In his latest weekly video journal, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said Taiwan’s higher education system needs to connect more closely with the outside world, retain talent and attract overseas students.
Citing the cases of Hong Kong and Singapore, Ma suggested that universities offer more courses taught entirely in English as one way of achieving these goals. This is a move in the right direction, but it is not necessarily a panacea for the higher education sector, which in any case has had a relatively small part to play in the process of internationalization. Many changes are required to better integrate Taiwan into the world community.
Because of the falling birth rate and a rapidly increasing number of universities, colleges will face a student intake shortfall of more than 15,000 by 2012. This shortage will force many campuses to close, while many of Taiwan’s best students will disappear as overseas universities recruit them; two universities in Hong Kong, for example, are targeting Taiwan with generous scholarships. Higher education institutions are therefore going to find themselves in an increasingly grim tug-of-war as they struggle to retain young talent.
Ma wants more courses taught in English to make the universities more attractive to foreign students and more competitive globally. The Ministry of Education is currently planning to fund college professors who teach a proportion of courses in English.
However, suddenly increasing the number of all-English courses will be a test of many professors’ ability to teach in the language, not to mention student willingness and ability to take these courses. The capabilities of professors and students cannot be modified and brought up to standard overnight.
Ma also wants more international students to study in Taiwan. Over the past few years, the Ministry of Education’s Taiwan Scholarship program has attracted more than 2,000 overseas students. Next year the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will add a further NT$100 million (US$3.1 million) in scholarship funding, and this budget will be gradually increased as time passes. Scholarships can only be so attractive, however; it is even more important for colleges to offer courses that are different in terms of quality and content to those in other countries and to give undecided students the incentive to come to Taiwan.
Internationalization does not have to equal Anglicization. Taiwan is not an English-speaking country, and while all-English courses may attract Chinese students, if we look at the issue of attracting other foreign students, the potential for Chinese-language education is probably greater.
Scholarships may sound attractive, but most overseas university students are economically independent — they no longer receive funds from home — and therefore the ability to find part-time work will also play an important part in their considerations. China is naturally a highly attractive destination for students of Chinese studies, and it offers lower living expenses and tuition than Taiwan. Rather than wasting time with wishful thinking, therefore, Taiwan must work out how to attract foreign students by addressing their daily needs and financial requirements. Only then will it be able to compete with its neighbors.
The internationalization of education will also encourage Taiwanese students to go overseas in greater numbers. Minister of Education Cheng Jui-cheng (鄭瑞城) has initiated an international student exchange plan that promises to enrich the international perspectives of Taiwanese while expanding foreign students’ understanding of Taiwan and Taiwanese culture. This plan should be expanded.
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