Taiwan urged to learn from Japan, Korea to lure foreign students
Taipei, Dec. 23 (CNA) An economics official suggested Wednesday that Taiwan should follow Japan and South Korea’s lead in the area of education and allow more Chinese students to study in Taiwan, which he said would help make education an important service sector and solve the problems of many universities.
San Gee, vice chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development, said at a seminar on the development of Taiwan’s service industry that while Taiwan’s higher education institutions have adequate facilities and good faculty members, many private universities have difficulty recruiting students.
With the number of domestic students unlikely to increase in the near future because of the country’s falling birth rate, Taiwan’s higher education market cannot rely on local students for growth, educators have said on several occasions.
While Taiwan is still reluctant to take in large numbers of Chinese students, neighboring Japan and South Korea are attracting them, as the higher education institutions on the Chinese mainland cannot come close to accommodating its huge number of high school graduates, according to San.
Among the 69,000 foreign students in South Korea’s universities and colleges, about 50,000 are Chinese, while 58.5 percent of the 120,000 foreign students in Japan are from China, San said.
In comparison, only 29,000 university and college students in Taiwan are from abroad, 11,000 of whom are from families of Taiwanese origin, Shan added.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is drafting new regulations on recognizing certificates issued by higher education institutions on the Chinese mainland and allowing more Chinese nationals to attend universities and colleges in Taiwan. A series of public hearings on the issue are being held around the island.
Under the MOE’s current regulations, local universities and colleges may accept between 1,000 and 2,000 Chinese students per year — equivalent to one percent of their annual admission rate.
However, a draft revision to the University Law proposes an annual quota of 2,000, according to Vice Education Minister Lin Tsung-min.
The draft bill will state that while a maximum of 2,000 Chinese students can enroll in Taiwan’s universities and colleges per year, Chinese universities and colleges should accept no more than 2,000 students from Taiwan annually.
Only 41 universities on the Chinese mainland are recognized by Taiwan, Lin said, adding that certificates issued by other Chinese universities and colleges are not accredited by Taiwan’s educational authorities. (By Lin Szu-yu and Lillian Lin) Enditem/pc
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