Implementing the IMBA guiding principles of building a strong bond between current students and alumni, the 2023 NCCU IMBAA SEMINAR, Dancing with two giants, Taiwan's position and Global Talents' Opportunity was held and took place at PLAYground (PLAYground 南村劇場．青鳥．有.設計) on Sunday, May 28th. The event was a collaboration between IMBA Student Council, IMBA Alumni Association and IMBA Office. It aimed to facilitate a better understanding of the current status between Taiwan and China, provide valuable insights from executive-level alumni on global talent needs in Taiwan and offer career experience sharing from esteemed alumni.

The theater was packed with participants who are eager to know how to deal with the intense competitions between the two superpowers. Mr. Reginald Lin(林彥榕), analyst from Foundation on Asia-Pacific Peace Studies (亞太和平研究基金會), got the event started by delivering a sharing under the topic of “Taiwan’s Position Now and Future with China”. Lin divided Taiwan’s position now into three levels, international level - U.S. and China, cross-strait level – CCP’s Taiwan policy and inside level – 2024 election. He mentioned that the tense between U.S. and China should be a concern and we should pay more attention to the latest CCP policy on Taiwan issues, the Taiwan Question and China's Reunification in the New Era (新時代黨解決台灣問題的總體方略) . However, in his opinion, war between China and Taiwan would not break out in the coming five, and even ten years due to pressure from U.S. and EU.

After a short break time when participants got a chance to interact with each other was the panel discussion under the topic of “What talents Taiwan needs now?” During this session, three executive-level IMBA alumni, Mark Tsai, consultant of Taipei Foundation of Finance, Selina Hsin, HR BD of Sr. Director, and Albert Lin, director at Delta Electronics, were invited to share their opinions according to their own professional field and experiences. From finance background, Mark pointed out the lack of diversity in Taiwanese industry and urged the importance to balance the industry structure. Selina Hsin shared from a senior HR’s view saying that becoming a cross-culture work force is extremely crucial following the trend of moving production lines from China to other countries like Vietnam, India, and Mexico in recent years. “Communication is not just about language, it is about mutual understanding, knowing the next step,” Selina said. Albert agreed Selina’s words saying that the real challenge for those moving companies is to mingle with the culture, making concerning soft skills critical. Albert also mentioned that in the next decade, it would become worse, but not war. However, either individual or big cooperates always need a plan B. At the end of the panel discussion, Mark Tsai concluded saying that everyone should make life-time learning their own goals, indirectly inviting and welcoming participants to join IMBA events more often.

During the last but not least session of the event, the venue was divided into two sections for individual alumni sharing. Anastasia and Francisco were invited to talk about how they became desirable talents as a foreigner in Taiwan after graduated from IMBA. Taro Tseng and Jason Chen on the other hand, explained the reasons why they decided to changed career after graduating from IMBA. Taro thanked IMBA for giving her the opportunity to know more about herself and become a more flexible and cross-cultural sensitive person. Moreover, she urged participants to garb every opportunity to be influential and that the ability to distinguish luck is genuinely important. Jason encouraged participants to always take the initiative and set goals to keep motivated. Although Taro and Jason had different perspectives on whether success based on hard work or good luck, they both agreed that IMBA program had equipped them with both critical soft and hard skills for their new job undoubtedly.

Demi Yang, who used to be an engineer believes that the IMBA program not only gave her a better understanding in business competencies, but also made her see things in a more strategic and economic way. During the Q&A time, Yang asked the guest speakers of the panel discussion about how to strike a work-life balance. “When I asked that question, I know it’s more a question about yourself,” Yang said, “however, they gave me thoughts to think about from a higher height. That there were many different people from different background and different industries, sharing views about different part of the world also gave her a more international perspective. Yang cherished the time to talk to alumni with great achievements in person at the event.

“We hope that it could keep as an annual tradition,” Mickey, the head of the event from IMBA Student Council explained, “and hopefully I can come back as a guest speaker!” Currently working in an event company, Mickey showed his outstanding ability in sales and marketing function as a people person while organizing the event. “Creating this kind of connecting event, not only benefit other people, but I can actually benefit from it!” IMBA program in NCCU dedicates to bring alumni and students together, providing both of them a platform to expand networking. It is no doubt that the event has already created a powerful bond between the participants which prepares them with competitiveness to fit in the rapidly changing international marketplace.