Taipei, Nov. 27 (CNA) The Ministry of Education (MOE) on Friday denied an allegation that it has failed to fund scholarships for Taiwanese students studying in the United Kingdom.

Liu Ching-jen, director of the MOE Bureau of International Cultural and Educational Relations, clarified that the ministry prepares its budget for scholarships based on a rule of thumb that about two-thirds of students awarded scholarships for study in the U.K. would actually go there.

The number of scholarship winners who actually went to the U.K. for advanced studies this year was six more than expected, resulting in a gap in funding, Liu explained.

“The gap, however, was bridged immediately and the six students’ funding is no longer a problem,” he stressed.

Liu was responding to a Liberty Times report Friday which said that 69 students were thought to have been affected by a funding shortfall after the MOE disbursed NT$140 million for only 200 scholarship recipients when 300 students were eligible to be funded.

(By Deborah Kuo)

More Info: http://www.taiwanheadlines.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=172743&CtNode=39