Government Expands Manpower Development for Technology Industries

        The Executive Yuan has decided to spend NT$1.872 billion from Years 2007 through 2009 to expand the supply of technology personnel by training, at the master’s, bachelor’s, and vocational school levels, 10,000 people needed for the development of technology industries.

The plan calls for the development of 4,800 industrial R&D personnel at the master’s level. The curricula will be proposed to the schools by participating enterprises; and the hiring of industrial technology experts to serve as lecturers will be encouraged, so that the curricula, the instructors, and the students will meet the actual needs of industry. Restrictions on the period of study will be loosened, intensive courses of study will be adopted, and students will be allowed to submit technical reports instead of thesis /dissertations. The period of study will be shortened to one to one and a half years, allowing the students to join the ranks of industrial R&D workers as quickly as possible. Participating enterprises will bear part of the cost of training and commit to the hiring of at least 70% of the graduates. The scope of the training will be expanded from the original electronic and electromechanical technology (turning out 1,200 graduates annually) to include traditional industrial technologies (400 per year). According to projections, if all of the 4,800 master’s graduates go into industrial R&D, and assuming an R&D spending of NT$2.76 million per person per year, this program will lead to an annual increase of NT$13.2 billion in total R&D investment.

The plan also calls for the training of 3,000 industrial production process technicians at the bachelor’s level, with curricula to be operated by the participating universities and colleges to fill the needs of local industries and with industrial experts serving as instructors. To integrate the different characteristics and resources of different schools, the government will encourage the formation of strategic alliances among schools so that students can choose interdisciplinary courses and learn a second skill. The corporate sector and the schools will set up joint scholarships, with the amounts and methods of selection being planned and carried out jointly by the two sides. This will bring schools and the industries into closer collaboration and stimulate the formation of industrial clusters.

In regard to students in vocational schools, the government will work to satisfy the manpower needs of industry by establishing technical education, vocational training, and industry cooperation platforms that will provide flexible academic systems and give further education to 3,000 students. For related information, please check this webite:http://www.ey.gov.tw/lp.asp?ctNode=449&CtUnit=306&BaseDSD=7&mp=1

Back to News Page