Thais seek out Taiwan’s e-sports courses

But students who enrol in the university’s Management Information System Multimedia and Game Developing Management programme do much more than just playing online games, as they also delve deeply into the way they are made. 
E-sports have been recognised as a form of sport in many countries, and big competitions offer tempting prizes, such as more than Bt7 million in cash. 
“We have even taught our students how to serve as commentators for e-sport tournaments,” Huang-Chi Chen from the university said as he welcomed Thai media to his institute recently. 
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand organised a trip late last month to show reporters from Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam various locations in Taiwan in support of the Taiwanese government’s New Southbound Policy, which fosters cooperation and exchanges between nations. 
Chen said e-sports courses were designed to ensure students understood online games, their stories, characters and development. 
“In Taiwan, educational institutes focus on equipping their students with practical knowledge and skills. We strive to ensure our graduates can use what they learn in the real world,” he said. 
The university has even created a laboratory where students can experience the feel of a real e-sports tournaments, and professional e-sports players are recruited to mentor students. 
For example, Chou Yi Chien, a former professional e-sports player, has been coaching an e-sport team for the university. 
Huang said training could be intense, as in real sports, but coaches made sure participants took a break to stretch for the sake of their physical health.
“Knowledge from our e-sports programme can be applied to various fields of work, including content development, graphics, animation, or the development of a mouse and keyboard that best serve e-sport players,” he said. 
Huang said students were also taught about video editing, audio recording, live broadcasting and script writing. 
At Chang Jung Christian University, students learn about the applications of drones in a programme run in collaboration with GEOSAT Aerospace & Technology Inc.
“Drones can be used for mapping and surveying works,” said Yung-Gi Wu, professor and dean of the School of Information and Design. He added that they could even facilitate rescue operations.
A half-Thai, half-Taiwanese student, who identifies himself only as Tang, said he was interested in the drone programme at Chang Jung Christian University, “but I cannot afford the tuition fees”. 
Tang who grew up in Lampang, is now studying tourism at Chang Jung Christian University, and he hopes to master Mandarin and English so he can serve as a tour guide. 
The third-year student proudly said his language skills had improved to a point where he could sometimes work as a freelance translator. 
Taiwan, which offers scholarships for Asean nationals, is home to several higher-educational institutes with various programmes. 
At National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences, the nursing programme is backed by high-quality facilities. Students learn in a room equipped with a realistic model of a patient so they can practise how to save a life in the event of an emergency. The teaching room provides a practical simulation of actual training in hospitals. 
Meanwhile, Yu-Min Wang, who teaches at the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, said research by students at his institute had delivered such good results that the government had decided to embrace them.
“The researchers are working on a new mixture for road construction,” he said. “Now, the government has agreed to build a road using this mixture and the road will stretch more than 20 kilometres.”