The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) released a statement yesterday signed by 146 academics opposing the Ministry of Education’s proposed recognition of Chinese degrees and the opening of local universities to Chinese students.
Kuo Kuang-hsiung (郭光雄) of National Taiwan University told a press conference that the policies could have a significant influence on people of many generations, but the plan to recognize Chinese academic degrees and open local schools was made in a rushed and careless manner.
The ministry had violated democratic procedures by not communicating with the public or schools and listening to their opinions, the statement said.
“China is notorious for its fake academic certificates and even Beijing has headaches about this issue. We must question how Taiwan can deal with this problem once it recognizes Chinese degrees,” said Byron Weng (翁松燃), a public policy professor at National Chi Nan University.
He questioned how the ministry could craft policy without offering any measures to resolve the problem.
TSU Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) said the ministry would fail in its stated aim of getting the best Chinese students to study in Taiwan.
The best Chinese students would go to China’s top universities and Taiwan would be stuck with sub-standard students who would not have to take admission exams to enter Taiwan’s top schools, which would hurt this country’s education system, he said.
If the government recognized Chinese degrees, more Taiwanese students would enroll in Chinese schools, making it more difficult for private Taiwanese universities to recruit students, he said.
The government should resolve the problems in Taiwan’s education system without relying on China.
Other academics opposing the ministry’s proposed policy included Shan Tian-fuh (沈添富); Song Yong-yi (宋永義), a professor of animal science at National Taiwan University; Academia Sinica member Chen Ding-shinn (陳定信), Center for Asia-Pacific Area Studies director Michael Hsiao (蕭新煌) and Lin Chu-yung (林秋榮).
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