On June 4th 2024, the Flemish Government and the Taipei Representative Office in the EU and Belgium hosted an information session titled “10 Years of Taiwan-Flanders Educational Relations: How Can We Enhance the Benefit of our Educational Communities.” This event celebrates a decade of educational cooperation and discussed practical ways to move forward.
Ann Verhaegen, Secretary General of the Flemish Department of Education and Training, highlighted past achievements, including visits and exchanges involving key figures such as Minister of Digital Affairs Audrey Tang and Professor Ping-Cheng Yeh. These interactions have led to fruitful exchanges and set the stage for future collaborations in areas like semiconductor talent development, language education, and cultural exchange.
Ambassador Roy Lee of the Taipei Representative Office emphasized the importance of the decade-long cooperation, noting that the 2022 MOU prioritizes education among its six fields of cooperation. He celebrated the ongoing efforts and achievements, mentioning that Ghent University is currently leading a delegation to Taiwan and will participate in the European Education Fair Taiwan (EEFT) in November. He expressed confidence in the continued success of this collaboration, underscoring education as the cornerstone of the bilateral relationship.
Additional contributions came from representatives of the Flemish Interuniversity Council and the Flemish Education Council, as well as from the Education Division of the Taipei Representative Office in the EU and Belgium, which outlined Taiwan's educational system and future cooperation potentials. Representatives from 11 prestigious Taiwanese universities participated online, discussing their institutions and hopes for increased bilateral exchanges.
The Flemish Higher Education Council outlined the structure of Flemish higher education, cooperation possibilities, funding mechanisms, and ways to connect with Flemish institutions. Numerous representatives from universities in Flanders attended in person, and the K12 Education Administration and the Department of International and Cross-strait Education of the Ministry of Education in Taiwan joined online to celebrate this ongoing collaboration.
An April 2023 meeting in Taiwan with a Flemish delegation reviewed this cooperation extensively. Both sides noted a significant increase in educational exchanges over the past decade and expressed a desire to deepen their cooperation, providing more concrete information on opportunities for students, graduates, educational staff, researchers, higher education institutions, and schools. The information session on June 4th is a direct response to that in-depth evaluation from 2023.
In 2014, the initial Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between Taiwan's Ministry of Education and the Flemish Department of Education and Training. This MOU was renewed in 2018 and expanded in 2022 into a comprehensive agreement that includes bilateral cooperation across a broader range of policy areas.
