ECCT Joint Better Living & Education Committees Lunch                        

Making Taiwan a Bilingual Nation by 2030

Setting goals and addressing the challenges

台灣推動雙語國家的目標與挑戰 

Panellists

• Fan Sun Lu, Political Deputy Minister, Ministry of Education / 教育部范巽綠政務次長
• Connie Chang, Director-General, National Development Council / 國發會綜規處張惠娟處長
• Tiffany Huang, Co-chair, Project & Procurement committee & Partner, Baker & McKenzie
• Ailin Yang, General Manager, EF Education First

Moderator

Tim Berge, Co-Chair, Better Living committee & General Manager, ICRT

Time: 12:00 – 14:00

Date: Tuesday, 19 February 2019

Address: No. 111, Section 3, Minsheng East Road, Taipei / 台北市民生東路三段111號

Venue: 3F, Ballroom, The Sherwood Taipei / 台北西華飯店3樓宴會廳

On 6 December 2018, the National Development Council unveiled a “blueprint” for developing Taiwan into a bilingual nation by 2030. According to the existing cabinet, the initiative is designed to enhance the nation's overall competitiveness, rather than the ability to pass examinations and will focus on enhancing people's English proficiency as opposed to building the infrastructure for a bilingual environment.

Now that the government has set a clear policy direction and outline, how will the plan be implemented? What are the major challenges and how will they be overcome? What are the implications for education, business and talent attraction and retention? At this event, our panel of distinguished government, academic and legal experts will talk about all the relevant issues and answer questions from the audience. This event should be of interest to ECCT members in all industries, especially HR professionals and those involved in travel & tourism, public procurement, education and technology.   

The eight major policies under the NDC’s blueprint are: making all official government websites bilingual, making official documents used by foreigners bilingual, providing bilingual frontline services in public settings, making the government’s public data available in English, making laws and regulations that pertain to foreigners bilingual, promoting bilingual services in cultural and educational settings, training civil servants to conduct business in English, and making professional and technical licence exams available in English.

Under the blueprint, education is listed as the focal area to achieve the 2030 goal. The Ministry of Education has been given three months to present proposals to promote bilingualism throughout the education systems. In addition, initial key performance indicators have already been set. For instance, an online English database should be created within three months, and within a year, laws and regulations related to education should be amended. Moreover, within a year, more than 50% of official documents and licensure exams used by foreigners should be made available in English, 60% of frontline public services should be available in English and 70% of the laws and regulations that pertain to foreigners should be available in English.

About the panellists

Fan Sun Lu is the Political Deputy Minister of Ministry of Education, and was a member of Legislative Yuan Committee for Education and Cultural Legislation as well as the Director General of Bureau of Education of Kaohsiung City Government.

Connie Chang (Hui-chuan) is the Director-General of Department of Overall Planning at the National Development Council (NDC). Her major responsibilities include formation of national development plans and international affairs covering bilateral cooperation and participation in international organizations. 

Tiffany Huang is a partner at Baker & McKenzie and Co-chairperson of the ECCT’s Project & Procurement committee. She is also currently a board member of The Arbitration Association of the Republic of China. She practices in the areas of employment and corporate law, and is the head of her firm’s Construction and Power Project practice groups in Taipei. 

Ailin Yang is the General Manager of Taiwan for EF Education First and previously served as Director of Recruitment and Development for EF Asia Pacific. Before joining EF, she worked in several industry sectors including retail, educational publishing, financial services and media/entertainment in various functions. 

NT$1,400 for members and NT$2,000 for members' guest(s)

*To cancel without penalty, written cancellations must be received 24 hours prior to the event.

Contact: Emily Kuo / Tel: 2740-0236 ext. 219 / emily.kuo@ecct.com.tw  / www.ecct.com.tw