An annual highlight in the student association calendar, the “2019 Student Association Camp: Passing On Experience and Transforming” took place this year at the China-Motor Training Center in Taoyuan. The opening on October 5 attracted a total of over 200 student representatives from more than 100 Taiwanese universities.
Deputy director general of the Ministry of Education’s Youth Development Administration (YDA), Wang Yu-chun, encouraged student representatives by telling them that networking was the foundation of passing on experience. She also mentioned that since taking up his post, Political Deputy Minister Lio Mon-Chi had prioritized promotion of student associations in the areas of empowerment, capacity building and partnership creation. To help the sustainable development of student associations, YDA has been holding College Student Association Camps since 2014. Through keynote speeches, workshops, breakout groups and other formats, invited experts and academics, as well as senior students who have worked for years on student autonomy, can share and network with younger students, so as to help student representatives connect with each other, share experiences, and pass on the heritage of student autonomy, thereby strengthening the practice and preserving the traditions of student autonomy.
The arrangement of topics at this year’s Camp was divided into student autonomy and student rights, the current status and practice of cross-Strait youth exchanges, understanding the media, student labor rights, student association organizational management, and passing on experience. These were delivered in keynote speeches by invited experts and academics. Student representatives also had a choice of joining workshops on four main topics of funding independence and financial capability, student rights and campus affairs participation, deliberative democracy and campus autonomy, and procedural rules and law reform. The course content was both rich and practical.
During the concluding panel and closing ceremony, YDA director general Lo Ching-Shui, together with officials from the MOE’s Department of Higher Education, Department of Technological and Vocational Education, Department of Student Affairs and Special Education, and other departments, together held a concluding discussion with student association representatives. The speakers focused on addressing and responding to student association development and other issues facing students, and encouraged the participating student representatives to play the part of seed-sowers for student autonomous development, which could sprout and grow after they returned to their schools, and together play a part in the sustainable development of student associations.
Through two days of discussion and training at the Student Association Camp, new incoming student association representatives quickly upgraded the necessary skills for student self-governance. Apart from strengthening their knowledge on relevant laws on student autonomy and their skill set for student association work, they also became more versed in student autonomy and democratic values, and gained a deeper understanding of the link between student autonomy and society. Through practical exchanges that solidified the independent network of students, participants laid solid foundations to pass on experience and transform student associations.
For more information and video clips from the event, go to the YDA Facebook page: facebook.com/ydagov.