In 2021, the Taiwan Huayu Bilingual Exchanges of Selected Talent (BEST) Program was established to broaden the reach of Mandarin language education resources from Taiwan through partnerships between individual Taiwanese and U.S. higher education institutions. A part of the U.S.-Taiwan Education Initiative, the program—which we fondly shortened to the “Huayu BEST Program,”—connected Indiana University (IU) and National Taiwan University (NTU) in mid-2021 with the support of both Taiwan’s Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). In addition to providing a language study abroad scholarship for IU students, and hosting NTU visiting Mandarin language educators on IU Bloomington’s campus, IU and NTU facilitate other language and culture-based collaborative programs through this partnership. Specifically, this is strengthened by financial support from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Chicago, making a myriad of cross-institutional collaborations a reality.
As the primary coordinator of these collaborative programs, I provide specialized support and act as the primary liaison for this partnership on IU Bloomington’s campus. Being able to bridge between the academic communities of IU and NTU is both a personally and professionally rewarding responsibility. As an NTU international affairs staff and IU alumna, I have a strong connection to both institutions. After three years of collaborations, I can attest to the educational significance this partnership has brought to our students, faculty, and staff.
By the end of this summer, IU will have sent 19 Huayu BEST study abroad scholarship recipients to NTU, giving these students unparalleled access to language education. The students have all chosen to train their Mandarin Chinese at one of NTU’s premier Mandarin language programs: the International Chinese Language Program (ICLP) and the Chinese Language Division (CLD) of Language Center. Many of the students who returned from the study abroad experience shared their appreciation for their time at NTU and in Taiwan, and continued to support the program by sharing this opportunity with their classmates and friends.
“The program was incredible; I had an amazing time… I have been studying Chinese for a long time, and I wanted to apply it somewhere else, and Taiwan was the perfect place for me to go.” Carson Billingsley, FA22
My experience in the Huayu BEST Program was amazing. My language classes were challenging and engaging, and I had a great time outside of classes to experience and sightsee various parts of Taiwan.
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