Graduates with diplomas from Chinese universities and students studying in China packed a room at the legislature yesterday to demand that the government act to have their academic credentials from China recognized.
The students and graduates want legislation passed that would afford Taiwanese students in China equal employment opportunities when they return home.
There are more than 4,000 Taiwanese students studying in Chinese colleges and an estimated 1,000 Taiwanese hold Chinese degrees that are not recognized by Taiwan's government.
The issue -- although seemingly educational but considered by the government highly political -- has risen again with the appointment of a new education minister.
"We hope the newly appointed Education Minister Huang Jong-tsun (
The KMT lawmaker referred to it as "a purely educational issue and not related to politics."
She said the government was overly concerned that students were brainwashed by communist-run educational institutions and would sabotage Taiwan's social order after returning.
"This is an excessive worry. Adults in their 20s should be fully developed in their thoughts and beliefs," she said. "I don't think graduate students would be easily influenced while studying there."
As trade with China has increased so has the number of Taiwanese students choosing to study in China. But Taiwan has not recognized Chinese degrees. Many Taiwanese graduates of Chinese universities therefore find themselves jobless or can not make use of their professional skills learned in China after returning home.
Students said that such restrictions lead to the exodus of the elite because many of them are compelled to work in China or overseas.
"Not acknowledging [diplomas from China] won't solve the problem. Given that our own government does not admit our degrees, many of us choose to stay in China or seek employment abroad," said a medical student studying in the Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine.
Chinese medicine is one of the most popular majors, as students are attracted by the programs for their long history and favorable international reputation.
However,the government is under pressure from Taiwan's medical schools not to recognize qualifications from China.
Medical specialists are concerned about the quality of medical training in China and the balance of supply and demand in the job market.
But many students at yesterday's meeting disagreed. They said they were impressed with the standard of training they received in China and that only by relaxing the restrictions, thereby increasing competition in the job market, can patients' rights be safeguarded.
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