Policy | Office of Global Mandarin Education

January1, 2022  - December 31, 2025

1. Provide comprehensive coordination & promotion mechanisms
2. Refine proficiency descriptors & assessment
3. Enhance access to Mandarin education in North America and Europe
4. Provide comprehensive Mandarin teacher training support systems
5. Integrate & develop digital Mandarin teaching & learning
6. Establish more Mandarin learning centers overseas

1. Provide comprehensive coordination & promotion mechanisms
   The Ministry of Education (MOE) commissions bodies and agencies to coordinate and oversee Mandarin Education Project related matters, including promotion of Mandarin learning, Links with Phase 2 of the Higher Education SPROUT Project will provide access to an even more extensive range of Mandarin education resources.

2.  Refine proficiency descriptors & assessment
   The MOE commissioned NAER to formulate Reference Guidelines for Using the Taiwan Benchmarks for the Chinese Language, and SC-TOP to revise the TOCFL Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language proficiency tests. TOCFL 2.0, released in early 2023, incorporates more CAT testing and the level descriptors align with those of other international proficiency tests.

3. Enhance access to Mandarin education in North America and Europe
   The MOE is encouraging universities in Taiwan to collaborate with universities in Europe and in North America to implement the Taiwan Huayu BEST Program. Subsidies are available for university language centers in Taiwan to develop improved learning software and hardware to attract more overseas students to study Mandarin in Taiwan.

4. Provide comprehensive Mandarin teacher training support systems
   The MOE has developed Competency Indicators for International Mandarin Teachers that can be used to evaluate training mechanisms of key aspects of Mandarin teacher training, including academic education, assessment, and practical training. This is designed to assist the training of high-quality accredited teachers of Chinese as a Foreign Language.

5. Integrate & develop digital Mandarin teaching & learning
   A central platform is being built to provide one-stop access to the Mandarin education resources of the Taiwan Mandarin Educational Resources Center, Huayuworld, and COOL Chinese websites. Subsidies are available for universities in Taiwan to develop innovative online Mandarin courses to cater to learners worldwide through the internet.

6. Establish more Mandarin learning centers overseas
   Make MOE subsidies available to set up Mandarin learning centers in universities in Europe and North America under the Taiwan Huayu BEST Program, to provide a variety of activities, such as professional development courses and workshops for Mandarin teachers and TOCFL proficiency testing. As well as serving Mandarin learners and educators, the centers will serve as bases for Taiwan to promote Mandarin education at universities in Europe and North America.
   
                                                                             

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.