As Minister for Education and Training I was pleased to welcome to Tasmania Mr Chen Chin-Tseng, Senior Executive Director of the Kinmen County Government in Taiwan, along with 40 visiting Taiwanese students.
This July, eight North West coast high schools are hosting 80 students from Kinmen County, Taiwan, for 19 nights. Students will live in homestay accommodation with local Tasmanian families.
This is the second year that learners from Kinmen county have visited Tasmania, and builds on the success of 2018, which involved 100 students from Kinmen county studying in Tasmania and 20 Tasmanian high school students studying in Kinmen county.
Last year's program was a great success for both learners and school communities and in 2019 the number of Tasmanian schools involved has grown from five to eight.
This is a wonderful opportunity for Tasmanian students and the community to showcase our North-West region and to form relationships and share experiences with our Taiwanese friends. Collaborative activities provide opportunities to break down barriers and establish mutually beneficial friendships into the future.
The Department of Education recognises that we have a responsibility to prepare our students to live, work and thrive in an increasingly globalised and multicultural world.
Participation in overseas learning experiences represents one of many international education opportunities for schools, with significant benefits to both students and teachers, including increased knowledge and understanding of other cultures, and broadened world views and life experiences.
As well as hosting students from other countries, it is important that we foster opportunities for Tasmanian students to study overseas, to provide them with cross-cultural experience and to demonstrate the value of experiencing other countries as much as the value of international students coming to Tasmania.
In October 2019, 32 students from eight Tasmanian high schools in the North West will visit Kinmen to actively participate in school and cultural activities.
This initiative highlights the Hodman Liberal Government’s strategy to develop connected communities through international engagement to enhance economic, social and cultural growth.
Please see link showing Kinmen County’s first visit to Tasmania last year https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUXFiSNRqRo
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