The nation’s universities and colleges are set to boost efforts to attract students from China after the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced on Tuesday the quota allotted to each for the 2011 academic year, which starts in September.
According to the ministry, 67 universities will be allowed to admit a total of 1,123 Chinese students while 65 technology colleges can take 877, in line with an annual quota of 2,000 imposed by the government.
Feng Chia University in Greater Taichung is entitled to enroll the highest number — 74 — followed by National Taiwan University (NTU) in Taipei with 73 and National Cheng Kung University in Greater Tainan with 34.
PROMINENT SCHOOLS
The ministry will initially target prominent high schools in six provinces and cities in China’s coastal regions as part of its efforts to promote Taiwan’s higher-education institutions, director of the Department of Higher Education, Ho Cho-fei (何卓飛) said.
A joint commission, which has yet to be formed by local universities and colleges, will start a recruitment drive late this month or next month in China, he said.
According to NTU, recruitment of Chinese students will be launched as soon as the commission is set up.
Feng Chia University president Chang Pao-long (張保隆) said he is confident that his school will be capable of attracting enough Chinese students on the back of its ties with universities in China.
DORMITORY
All Chinese students who enroll in one institution will be required to live in the same dormitory to avoid unnecessary complications, he said.
The first Chinese students are expected to arrive in or before September for the next academic year after Taiwan revised its laws last August to allow local universities to admit them.
There are a number of exchange students from China currently studying in Taiwan, but on short-term programs.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition