SU Organizes Taiwan’s First Online Japanese Proficiency Test, Students Score High

A total of 45 Soochow students took the unprecedented online Japanese Proficiency Test (JPT) in Taiwan arranged by SU on June 29^th, 2021. Test results showed that all examinees had reached the level equivalent to JLPT N2, and 12 of them, all sophomores and juniors, had scored as high as or higher than the level of N1 in JLPT.

Professor Shih-Ho Wang of the Japanese Department, who is also the dean of Office of International & Cross-Strait Academic Exchange and the former director of Association of Japanese Language Education in Taiwan, had been working hard to introduce online JPT to Taiwan when he noticed the global impact of the coronavirus in early 2020. He believed that distance format of such tests and exams would become more prevalent and essential in the era of COVID-19 pandemic.

Professor Ji-Li Luo, Chair of SU’s Department of Japanese Language and Culture and the director of Association of Japanese Language Education in Taiwan, said that the pandemic has caused lots of delays and cancellations around the world, but “students’ future cannot be put on hold, so the distance format of digitized tests is an effective solution. That’s why our department has listed JPT as an option since the 2020-21 academic year for the graduation requirements our students need to fulfill.”

“In Korea, more than 40,000 people have taken the exam online. In Taiwan, as the government has raised the COVID alert to Level 3, we decided to organize the first special project outside Korea for Soochow students to take the online test in real time,” said Keiichiro Yamaoka, Japanese chief examiner of JPT.

The JPT has been developed by Korea YBM Company in Japan in 1985. The test score is one of the requirements and a recognized proof for Japanese proficiency by many companies, vocational schools, and universities in Japan, as well as by Ministry of Justice Immigration Services Agency of Japan.

The next online JPT test date in Taiwan is scheduled on September 12^th (Sun.), 2021. Application opens from July 19^th (Mon.) until August 29^th (Sun.), 2021. For more information, visit the website of SU's School of Extension Education: https://reurl.cc/qgbgLD.