Taiwan was the fifth-largest source of international students in the US during the last academic year, trailing only India, China, South Korea and Canada, a US Department of State report released on Monday showed.
The number of Taiwanese students in the US during the 2023-2024 school year rose 6.1 percent from a year earlier to 23,157, accounting for 2.1 percent of the total, data from the 2024 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange showed.
That continued a trend of annual increases that began in 2015, pausing only from 2019 to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and made Taiwan the fifth-largest sender of international students to the US, vaulting it past Vietnam, which ranked sixth.
Photo: Reuters
India and China combined to account for more than half of the international students in the US.
The annual report, issued by the department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the nonprofit Institute of International Education, defines international students as those enrolled at US higher education institutions or engaged in optional practical training (OPT).
OPT refers to temporary employment programs for foreign students related to their area of study.
The largest group of Taiwanese students in the US (43.1 percent) in the 2023-2024 academic year were enrolled in graduate programs, with Taiwan ranking as the eighth-largest foreign source of graduate students.
Another 24 percent of Taiwanese students were enrolled in undergraduate programs, and 28 percent participated in OPT programs, an increase of 27.4 percent, making Taiwan the fourth-largest source of international OPT students.
Meanwhile, 4.5 percent of Taiwanese students were enrolled in non-degree programs, up 22.8 percent from the previous year, it said.
The release of the Open Doors Report is part of the annual International Education Week, a joint initiative of the State Department and the US Department of Education, to promote international educational exchange.
From Monday to Friday, the American Institute in Taiwan has arranged events across Taiwan to promote studying in the US, including seminars, a virtual education fair and a six-video series featuring Taiwanese studying or working in the US.
Ministry of Education data showed that 56,798 Taiwanese were studying abroad during the 2022-2023 academic year, with the largest share — 26,082 — enrolled in the Americas, including 21,834 in the US and 4,240 in Canada.
There were also 11,161 Taiwanese studying in Oceania countries, mainly in Australia, with 10,673 students.
There were 10,841 Taiwanese students in Europe, mostly in the UK, with 3,685, followed by 2,868 in Germany, 744 in Poland, 690 in Spain and 664 in the Netherlands.
Of the 8,710 Taiwanese studying in Asian countries, 5,015 were enrolled in Japan and 2,172 were studying in South Korea.
China was not listed among the Asian countries in the table.
The numbers of students in each country were also from slightly different statistical periods, ranging between 2021 and last year, but mostly in 2022 and last year, as the numbers were collected individually from each country, the ministry said.
Additional reporting by Lee I-chia
AGING: As of last month, people aged 65 or older accounted for 20.06 percent of the total population and the number of couples who got married fell by 18,685 from 2024 Taiwan has surpassed South Korea as the country least willing to have children, with an annual crude birthrate of 4.62 per 1,000 people, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday. The nation was previously ranked the second-lowest country in terms of total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime. However, South Korea’s fertility rate began to recover from 2023, with total fertility rate rising from 0.72 and estimated to reach 0.82 to 0.85 by last year, and the crude birthrate projected at 6.7 per 1,000 people. Japan’s crude birthrate was projected to fall below six,
US President Donald Trump in an interview with the New York Times published on Thursday said that “it’s up to” Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be “very unhappy” with a change in the “status quo.” “He [Xi] considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing, but I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that. I hope he doesn’t do that,” Trump said. Trump made the comments in the context
SELF-DEFENSE: Tokyo has accelerated its spending goal and its defense minister said the nation needs to discuss whether it should develop nuclear-powered submarines China is ramping up objections to what it sees as Japan’s desire to acquire nuclear weapons, despite Tokyo’s longstanding renunciation of such arms, deepening another fissure in the two neighbors’ increasingly tense ties. In what appears to be a concerted effort, China’s foreign and defense ministries issued statements on Thursday condemning alleged remilitarism efforts by Tokyo. The remarks came as two of the country’s top think tanks jointly issued a 29-page report framing actions by “right-wing forces” in Japan as posing a “serious threat” to world peace. While that report did not define “right-wing forces,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was
PREPAREDNESS: Given the difficulty of importing ammunition during wartime, the Ministry of National Defense said it would prioritize ‘coproduction’ partnerships A newly formed unit of the Marine Corps tasked with land-based security operations has recently replaced its aging, domestically produced rifles with more advanced, US-made M4A1 rifles, a source said yesterday. The unnamed source familiar with the matter said the First Security Battalion of the Marine Corps’ Air Defense and Base Guard Group has replaced its older T65K2 rifles, which have been in service since the late 1980s, with the newly received M4A1s. The source did not say exactly when the upgrade took place or how many M4A1s were issued to the battalion. The confirmation came after Chinese-language media reported
RSS