The Ministry of Education (MOE) yesterday defended itself in the face of criticism by students overseas that it had failed to request the full fund earmarked for their scholarships.
Liu Ching-jen (劉慶仁), director of the ministry’s Bureau of International Cultural and Educational Relations, told reporters that the ministry had awarded 300 people with government scholarships to study abroad this year.
BUDGET REQUEST
The ministry requested a total of NT$140 million (US$4.3 million) in funds for this year, which should be enough for two-thirds of the students because, based on past experience, not every awardee would go abroad for studies before the end of the year, Liu said.
Regulations allow for scholarship recipients to spend up to one year making preparations before going overseas, Liu said.
Liu’s remarks came in the wake of a report by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) that quoted a recipient nicknamed Hsiao Mei (小美) as being told by Taiwan’s representative office in Britain that she would not receive the money until January because the ministry had failed to request enough money for the scholarship fund.
Hsiao Mei said her parents had given her enough money for tuition only because they thought she would receive assistance from the scholarship fund amounting to about US$16,000 a year.
Hsiao Mei, who is pursuing a doctoral degree in the UK, was forced to borrow money and find a part-time job to support herself.
The report also quoted Liu as saying that the ministry decided to award scholarships to 300 people — 100 more than the annual number of recipients in the past — to help President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) fulfill his campaign promise to help 10,000 students study abroad within four years of assuming office.
AFFECTED
Liu said 69 Taiwanese students on scholarships are studying in the UK, but only six were affected by the shortage of funds.
The ministry had never failed to give scholarship recipients money since the launch of the scholarship program in 2003, he said.
Liu said the ministry could not give them the money for another two months partly because “many [of the recipients] decided to study abroad this year after losing their job amid the economic downturn, thinking that they would have the scholarship [to support their studies].
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