【Article by Chinese Language Center】
A group of international students from the Chinese Language Center recently had the opportunity to compete in Taiwan’s National Chinese Speech Contest. Constance Susan Waters and Jane April Haydon Jones, two students from the United Kingdom, had stand-out performances and placed first. Samuel Lindsey Blodgett from the United States, along with Abhishek Singh, and Deachen Tseyang Chhoskit from India placed second.

Director Hao Yang also presented the awards and prizes to the five winners before they leave Taiwan. Not only to commending the students for their performance in the competition, the director also thanked two instructors, Meiling Zhang and Xulun Zhang, for their guidance and leadership. The five winners all expressed their gratitude towards National Chengchi University’s Chinese Language Center, for providing them with the opportunity to better understand Taiwan’s culture, society, and contemporary development along with expanding their professional Chinese education. They all plan on bringing the knowledge and hospitality they experienced in Taiwan back to their respective home countries, while encouraging those who wish to participate in a more immersive Chinese language education, to choose Taiwan and NCCU as their destination of study.

Recently, NCCU’s Chinese Language Center has actively worked to continue developing the Taiwan Huayu BEST Program sponsored by Ministry of Education through the successful implementation of cooperation projects with the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, and the University of Virginia in the United States. As of 2023, the center is actively looking forward to more opportunities for cooperation and partnership with universities in order to promote the cultivation of Chinese language education and the internationalization of NCCU.

With the COVID-19 Global Pandemic on the downturn, and the return to normalcy, the Chinese Language Center has continuously received inquiries and requests for cooperation from overseas universities to develop intensive Chinese language courses for short-term visitors and lesson plans for international students who wish to enroll more long term. Representatives from overseas universities also have visited NCCU’s Chinese Language Center recently, hoping to learn more about the living and learning environments in Taiwan. After in-depth tours, they all reaffirmed the quality of education and services provided by NCCU. With such a warm reception, the Chinese Language Center is hopeful that Chinese language education can be an important part of the active internationalization of NCCU.

With the decreased of travel restrictions and an increased interest in the Chinese language learning, Taiwan has played an important role in the development of global Chinese Language education. NCCU’s Chinese Language program offers a comprehensive Chinese education in combination with a diverse assortment of degrees in order to provide unique courses and content. The Chinese Language center will work to gradually implement a new strategic Chinese language curriculum in order to expand features and offer more professional courses.