Taiwan plans to attract 25,000 Filipino students to enter Taiwan under a study and work program as it is ready to accept foreign workers from the Philippines, this coming school-year 2024-2025, according to migrant expert Emmanuel Geslani.
“This year, the Ministries of Economic Affairs and Education have joined together to attract more foreign workers to enroll in many colleges and universities [amid] the low birth rate in Taiwan, causing major labor shortages and forcing Taiwan to accept more migrant workers into the factories and assembly plants,” Geslani said in a statement.
Under this program more than 1,000 companies have pledged to support allowances for the board and lodging of the students while universities who will accept them are given scholarships.
The ministry said that in August, more than 1,000 of about 24,000 companies expressed a strong demand for foreign talent. Each company requested about 5,000 workers.
He said the government of Taiwan will compensate students for tuition fees, while private companies will be responsible for providing the students with living allowances to support their employment in Taiwan.
The government said students will be recruited mainly from the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand.
After two years of training courses, the students can decide to stay in Taiwan for an additional two or four years.
Geslani said the Philippines has been an active participant in the study and work program in Taiwan since 2019 when the first batch of 400 young Filipinos were accepted in two large universities in Tainan and Kaohsiung in major engineering courses in those two universities.
Since 2019, 300-400 Filipinos annually have entered Taiwan to enroll in universities for engineering courses like mechanical, electrical and A1 with the highly developed curriculum of Taiwan schools.
“At present there are about 180,000 Overseas Filipinos working in electronic and assembly plants in various cities in Kaohsiung and Tainan,” he added.
