Policy | Office of Global Mandarin Education

January1, 2022  - December 31, 2025

1. Have comprehensive review & promotion coordination mechanisms
2. Refine language proficiency descriptors & assessment
3. Enhance access to Mandarin education in North America & Europe
4. Support high-quality Mandarin teacher training
5. Integrate & further develop digital teaching & learning resources
6. Establish more Mandarin learning centers overseas

1. Have comprehensive review & promotion coordination mechanisms
   The Ministry of Education (MOE) has designated a unit which is responsible for overall promotion of the Program. MOE agencies and agencies of other ministries meet regularly to jointly review Program matters, and when necessary, coordinate promotion activities. Program matters include providing access to an extremely wide range of Mandarin education resources, and links with Phase 2 of Taiwan’s Higher Education SPROUT Project.

2.  Refine language proficiency descriptors & assessment
   The MOE commissioned the National Academy for Educational Research to formulate guidelines for using the Taiwan Benchmarks for the Chinese Language, as a useful reference for teachers. It also commissioned the Steering Committee for the Test Of Proficiency-Huayu to revise the TOCFL—Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language—proficiency tests. TOCFL 2.0, which was released in early 2023, incorporates more CAT testing and its proficiency level descriptors are aligned with those of other international proficiency tests.

3. Enhance access to Mandarin education in North America & Europe
   The MOE is encouraging universities in Taiwan to collaborate with universities in North America and in Europe to implement the Taiwan Huayu BEST Program. In addition, subsidies are available for university language centers in Taiwan to provide state-of-the-art facilities & teaching to attract universities in North America and Europe to send more students studying Mandarin to Taiwan for language immersion and exchange visits.

4. Support high-quality Mandarin teacher training
   The MOE has developed competency indicators to assist the training of high-quality accredited teachers of Chinese as a Foreign Language who can teach Mandarin overseas. It also invited experts to design mechanisms to integrate the evaluation of key aspects of the associated teacher training: academic courses, practical education training, assessment, and practice teaching.

5. Integrate & further develop digital teaching & learning resources    
   A central platform provides one-stop access to the Mandarin education resources of the Taiwan Mandarin Educational Resources Center, Huayuworld, and COOL Chinese websites. In addition, subsidies are available for universities in Taiwan to continue developing a wide range of innovative online Mandarin courses to cater to learners all over the world.

6. Establish more Mandarin learning centers overseas
   The MOE’s Taiwan Huayu BEST Program provides subsidies for universities in Taiwan to set up Mandarin education centers in universities in North America and in Europe. The centers offer a variety of activities, including professional development courses and workshops for Mandarin teachers, and TOCFL language proficiency testing. As well as serving Mandarin learners and educators, the centers serve as bases for Taiwan to promote Mandarin education.
   
                                                                             

1. Strengthen the organizational network and build a base for sustainable development of Chinese language education
   The Ministry of Education set up the International Chinese Language Education Advisory Committee in August 2011, and the Interdepartmental Chinese Language Education Development Support Task Force under this advisory committee was set up in March 2014 to help organize Chinese language education planning and promotion. The Taiwan Mandarin Educational Resources Center  was established, in 2016, to work together and in coordination with Chinese language education institution units undertaking evaluation, building language databases, and cloud language education.
2. Improve the quality of Chinese language education and promote specialization and differentiation
   Take a total quality management (TQM) approach to Taiwan’s Chinese language education to ensure and highlight its high quality and competitiveness. This includes evaluating Chinese language education institutions and providing advice to help them upgrade the quality of their operations, and develop areas of specialization to feature.
3. Promote international exchanges on overseas Chinese language education and increase the number of Chinese learners
   Fully integrate and compile an inventory of Chinese language education resources to provide more resource support for this sector, and integrate the resources of government agencies in Taiwan to boost development of this sector and the selection of overseas markets to target.
4. Develop the higher education industry and set up a complete Chinese language education network
   Adopt a holistic approach and link the marketing of Taiwan’s higher education with the business sector. When foreign students come to study in Taiwan they spur and expand the benefits to the local tourism industry. Two related projects include the Promotion of Chinese Language Education Cooperation with Industry and Performance Management, and the Development of Cloud Education, each addressing different aspects.
5. Establish mechanisms for cooperation between the government, academic, industry, and research sectors and set up a complete Chinese language cooperation network
   Open up overseas markets by promoting the supply chain concept, providing incentives to set up government-academia-industry task forces, and integrating overseas resource channels in ways that are fully aligned with international practices.