Taiwan is building out drone talent in the south, a boost for its defense-industry push and for students heading into aerospace and security jobs.

• National Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung won approval for the south's only national-level drone regional center.
• It also landed two programs: military-grade commercial drone technology, and a national drone soccer center.
• The goal is to fix a shortage of senior drone engineers and skilled operators over a three-year training plan.
• The Sizihwan campus won partly on geography — sea, land and mountain terrain all nearby for real-world flight testing.
• Its research team already has long-range high-definition video links, jamming resistance, AI mission flight and automatic takeoff and landing.

Outlook: Expect tighter ties between the university and Taiwan's defense, aerospace and telecom firms as graduates with flight and repair certification feed into the drone industry.