Each week, we tell you just three things from Taiwan. It’s a quick and unique way to connect with the society and culture of this quirky and cozy little spot in Asia, featuring our News Director William Yang with a showcase of his project Taipei Love Notes.
Top University Embraces Reforms
- To solve the problem of choosing a wrong college major, one of Taiwan’s top universities, National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, announced a plan to establish a four-year program for students who wish to apply as “undecided.” The plan is to let students have full flexibility to explore their interests while helping students to develop skills needed for the future workforce.
- In Taiwan, students commit to a particular major before entering college, and switching majors is extremely difficult. In the past, a student’s entrance exam scores deteremined the major.
Driverless Bus is Coming to Taipei
- Taipei City Government will conduct test runs of a driverless minibus, the EZ10, on the street of Taipei from August 1 to August 5 between 1:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. However, despite the exciting announcement of the test run, Taiwan’s current laws do not allow driverless vehicles to register in Taiwan, so for those who hope to have a fully automated commute experience, the wait can still be long.
An MIT Space Satellite Makes Taiwan Shine Again
- Taiwan will make a big step forward in its aerospace history on August 25, when the first space satellite designed and made by Taiwan launches into outer space. “Formosa No. 5” is a creation that took more than six years to complete, and the government plans to extensively use the satellite for different purposes.
A Skyline that’s Uniquely “Taipei”
- If you ever try to google “Taipei skyline,” the result that you always get is the same view featuring Taipei 101 standing lonelily in the picture. It makes me wonder if that’s all people should remember about Taipei. Luckily, I have one personal favorite to share with you all in the latest love note.
William is a journalist for Deutsche Welle, and was News Director at Ketagalan Media. He holds a Master of Journalism degree from Temple University, and he also contributes to major international media outlets including Quartz and BuzzFeed. He is based in Taipei.
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