Australia-Taiwan English Language Learning Partnership Action Plan
Remarks by Representative Jenny Bloomfield
17 August 2022
As is customary in Australia, I would first like to acknowledge Australia’s and Taiwan’s Indigenous peoples and pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging.
I am very pleased to launch, together with the National Development Council and the Ministry of Education, the Action Plan for the Australia Taiwan English Language Learning partnership in this Australia Taiwan Friendship Year, marking the 40th anniversary of establishment of the Australian Office.
Australia and Taiwan are Indo-Pacific partners with rich Indigenous histories, open, diverse societies, and close economic and people-to-people links.
The inaugural Australia Taiwan English Language Learning Dialogue held in March launched a new partnership to promote a range of English language learning initiatives, further deepening our close education, vocational training and youth links.
Australia is one of the most multicultural and multilingual countries in the world, and ranks among the world’s top three destinations for international education. This makes Australia a natural partner for Taiwan as it takes forward its Bilingual 2030 goals. Our world-leading English language education providers have a long record of successful English language teaching for people from a wide diversity of backgrounds. Australia’s vocational training programs are world-leading and help produce a highly skilled and trained workforce for the future.
Australia and Taiwan are longstanding education, English language education and VET partners. I am delighted that, under the new partnership, Australian and Taiwanese institutions are taking forward even closer cooperation, including dual degrees and joint programs, bilingual teacher training and professional development, offering Australian curricula in Taiwanese schools and VET curricula in Taiwanese institutions, sister school partnerships and exchanges between Australian and Taiwanese leading bilingual schools.
Concrete examples of cooperation include:
- MOU between Western Sydney University and Minghsin University of Science and Technology for dual degrees and joint programs, including a three-way partnership with Vietnam. This builds on the growing dual degree offering of Taichung’s Feng Chia University with RMIT (business and innovation), University of Queensland (business) and Monash University (computer science and IT).
- Provision of bilingual teacher training and professional development programs by the University of Adelaide, the University of Queensland, Griffith University and the Queensland Institute, to National Taiwan Normal University; the Queensland Institute to National Chi Nan University, National Dong Hwa University, Tamkang University, and Asia University; and the Queensland Department of Education to Taoyuan City Education Bureau (since August 2022), and Taipei City Government Education Bureau (since 2019) .
- MOU between Taipei’s Zhongzheng Senior High and South Australia Certificate of Education, offering students the world-class, innovative SACE international curriculum. The Queensland Certificate of English has also been offered at New Taipei City’s Yuteh Private School since 2019.
- Partnerships between the National Taipei University of Nursing & Health Sciences, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, and Taichung Hungkuang University and Australian VET institutions to integrate Australian Vocational Education and Training into their curriculum, producing highly skilled talents in key sectors, including students undertaking joint Training & Assessment certificate programs in Australia.
- Sister-school relationships, and exchanges between Melbourne’s Abbotsford Primary School and Tainan’s Simen Experimental School, two leading bilingual schools in Australia and Taiwan, on bilingual education policies and practices.
- Ongoing close partnerships between Australian and Taiwanese educational and research institutions, including under-graduate and post-graduate studies, student, teacher, academic and professional exchanges, and joint publications and research collaboration.
- Over 18,000 Taiwanese enrolments annually (pre-COVID) at Australian educational institutions; over 250,000 visas issued to young Taiwanese under the Working Holiday Maker Scheme, and over 1,000 Australian under-graduate students visiting Taiwan under the Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan, gaining skills and building life-long friendships and understanding.
Today’s Action Plan will enable us to make the most of opportunities for even more innovative partnerships - in English language learning, Vocational Education and Training, and fostering of talent and skills, including to promote women in STEM.
It will further deepen our close education and youth linkages and enable us to strengthen international competitiveness, by producing the diverse, highly skilled, global workforce we need for our future prosperity.
I would like to thank NDC and MOE for their cooperation, and thank you all for attending today’s event.
Thank you.