From individuals to institutions, the blossoming educational impact of the IU-NTU Partnership – IU Global (2024)

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.

Georgia Pollard, SU23

Here on IU Bloomington’s campus, the NTU Huayu BEST Program organizes a variety of Chinese cultural and language programs for the students to supplement and enrich their Chinese-learning journey. In past semesters the Huayu BEST Program facilitated popular programs including the Chinese Tea Culture Workshop, the Year of the Dragon Celebration, and Chinese Tables: Taiwanese Night Market cultural class in collaboration with the Chinese Flagship Program and the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures (EALC)’s Chinese Language Program. These thematic programs contribute to the cultural and linguistic preparation of the IU students looking forward to studying abroad or taking an internship in Taiwan and bring a part of Taiwan to all students in Bloomington.

In addition to student programs, the partnership actualized opportunities for Chinese language faculty across NTU, IU, and the state of Indiana to engage with one another. In November 2022, in collaboration with the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, we facilitated the first NTU-IU Online Joint Faculty Workshop on Chinese Language Pedagogy. The workshop invited both NTU and IU faculty to present on various pedagogical practices and provided insights on differences of teaching Chinese as a second language by context. It garnered immense interest and attendees from Chinese language faculty from across Taiwan, U.S., and other regions of the world.

In October 2023, the NTU Huayu BEST Program collaborated with the Chinese Language Teachers Association – Indiana Chapter (CLTA-IN) to organize the annual teachers’ professional development conference in a hybrid format. This platform brought together Chinese language faculty and graduate students from NTU to engage with the K-12 Chinese language teachers in the state of Indiana, strengthening the state’s primary education language education in this U.S. Department of State critical language. Fang Laoshi, Past President of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, Indiana Chapter, shared “We are very glad to have this opportunity to collaborate with the NTU Huayu BEST Program at Indiana University.”

This impact on faculty also extended into other mutual disciplines of interest. The MOFA funding from TECO Chicago supported four different in-person visits between NTU and IU faculties in the last year alone. These opportunities allowed for renewed scholarly exchanges (particularly post-COVID) and act as catalysts for future academic collaborations. For instance, in November of 2023 IU and Universitat Hamburg faculty delegations traveled to NTU’s Taipei campus for a week-long engagement on topics at the intersection of education, pedagogy, and technology. NTU’s Center for Teaching and Learning Development faculty hosted the delegations, and through the sharing of research presentations, discussion roundtables, and experiential learning opportunities, the faculty came away with renewed insights, a strengthened scholarly network, and visions for continuous cross-institutional collaboration with one another.

Lastly, the partnership extended its resources into the surrounding communities of Indiana to increase the sharing and teaching of Mandarin Chinese and highlight the cultures in Taiwan. One of the major objectives of the partnership is to engage also those who may not have had any experiences with learning Mandarin and provide interactive educational programs. As an example, we hosted beginner-level Mandarin language classes for IU faculty, staff, and Bloomington community members. Our NTU visiting lecturer, Ms. Zi Jun Shen, taught and led the courses on language pronunciation and practical daily conversations. The partnership also supported and facilitated the annual series of “Taiwan Day” programs in collaboration with Professors Yea-Fen Chen, Fei-Hsien Wang, and Sara Friedman. As the College of Arts and Sciences shared in their blog, “With increased financial support from the university and key IU partnerships, the East Asian Language and Cultures Department has been able to increase the scale of the Taiwan event series and take on more elaborate programming goals,” All of which engaged the community in learning more about Taiwan.

Over the past three years, this partnership has built a foundation of collaborations and initiatives that are both diverse and engaging. The ability of this partnership to reach and benefit various IU/Bloomington communities is attributed to the enthusiasm and passion of all the NTU and IU partners involved. As we look ahead into the next phase of the collaborations, our hope and primary objective is to deepen the existing collaborations, innovate based on the needs of the academic communities of NTU and IU, and to continue create impactful cross-institutional opportunities for our students, faculty, and staff. We look forward to seeing you at future events as this fruitful partnership continues into a new era.