TAIPEI (Taiwan News) —Taiwan placed fourth in the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) 2022, with its team capturing two gold medals and three silver medals.

In a press release on Monday (July 18), the Ministry of Education (MOE) said that due to the Russo-Ukrainian War, the IPhO was hosted by Switzerland and was held online. A total of 75 countries and regions participated in the competition.

Taiwan's team was led by a coaching staff that consisted of more than 10 professors from the country's universities. After three stages of selection, five representatives were chosen from 2,717 students and took part in the competition from July 10-17.

According to the MOE, Taiwanese students won a total of two golds and three silvers at the competition, enabling Taiwan to finish fourth, an improvement over the previous two performances at the IPhO. The top performers for Team Taiwan, were Taichung Municipal Taichung First Senior High School students Lin I-ting (林奕廷) and Lin Wei-chen (林韋辰), who both won gold medals and were ranked 11th and 14th, respectively.

In accordance with the Regulations Governing Academic Advancement Incentives for Students with Great Performance in International Mathematics or Science Olympiads and International Science Fairs, winners of gold, silver, or bronze at such international math and science competitions will be "guaranteed admission to the corresponding department at a college or a university or to any department within a field related college."

In addition, gold, silver, and bronze medalists in such competitions will receive scholarships of NT$200,000, NT$100,000, and NT$50,000, respectively.