The government should consider signing an agreement on education with China before opening up the nation to Chinese students, a university president said yesterday.
I-Shou University president Fu Shen-li (傅勝利) told a forum in Taipei that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait should sign a pact so that Taiwanese universities would have procedures to follow when helping Chinese students adapt to the life in this country.
The forum was organized by the think tank Taipei Society, Citizen Congress Watch and other organizations to discuss the government’s policy to allow Chinese students to enroll in local universities.
Fu said that although he believed the idea was positive and feasible, he did wonder if colleges and universities in Taiwan were ready to face the challenges needed to take care of and educate Chinese students.
It is part of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration’s policy to allow local universities to accept Chinese students.
The Ministry of Education has promised to impose restrictions on Chinese students enrolling in local universities, including working restrictions, but the issue remains controversial.
Chang Chung-ren (張宗仁), former president of the National Sun Yat-sen University, said he would rather see President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) fulfill his “6-3-3” campaign pledge before the government relaxes rules for Chinese students.
The “6-3-3” policy refers to Ma’s campaign pledge to achieve an annual economic growth of 6 percent, to lower the unemployment rate to 3 percent, and to bring annual average income to US$30,000.
“The unemployment rate should be reduced to 3 percent at least,” Chang said, adding that he was in favor of opening up Taiwan to Chinese students, within limits.
“[It is wrong to assume] that Taiwan will not be able to achieve full internationalization if we don’t open up to China,” he said.
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