Chien-Yu Liu, a student from the Department of Wood Based Materials and Design, National Chiayi University, had been awarded the scholarship for studying or interning abroad by the Ministry of Education. From June to September of 2022, she interned at Diing Jyuo Industrial Co., Ltd., located in Thu Dau Mot City and Hoi Phu, Binh Duong Province, Vietnam. After returning to Taiwan, she shared her personal insights and experience of interning abroad. Her outstanding achievement stood out from other students from universities and colleges across Taiwan who had also earned the MOE's scholarships for studying or interning abroad. Chien-Yu Liu, whose report was evaluated as excellent by the MOE, received the award on Sep. 8th from Dr. Nicole Yen-Yi Lee, Director-General of the Department of International and Cross-strait Education, MOE. During the ceremony, she shared her observations and experience from her internship abroad after the easing of pandemic restrictions. Through sharing her personal experience, she hoped to encourage more university students to participate in overseas study and internship programs, which also helps lay the foundation for their future studies and careers.
Chien-Yu Liu, a student from the Department of Wood Based Materials and Design, said that the application for the Overseas Study Dream Program of the New Southbound Policy was one filled with uncertainties due to the pandemic, with the date constantly postponed. Guided by her advisor, Prof. Wen-Ching Su from the Department of Wood Based Materials and Design, she did not give up and continued to prepare the application materials including a resume, and waited for the outcome. During her studies at NCYU, Chien-Yu Liu took courses in furniture drafting, ergonomics, wood gluing, woodworking machinery processing, basic Vietnamese, etc. These courses helped enhance her professional knowledge, wood processing skills, and language proficiency. Transitioning from school to the workplace comes with numerous challenges. Enhancing production efficiency and reducing production costs, for example, is an integral principle for factory management. This caused significant time pressure on the production line. They needed to respond quickly to solve problems when unexpected situations arose, such as errors in the manufacturing process, packaging issues, and customer feedback. While testing one’s coping skills, it served as a valuable practical experience.
Prof. Wen-Ching Su from the Department of Wood Based Materials and Design stated that Chien-Yu Liu has learned skills related to the operation of manufacturing production systems at the factory, production line management, problem-solving, and quality control during her internship in Vietnam. She has gained practical insights into the processes from development and design, sampling, trial production, formal production, packaging to shipment in the furniture industry. This experience will help her adapt more easily to a company’s processes when engaged in production or management at Taiwanese or Vietnamese factories in the future.
According to NCYU President Han Chien Lin, the MOE’s scholarships for studying or interning abroad aim to encourage young students to participate in international academic communities. To acquaint both faculty and students with the MOE's scholarships for studying or interning abroad, the International Student Affairs organizes ten briefing sessions annually as part of the Higher Education SPROUT Project. These are expected to encourage students to apply, and make sure that all the steps for going abroad are successfully completed. In recent years, financed by the International Exchange Funds, for instance, NCYU has sent over 400 students abroad to take credit courses or intern at the workplace in countries including the United States, Japan, Spain, the Czech Republic, Vietnam, and Thailand. In this era of globalization, they hoped to provide students with the opportunity to step out of Taiwan and explore the world, thus broadening their horizons.