Taiwan Study Tour April 2015


Objectives
The two learning objectives of this year’s Taiwan Study Tour were to facilitate a cross-cultural exchange of ideas between students and to broaden student horizons through visits to professional accounting firms and large corporations in Taiwan.

Background
Forty-two Master of Arts in International Accounting (MAIA) students participated in a six-day study tour in Taiwan, from April 4 to April 9, 2015, led by Mr. David YIP, the professor in charge of Management Accounting Issues in Multinational Enterprises (AC5720). The group visited the National Chengchi University (國立政治大學), National Taiwan University (國立台灣大學), Taiwan U-Tech Media Corporation, Deloitte Taiwan (台灣勤業眾信會計師事務所), and PricewaterhouseCoopers Taiwan (資誠聯合會計師事務所).


Broadening views
During the visit to the Taiwan U-Tech Media Corporation, the corporate founder shared with our students the key factors and strategies that had made his business successful. He explained why contingency plans were important when expanding and to survive downturns in the industry and described the corporation’s innovative approaches to business opportunities. Creativity and courage are truly the critical factors. Students even had the golden opportunity to view the whole production process of CDs, HD-DVDs, and Blu-ray discs (BD), giving them a more concrete understanding of the process.


What’s more?
Students also visited two of the Big 4 CPA firms in Taiwan. These visits highlighted the advantages of being a professional CPA and gave our students a better understanding of the firms’ core values and working environments, and the talents and competencies required to be a professional accountant. These visits started students on the path to post-graduation employment.

Learning from one another
Last but not least were the wonderful visits to Taiwanese universities. In casual and interpersonal small group discussions, our students and their Taiwanese counterparts shared their study materials, learning, culture backgrounds, dreams, thoughts, etc. Although it was a short visit, it was a great start. Many of our students plan to keep in touch with the Taiwanese students they met.


What a fruitful study tour
This 6-day Taiwan Study Tour is an important milestone for our MAIA students in terms of both learning and career development!