The Ministry of Education hopes to provide information on Taiwan’s top 50 universities and colleges and 100 best international student programs in the near future as a reference for foreign students, a ministry official said yesterday.
The lists are part of the ministry’s initiative to attract candidates from abroad by selling Taiwan’s quality of teaching and learning environment rather than offering more scholarships, Bureau of International Cultural and Educational Relations Director-General Liu Ching-jen (劉慶仁) said.
The list of 100 programs is scheduled to be posted on the ministry’s Web site in September, said Jennie Y. Wu (吳亞君), a researcher at the bureau’s Program Office.
Wu said the ministry had commissioned the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education in Taiwan to conduct the survey that will form the basis of the list.
In its first stage, the survey will target foreign students currently studying in 44 schools and ask them about language ability, teaching quality, language environment and other issues, said Peng Yi-chao, a foundation official.
Based on the results, the foundation will produce a list of schools and programs with descriptions for each, but Peng said they will not be ranked.
“We will also classify the 100 programs into four categories — more than 90 percent taught in English, between 75 percent and 95 percent in English, under 75 percent and those taught entirely in Chinese — so that students can choose programs according to their language abilities,” she said.
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Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner