China’s recent relaxation of enrollment standards to draw Taiwanese students should only have minimal consequences for enrollment rates at Taiwanese universities in scholastic 2019, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said on Saturday.
China has for years sought to draw Taiwanese to Chinese universities, the ministry said.
From 2010 to 2017, China lowered its standards for Taiwanese high-school graduates three times, dropping the threshold from Comprehensive Assessment Program scores in the first category, or 88th percentile, in 2010 to the third category, or 50th percentile, by October 2017.
Photo: Lin Hsiao-yun, Taipei Times
Xinhua news agency said in a report that Taiwanese high-school graduates holding Residency Permits for Taiwanese Residents, Taiwan Compatriot Travel Documents or other documents proving residency in Taiwan would from next year be eligible to apply to Chinese universities, provided they have Comprehensive Assessment Program scores in the third category for either Mandarin, mathematics or English.
The article said the further relaxation of standards was to “make it easier for high-school graduates in Taiwan to seek higher education in China.”
The Chinese announcement was in response to changes to the Comprehensive Assessment Program, which now allows students to take exams in four out of five subjects, rather than all five.
The education ministry said that the Chinese announcement would only affect the children of Taiwanese businesspeople or employees at Taiwanese companies in China.
Fewer than 10 percent of the 30,000 to 40,000 students studying abroad annually go to China, as students sill prioritized the US, the UK, Australia and Japan for overseas studies, the ministry said.
Tight controls in China on academic freedom, freedom of speech and the Internet should be considered and the Taiwanese ministry currently only recognizes diplomas from 346 of 2,000 Chinese universities, it added.
In terms of variety, ease of transfers between departments, and freedom of academic thought and speech, Taiwanese universities, along with those in Singapore, Japan, Europe and the US, far outstrip China’s, National Sun Yat-sen University Dean Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said.
Universities must pride themselves on freedom, democracy and diversity, he said, adding that only when all three are upheld can students freely explore and learn.
However, there is room for improvement, and local schools should seek to meet global standards and increase their competitiveness, Cheng added.
The ministry should give universities more flexibility in light of growing Chinese competition, National Alliance of Parents’ Organizations chairman Hsieh Kuo-ching (謝國清) said.
The universities should also pursue reforms to address parents’ concerns so that their children can study in Taiwan, he added.
Additional reporting by Rachel Lin
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