CTCI Foundation was established in 1959 as a non-profit organization to serve the greater good by training technical talents as well as improving industrial and national productivity. For international graduate students, CTCI Foundation has been arranging visits to Taiwan’s prominent enterprises which are representative of their industries and also in need of international talents. The main goals of the visit are to foster a deeper understanding about prospects of Taiwan’s corporations and working environments, and bring together positive interactions between corporations and international students. It is hoped that through learning business philosophy and vision of Taiwan’s representative corporations and industry development, international students will make plans to pursue careers and join these corporation in Taiwan so as to foster a win-win situation for all parties. 2014 had marked the first attempt of Enterprise Visit activity by CTCI Foundation. Up until 2017, a total of 353 international graduate students from 36 countries had applied for the activity, and a total of 155 graduate students have visited various representative corporations in Taiwan. The tremendous effort by CTCI Foundation has gained a wide recognition and notice by both corporations as well as international graduate students. For the year of 2017, the Enterprise Visit activity received applications from a total of 143 distinguished graduate students from 20 different countries what are studying in 19 universities in Taiwan. In short, these 61 Ph.D. students along with 82 Master students have to compete for just 60 available slots. For students studying in the related fields of science or engineering, the Tier One arrangement for 2017 enterprise visits includes TECO Electric & Machinery Co., Shihlin Electric & Engineer Corporation, Fortune Electric Co., Ltd., Taiwan Hon Chuan Enterprise Co., Ltd., and Fair Friend Enterprise Co., Ltd.. All of these companies have developed great technological advancement and are representative of high-tech and manufacturing industries. On the other hand, the governmental agency of InvesTaiwan Service Center walks students through investment options and useful Points System for Foreign Graduates. It is hoped that through learning of vision, business philosophy, core value, and product strengths of corporations, Q&A session interaction, and actual walk-through of factory operation, these international graduate students can connect academic learning with actual industrial realities as well as operations in an effort to broaden their mindset and understanding. From another point of view, this also helps them to anticipate what actual working criteria and conditions might apply if they were working as the staffs. As for the corporations, they get to observe student participants’ attitudes and potentials during the visit. As corporations search for suitable candidates, they also get to promote reputation and brand names of their companies world-wide. To help foster an understanding of Taiwan’s beautiful scenery and local artistic developments, activities on the third day of Tier One include special visits to Earthquake Museum of Taiwan, Taichung Rainbow Village, and Hexing Train Station. These sites represent aspects of Taiwan’s natural beauties and the appreciation for the land that we live in. For now, let us refer to the feedbacks from Tier One international graduate students of 2017 trip.
