財團法人高等教育國際合作基金會（Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan, FICHET）將於9月16日至19日與國內18所公私立大專院校聯合參加於捷克布拉格會議中心(Prague Congress Centre）舉辦之第26屆歐洲教育者年會（EAIE: European Association for International Education）。今年度會議之主題為「Stepping into a New Era」，預估將有包括來自美洲、歐洲、亞洲、非洲等全球各地約4,500位從事高等教育國際合作之學校或機構代表參加。此次年會中臺灣以”Study in Taiwan”設置教育展攤位參展，另有3場講座（Session）發表，期能提昇臺灣高等教育之國際知名度，並進一步發展高等教育國際化之合作契機。
此行在駐捷克代表處的協助安排下，臺灣代表團將於9月15日下午前往捷克科技大學（Czech Technical University in Prague）進行參訪。捷克科技大學創立於1707年，以工學院起家，是捷克國內最好也是歷史最悠久之理工大學，該校國際關係處處長Volfgang Melecky表示非常歡迎臺灣團至該校參訪，該校對於碩博士雙學位與雙聯課程很感興趣，預計在參訪過程中雙方將會對此議題進行討論與意見交換。
The Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) and 18 higher education institutions will participate in the 26th European Association for International Education (EAIE) at the Prague Congress Center, Czech Republic from September 16th to 19th. In addition to the “Study in Taiwan” pavilion, Taiwan has three sessions to further increase the international visibility of Taiwan’s higher education and the opportunity of international cooperation.
The Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) has been leading Taiwan’s higher education institutions to participate in the EAIE conference for 7 years. This year, under the coordination of Ministry of Education and FICHET, there are over 40 representatives from Taiwan attending the conference, and most of the representatives are the Deans of International Offices from universities. The topics of Taiwan’s sessions this year include “A summer adventure in Taiwan: academics, society and culture”, “A multilingual approach to internationalisation in Asia”, and “Cultural globalization : contributions to academic growth”. In addition, Taiwan booth will hold the “Happy Hour” activity during the conference, interacting with friends and colleagues from around the world while tasting traditional Taiwanese snacks.
The collaboration and interactions between higher education institutions in Europe and Taiwan have been increasingly active. The average growth rate of Mandarin learning students, degree students and exchange students from Europe is around 13% in the past five years. The student number in 2013 is 4,888. In addition to Mandarin learning, the major subject fields for degree students are Business and Management, Social Science, and Engineering. Therefore, in this year’s EAIE, Taiwan’s higher education institutions offer joint/dual degree courses, high-level partnership establishment opportunities, exchange programs in teaching/research staffs and students, Mandarin Chinese programs and short-term programs with the advantage of “affordable scholarship, quality education, culture diversity and friendly environment” to attract more excellent international students to study in Taiwan and strengthen the cooperation with higher education institutions in Europe.
