The Taiwanese embassy in Banjul has announced the commencement of registration for the 2009 scholarship award under the Taiwan International Corporation and Development Fund (ICDF) scholarship package.

Registration process commenced since last week. The ICDF scholarship package is among Taiwan’s multiple-function intervention in human resource development which has always been one of the country’s concentration in terms of assistance offered to allied nations. Taiwan believes that a developed and skilled human resource plays a vital role in assisting its allies to achieve sustainable development. And, education been one crucial mechanism in training the work force in developing countries, Taiwan has taken it upon itself to ensure provision of human resource development programs for Gambians in various degree programs.

It is against this background that last year, the Taiwanese ICDF program, through the country’s embassy in Banjul, provided scholarship for about 25 Gambian students to pursue degree courses in various disciplines in various Taiwanese universities.
According to report from the embassy, application forms can be obtained from the personnel management office and the University of The Gambia. The report also stated that the general public can obtain their forms from the UTG, whilst civil servants can acquire theirs from the PMO.

The programmes available for prospective students are public health, tropical agriculture, information system and application, human resource development, nursing, civil engineering, management, marine sciences, among others. The report further stated that the package includes air fares, to and from Taiwan, housing, tuition fee, insurance, book cost and other necessary allowances. Apaprt from physical submission of application forms, prospective students can also access application information and apply online at www.icdf-org.tw

In a similar package, but different program, the embassy also offers opportunities for degree courses in language. This program, accordingly, was established by the Taiwan Ministry of Education. It is designed to encourage international students and individuals to undertake Mandarine, the Chinese Language so as to make it easy for them to study in Taiwan. It also aims at helping scholarship recipients to acquire a better command of Mandarine, and promote friendship between the people of Taiwan and other countries around the world.