Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – With advanced development of science and technology, as well as the industry sector, Taiwan offers quality higher education within a comfortable and safe environment.

One of those who have enjoyed the service is an Indonesian professor, Felycia Edi Soetaredjo, who is currently Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at Widya Mandala Catholic University, Surabaya in East Java province.

Felycia, who achieved Ph.D. from the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, was recently awarded the Distinguished Taiwan Alumni Award by the Taiwanese Ministry of Education, and becomes the first Indonesian to receive this honor.

The awarding is held every two years by the Taiwanese Ministry of Education, which selects five to 10 high-achieving Taiwanese university graduates from around the world.

Earlier, in 2019, Felycia was also elected as an outstanding alumni of the Department of Chemical Engineering, the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology.

She highlighted that Taiwan has become her second ‘home country’ as this was where she deepened her knowledge and achieved success.

Prof. Felycia acknowledged that the Talent Development Program under Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy has affirmed Taiwan's goal to contribute to developing talents of the international community.

Quality higher education with a comfortable life has increased the number of international students studying on the Formosa Island in recent years.

In the 2011 academic year, the number of international students, including from Indonesia, in Taiwan was recorded at 57,000, then increased to more than 120,000 in 2020.

In 2016 the number of Indonesian students studying on the Formosa Island was 5,074, and it increases from year to year.

Despite being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic since a year ago, the number of Indonesian students studying in Taiwan has more than doubled to 13,804 people, making it as the third largest source country for foreign students in Taiwan.

Source: Taipei Economic and Trade Office (TETO)

Reporting by Indonesia Window