The Ministry of Education (MOE) yesterday said it planned to establish a task force to screen the authenticity of the academic background of Chinese students who apply to universities in Taiwan.
“[The MOE] usually allows universities to verify the academic background of international students, but when it comes to students from China, the ministry will establish a complete set of mechanisms and take the initiative to check [their credentials],” Ho Cho-fei (何卓飛), director-general of the MOE’s Department of Higher Education, said in the legislature when asked how the ministry planned to prevent Chinese students from applying for schools in Taiwan by using fake credentials.
Ho said the ministry’s verification procedure would begin by checking whether the schools from which the Chinese applicants graduated were included in the world university list compiled by the ministry’s Bureau of International, Cultural and Educational Relations.
The ministry could also send a verification request to the schools where the applicants graduated, he said. Welcoming Chinese students is one of the ministry’s four main goals to broaden cross-strait academic exchanges.
To lay out a detailed policy on allowing Chinese students to attend local universities by the Lunar New Year, the ministry has been working on mechanisms to discern fake Chinese credentials.
The ministry’s other goals to increase cross-strait academic exchanges include granting longer visas to Chinese students who come for short-term studies, recognizing diplomas from Chinese universities and allowing local universities to offer continuing education and degree programs in China for students with full-time jobs.
Meanwhile, Vice Minister of Education Lu Mu-lin (呂木琳) said the ministry hoped the the spring session of the legislature would prioritize bills related to the ministry’s plan to allow students from China to enroll in local schools.
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