From A New Point of View: Students from New Southbound Policy Elite Study Program Share Their Experience in Taiwan

Fifteen elite students from Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Pakistan had a half-year exchange in Taiwan through the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ “New South Bound Policy Elite Study Program.” Shortly after the program, 2 students were admitted to TMU’s master’s and doctoral courses while 4 students were in preparation for TMU’s entrance application.

Students from the program wore cheongsams and mandarin jackets to experience the distinctive historical atmosphere in Dadaocheng

Leading students through a journey of discovery and experience in Taiwanese and TMU’s culture, TMU designed a series of hands-on activities including fields of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nutrition, public health, long-term care, biomedical informatics, and data science. Moreover, TMU blended Taiwan’s iconic traditions and festivals such as releasing sky lanterns, watching the sunrise from Ali Mt., and making xiao long bao (soup dumplings) in the courses, exploring Taiwanese culture in depth.

A student from Myanmar, Yu-Ting Ruan, noted that TMU’s library impressed her the most during their stay in Taiwan. To better meet the needs of students around the campus, TMU has been updating its facilities, providing a more straightforward and convenient environment for borrowing and returning items. Currently, Ruan is preparing to study dentistry at TMU and hopefully to work in Taiwan afterward. Another student, Jia-Ling Huang, shared that TMU’s application of AI in Medicine gave her a new point of view. Majoring in occupational therapy, Huang is excited to see AI being adopted in pediatric occupational therapy in the future. Huang is also making it a plan to advance her medical study in Taiwan.

Of their accord, Ruan and Huang both agreed that TMU’s course design effectively helped them depict the image of cooperating with AI in their major fields. Their positive feedback encouraged TMU to keep focusing on providing a supportive and innovative educational environment both in Taiwan and abroad.