President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday promised to open the nation to more Chinese students, while stressing the government’s continued efforts to ensure the rights of local students.
Allowing Chinese students to study in Taiwan is part of Ma’s policy of promoting cross-strait exchanges. This year, the government began a program that opened more than 100 colleges and universities to 2,000 Chinese students each year.
This year, 928 Chinese students took advantage of the program to enroll in Taiwanese schools, the Ministry of Education said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Speaking at an annual meeting of college and universities directors, Ma said the government would discuss the idea of allowing more Chinese students to enter institutions of higher learning.
“I proposed the idea of opening up the nation for Chinese students seven years ago, but we must take cautious steps when implementing this policy. The rights of local students to higher education should remain our priority,” he said.
Under the policy, 67 universities are allowed to admit a total of 1,123 Chinese students and 65 technology colleges can take 877, in line with an annual quota of 2,000 imposed by the government.
The quota should not affect the original recruitment plan of the participating schools and Chinese students who enroll in the schools are not eligible for scholarships.
They are also banned from taking exams to obtain certifications and cannot stay in Taiwan after they graduate.
Several university heads, including Shih Hsin University president Lai Ting-ming (賴鼎銘), said the limitations and low number of Chinese students in Taiwan was a problem and urged the government to relax the regulations and allow more Chinese students to enter.
Minister of Education Wu Ching-ji (吳清基) said the ministry would review the policy next year and discuss the possibilities of allowing more Chinese students without revising the current regulations.
SELF-RELIANCE: Taiwan would struggle to receive aid in the event of an invasion, so it must prepare to ‘hold its own’ for the first 70 days of a war, a defense expert said Taiwan should strengthen infrastructure, stock up on reserves and step up efforts to encourage Taiwanese to fight against an enemy, legislators and experts said on Tuesday last week. The comments sought to summarize what the nation should learn from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has exceeded 300 days, since Feb. 24 last year. Institute of National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said that the war in Ukraine highlighted the importance of being ready for war. Taiwan’s development of an “asymmetrical warfare” doctrine and extending mandatory conscription to one year is a good start to preparation of defense against a
The Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday said it would delay the lifting of the indoor mask mandate, citing public health considerations and ongoing discussions on how the policy should be implemented. Earlier this week, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, said officials from several ministries were working on the policy and an announcement would be made yesterday. However, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC, yesterday said that the policy was still under review. Wang said its implementation would be “delayed slightly” due to three main factors. First, the center
END OF SERIES: As the first generation of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines are set to expire, the CECC would no longer offer them to children younger than four years old The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported the nation’s first case of a person infected with the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant of SARS-CoV-2. The Taiwanese man in his 20s arrived from Canada on Jan. 22, said Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), who is deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division. He tested positive after reporting having a runny nose and muscle soreness while in airport quarantine, Lo said. The XBB.1.5 subvariant is the dominant strain in the US, but there is no evidence to suggest that it causes more severe illness than other Omicron subvariants, he said,
NORMALIZING TIES: The delegation led by the KMT’s Johnny Chiang is to meet with British lawmakers, think tanks and business groups to discuss developments A legislative delegation led by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) arrived in the UK yesterday to rally support for Taiwan’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Chiang heads the Legislative Yuan’s Taiwan-UK Interparliamentary Amity Association. The delegation also includes KMT legislators Ma Wen-chun (馬文君), Wen Yu-hsia (溫玉霞), Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷), Sandy Yu (游毓蘭) and Wu I-ding (吳怡玎). The group is to meet with British lawmakers Alicia Kearns, who chairs the British House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee; Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the House Defence Select Committee; and Bob Stewart, who cochairs the
RSS