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2007 Fall Taiwan Post-Fair Report
Number of Taiwan Students at U.S. Institutions Exceeds Pre-2001 Level
Report Contents:
Special Pre-Fair Introduction to AIEF’s EducationUSA Advising Center in Taipei
A special briefing introduced AIEF’s EducationUSA Advising Center in Taipei to U.S. school representatives on Friday, October 12th, at the Howard Plaza Hotel. Following welcoming remarks made by Mr. Stephen Smith, from AIEF’s Washington, D.C. office, AIEF-Taipei Director, Ms. Delai Lee, provided a presentation outlining the Taipei Center’s activities and services. Ms. Lee explained that the Center offers student counseling, weekly seminars, scholarship programs, publications, E-News, library services, outreach programs to local schools, and testing services. In addition, she urged the U.S. school representatives to make use of the services that the Center offers to schools, including local advertising assistance, a location for interviewing prospective students, printing and translation services, interpreter support, and arrangements for local school visits. A tour of AIEF’s award-winning EducationUSA Advising Center, located across the street from the Howard Plaza Hotel, was offered after the briefing.
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Pre-Fair Orientation
A pre-fair orientation for the American Education Fair delegation was held on the morning of October 13th at the Howard Plaza Hotel in Taipei. Led by Mr. Stephen Smith, the orientation featured guest speakers from the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Dr. Jennie Wu, from the MOE’s Bureau of International Cultural and Educational Relations, provided information on Taiwan’s education system, recent educational reforms, international academic exchanges, scholarship programs, study abroad trends, and foreign students studying in Taiwan. AIT Public Affairs Section Chief, Mr. Thomas Hodges, greeted the U.S. school representatives and stressed the importance of individuals in Taiwan who have received a U.S. education and possess an understanding of American society and culture. Ms. Judy Chow, AIT Cultural Officer, also warmly welcomed the group. Mr. Freeman Zhu, AIT Consular Officer, described the student visa application process in Taiwan, noting that the United States is the top study abroad destination for Taiwan students. Zhu presented statistics showing that approximately 27,800 students from Taiwan were enrolled in U.S. schools in 2005–06, comprising around five percent of the total international student body. He also pointed out common reasons for refusal of a student visa application: unclear or inability to articulate study plans; previous misuse of student or tourist visa; failing academically or falling below full course load; dishonesty on application or in interview; insufficient finances; and weak ties to Taiwan. However, the vast majority of student visa applications from Taiwan are approved, said Zhu. He pointed out that AIT issued 16,400 student visas in 2006, exceeding the pre-2001 level for the first time.
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Pre-Fair Publicity
Pre-Fair publicity and promotional activities included extensive local newspaper, radio and television coverage. Representatives from selected U.S. educational institutions and IELTS were interviewed on ICRT, the local English-language radio station in Taipei, while other fair participants communicated with local students via web chat sessions conducted by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). In addition, AIEF offered free seminars at local public libraries and other sites in Taiwan to introduce the upcoming Fair events.
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U.S.-Taiwan Study Abroad and International Cooperation Workshop
AIEF’s first US-Taiwan Study Abroad and International Cooperation Workshop was held at the Howard Plaza Hotel on Sunday, October 14th. The workshop was organized to facilitate open communication between American Education Fair participants and representatives from AIT, local universities, and local study abroad agencies. The key objectives of the event were to provide support to U.S. universities in recruiting Taiwan students and developing international educational exchange with Taiwan’s educational institutions; to provide support to Taiwan universities’ expansion of their international educational exchanges with U.S. schools and students; to provide support to organizations and agencies to ensure that students receive accurate and up-to-date information about studying in the USA; and to explore ways and means for U.S. educational institutions and organizations to better support these efforts in the future.
At the conclusion of the workshop, surveys were given to the local Taiwan participants to seek their comments as to whether a future similar event should be held and how it could be improved. A survey form was also sent to the American participants by AIEF’s Los Angeles office.To view a full report of this workshop and recommended action plans for the future, please go to:
http://www.aief-usa.org/aboutief/newsroom/newsroom_workshop.htm
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Fair Venues & Attendance Statistics
AIEF’s 2007 Fall American Education Fair in Taiwan was held in Taipei at the Howard Plaza Hotel on October 13-14, in Kaohsiung at the Grand Hi Lai Hotel on October 15, and in Taichung at the Evergreen Laurel Hotel on October 16. An estimated total of 5,421 visitors attended the events in all three cities. Data from 3,307 students has been collected and will be provided to fair participants following AIEF’s verification process.
 
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AIEF’s Student Tracking System
AIEF offered pre-fair registration online to the exhibition’s visitors. Students who visited the American Education Fair were encouraged to register their educational goals and contact information in AIEF’s student tracking system. AIEF pioneered its online student-tracking database in 2001, and has offered the database as a service exclusively to U.S. schools since 2002. AIEF’s emphasis on service, quality, and integrity explains why its current database, the largest of its kind in Taiwan, has accumulated a membership of more than 90,000 student names. Participating U.S. schools will receive a list of the student contacts that visited their booth during the Fair.
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Seminars
for Students
As is customary at our
events, a series of seminars for students were offered at the
AIEF Fair venues. This fall’s seminar topics included
“Student Health Insurance,” “Required Tests for Studying
in the USA,” “Important Things You Need to Know when
Choosing an ESL School,” “All You Need to Know About
Studying in America - Roosevelt University,” “Introduction
to Graduate Schools of International Relations,” and “Taking
IELTS to Study in the U.S.” At the Taipei and Taichung Fair
venues, AIT-Taipei Consular officer Mr. Freeman Zhu offered
sessions on the student visa application process. In Kaohsiung,
Ms. Monica Hsu from the Consular Section of AIT-Kaohsiung,
accompanied by Ms. Daphne Fan from the Commercial Section, spoke
on this topic.
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Special Fair Attractions
Fair visitors enjoyed AIEF’s free counseling services at the Fair.
AIEF scholarship information was available at all fair venues.
AIT representatives were on hand at the EducationUSA booth at all three fair venues to disseminate information as well as to answer questions from students and parents.
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Student Scholarships
AIEF is continuing its undergraduate scholarship program to benefit and encourage more undergraduate students from Taiwan to study at U.S. educational institutions. AIEF is pleased to announce that it will award scholarships in the amount of NT$3,000 to each of the first 50 undergraduate students from Taiwan who provide substantiated proof of their enrollment at a U.S. college or university in the fall of 2008. A special grant to reimburse application fees will also be awarded to the undergraduate students from among this group who offer confirmation of attending one of the U.S. colleges or universities participating in AIEF’s 2007 Fall American Education Fair in Taiwan. To qualify for this funding, students must register for AIEF’s Undergraduate Scholarship Program at the Fair.
The scholarship application process for AIEF’s Graduate School Scholarship Program will remain the same as in previous years. Graduate school scholarship applicants will first be screened by AIEF, and the final recipients will later be selected by a scholarship committee, comprised of members representing academic, government, and business sectors. AIEF’s Graduate School Scholarships will be awarded to the selected applicants at a ceremony in June 2008.
In addition, AIEF will also administer the scholarship program on behalf of ETTV for graduate studies at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communications. Created to encourage promising students from Taiwan to follow a career path in mass communications, the purpose of the ETTV Scholarship Program is to help to cultivate future professionals who will be able to use their expertise gained at USC to develop quality programming for Asian, American, and international communities. Several scholarships with a total amount of over NT$1.6 million dollars will be awarded in June 2008 to qualified candidates who are selected to attend USC’s Annenberg School of Communications. In addition, ten scholarships in the amount of NT$30,000 each will be awarded to qualified candidates to pursue other graduate studies at the University of Southern California.
Schools participating in our fairs are encouraged to submit scholarship information to AIEF in advance for dissemination at future fairs. This service is free to all participating schools.
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2008 Spring,
Summer, and Fall Fairs in Asia
Registration is now open for AIEF’s 2008 Spring American Education Fairs in Asia. We encourage you to register by December 30th (November 30th for the Early-Bird registration discount) to ensure your booth space. The Fair schedule is as follows: Singapore -
March 20, 2008
Taipei - March 23-24, 2008
Kaohsiung - March 25, 2008
Taichung - March 26, 2008
Seoul - March 29-30, 2008
Busan - April 1, 2008
Shanghai - April 6, 2008
Also, the dates of
our Summer and Fall events will be:
Summer Fairs:
Shanghai - June 28-29, 2008
Hangzhou - July 2, 2008
Shenzhen - July 5, 2008 Fall
Fairs:
Singapore - October 2, 2008
Seoul - October 4-5, 2008
Busan - October 7, 2008
Taipei - October 11-12, 2008
Kaohsiung - October 13, 2008
Taichung - October 14, 2008
Shanghai - October 18, 2008
Online registration is available at:
http://www.aief-usa.org/services/signup_fair.htm. For more information, please visit our Website or call the AIEF’s California office at 714-985-1995.
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