medals and one silver, ranking third in the number of gold medals, according to a separate MOE news release.

Gold medals went to Fang I-chen (方怡宸) from CKHS, Chang Chen-jui (張宸睿) of Kaohsiung Municipal Kaohsiung Senior High School and Fan I-yang (范奕揚) from TCFSH, while Cheng Ping-hao (鄭秉皓) of National Experimental High School at Hsinchu Science Park earned a silver medal.

The competition involved 363 students from 92 countries, according to the MOE.

Under Ministry of Education (MOE) regulations, Taiwanese students who win gold, silver, or bronze medals at international academic Olympiads receive cash awards of NT$200,000 (US$6,169), NT$100,000, and NT$50,000, respectively, from the ministry.

They are also eligible for direct admission to relevant university departments or recommendation-based admission to any academic program.