Minister of Education Cheng Jei-cheng (鄭瑞城) has said many university presidents told him that the government should allow Chinese students to enroll in Taiwanese universities because they are suffering from low enrollments. This was one of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) election promises, and Cheng responded cautiously by saying that reforms would take three years at the least. A wise answer.
Permission for universities to accept Chinese students is part of the administration’s platform and it reflects a confident democracy. I have advocated that Taiwan can progress only through deregulation, but many universities have unrealistic expectations of opening to Chinese students.
Their expectations are wishful thinking. While the nation’s top universities hope to recruit outstanding Chinese students, our less prestigious universities hope only to enroll Chinese students to fill seats. Even our best universities will have to compete with great institutions worldwide to attract China’s top students. Unless schools are prepared to offer generous scholarships, they are unlikely to attract these students. It goes without saying that our less academically accomplished universities will have no chance of bringing in top Chinese talent. The question is whether these universities would be willing to accept Chinese students who pay their own way if they have a poor academic record.
Universities in Taiwan also seem misinformed about the number of Chinese students. More than 10 million Chinese students applied for university in China last year but only about 5 million were accepted. In contrast, about 300,000 Taiwanese students will apply to institutions of higher education this year. The nation’s universities and vocational high schools enroll around 300,000 students per year. Last year, 200,000 children were born in Taiwan, meaning that a shortage of students is inevitable.
But should we rely on Chinese students to fill 100,000 seats in classrooms? No one is discussing how many Chinese students our universities should accept. As it is, if 10,000 Chinese students came each year — 3 percent of the total annual enrollment — the impact would be evident.
Schools are also not discussing which universities or departments should enroll them.
When it comes to recruiting Taiwanese students, the issues involved are clear to universities. Accepting Chinese students, however, would entail a number of new challenges. Universities must take into account resources for psychological counseling and dealing with financial difficulties, personal relationship problems, legal issues and disabilities.
But are the universities capable of dealing with this?
Before universities open up to Chinese students, the government needs to take appropriate measures, including legislative amendments. Allowing the students to enroll in universities is much more complex and would have a much broader impact than simply recognizing Chinese education credentials would suggest. The issues cannot be handled by the Ministry of Education alone, as much preparatory work is beyond its jurisdiction.
When universities in Hong Kong and Macao recruit Chinese students, they are considered domestic. When Japanese and US universities accept them, they are considered foreigners. If Taiwan were to admit Chinese students, several laws would need to be amended to specify their status.
The complexities of cross-strait relations mean we must proceed cautiously before allowing Chinese students into the nation’s universities.
For the time being, the government must consider various opinions. Delaying a decision would be preferable to making mistakes that cannot be undone.
Yang Ching-yao is an associate professor at the Graduate Institute of China Studies at Tamkang University.
TRANSLATED BY TED YANG
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