Taiwan students seek better opportunities in Shanghai

More than 100 university students from Taiwan have arrived in Shanghai for five-month internships in the city's Taiwan ventures, their sponsor said on Feb 28.

The 104 students, from six universities, are the fifth batch sponsored by the Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises in Shanghai. 

Chen Po-han, a senior student from Tunghai University, majoring in politics, said he had a semester of exchange at China University of Political Science and Law last year and visited Shanghai during that time.

"I found Shanghai a bigger and more prosperous city than Taipei when I first came here," he said. "So when I heard about the opportunity to have an internship here, I registered for it immediately. Frankly speaking, there are not so many opportunities in Taiwan."

Huang Ya-chi, another Taiwan student, said she came to Shanghai as she would like to break out her comfort zone to seek more possibilities in her career.

Both Chen and Huang are now interns at Ganso Co, a food company with Taiwan investment. They said they are considering working in Shanghai in the future if possible.

The program was launched in 2015 to enhance cooperation between enterprises and universities and to broaden students' vision and practical skills.

It kicked off with the first batch of 32 participants and has attracted more than 270 students in the past four years.

In the first year, only 22 percent of the participants remained in Shanghai to work after graduation, but it grew to about 80 percent last year.

This year, about 120 Taiwan ventures, including Ganso and Namchow Group, offered places.

Besides the internships, the participants will also visit historical and cultural sites as well as outstanding Taiwan ventures in Shanghai. They will also travel to Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province to visit Alibaba and the new Westlake University.

Li Xiaodong, deputy director of Shanghai's Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a welcome ceremony that Taiwan has a close relationship with Shanghai as there are 13,300 Taiwan ventures in the city.

"I hope you will understand Shanghai in person in the next five months and participate in the development of the city in the future," he said. "I hope you will go deep into the city, walking streets and lanes, and give us advice for improvement.

"Shanghai is a city for all Chinese and for everyone in the world," he said.