Lecture Title
Indian High-Skilled Academics in Taiwan’s Universities: Pathways, Challenges, and Career Trajectories
Speaker: Arokkiaraj Heller
Assistant Professor, Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, India; MOFA Fellow & Visiting Scholar, Global Asia Research Center, National Taiwan University
Moderator: HANA Hsin-Wei CHENG
Researcher, Global Asia Research Center, National Taiwan University
Date & Time: October 13, 2026 (Tuesday), 12:30–14:00
Venue: Room 319, Department of Social Work Building, National Taiwan University
Abstract
Despite ongoing opposition to labor migration from India in certain sectors, Taiwan has witnessed a steady increase in its Indian population in recent years. Within this expanding population, highly skilled professionals working in academia constitute a distinct migration stream that has received limited attention.
Drawing on 20 in-depth interviews and the photo-elicitation method with Indians working as postdoctoral fellows, assistant researchers, and assistant professors (non-tenure-track) at universities in Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung, this study provides an in-depth account of their migration trajectories to Taiwan.
The preliminary findings map participants’ socioeconomic backgrounds, highlighting the motivations and starting points that shape their pathways into Taiwan’s academic sector, as well as the routes through which they secured their current positions.
The findings further identify significant workplace and housing challenges. Housing emerges as a persistent difficulty, particularly for Indian families, who face constraints in housing availability stemming from cultural differences. Another key challenge concerns the transition from academic employment to industry employment within Taiwan.
Finally, the study examines participants’ anticipated career paths, considering whether Taiwan is viewed as a long-term destination or as a stepping stone toward further academic mobility in India or elsewhere.
About the Speaker
Arokkiaraj Heller is currently a MOFA Fellow at the Global Asia Research Center (GARC), National Taiwan University (NTU). He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work at the Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, Tamil Nadu, India.
He holds a PhD in Social Work from the University of Delhi and previously worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Leibniz ScienceCampus in Germany. His research focuses on international labor migration and human trafficking, Indian student mobility to Eastern European countries, and Indian high-skilled migration.
He is a Working Group member of the European Network on International Student Mobility: Connecting Research and Practice (ENIS) and a member of the research pool of the Kerala Institute of Labour and Employment, India.
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