The latest data shows that there was a slight increase in the number of Taiwanese students studying abroad last year, bringing the total number to 60,839, the Ministry of Education said, adding that the number of Taiwanese students in the UK increased while those studying in the US decreased slightly.
More than 23,000 Taiwanese students went to the US for educational purposes last year, while about 2,800 went to Canada, data showed.
There were about 19,000 Taiwanese studying in Europe, most of whom were in the UK, data showed.
More than 7,000 Taiwanese choose to study abroad in Asia, with the majority choosing Japan, 7,200 going to Australia and 1,400 to New Zealand, data showed.
The overseas Taiwanese student population grew by 1,000, but the number of Taiwanese students in the UK rose from 4,600 to 16,000, it added.
Vice Minister of Education Chen Te-hua (陳德華) said that despite the seeming increase of overseas Taiwanese students in the UK, the US remained the main destination for academic purposes.
“The reason so many Taiwanese are choosing to study in the UK is due to recruitment by educational facilities there,” Chen said.
Ministry officials added that the majority of students went to the UK for higher education or to gain certificates in subjects such as art or jewelry design.
However, the Institute of International Education’s data showed that in contrast to the sudden boom in Taiwanese students heading to the UK, the US has seen a consecutive decline of Taiwanese students over the past six years.
China last year became the country with the most students in the US, with 235,000, or 30 percent of the total international student body in the US, data showed.
The numbers of students from Vietnam and Saudi Arabia going to the US were also on the rise, while Taiwanese declined by 20 percent, or 7,000 students, and Japanese decreased from 45,000 to 19,000, or nearly 60 percent, data showed.
When parents were asked which country they would send their children for educational purposes, one parent surnamed Yang (楊) said he would send his child to England.
“Studying abroad is not just about gaining a diploma, it is also about learning about foreign cultures and unfamiliar environments,” Yang said.
“Taiwan’s international outlook is in essence the same as the US,’ and children are less familiar with Europe and the UK,” Yang said, adding that by sending his child to the UK he would be opening new horizons for them.
RISK FACTORS: ‘We hope people can cooperate and endure it ... it is possibly the very important last mile,’ Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung said Taiwan’s COVID-19 restrictions and mask regulations are to remain the same next month, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. The center reported 42,112 new local COVID-19 cases and 85 deaths, saying that the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has dropped to a new low this month. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, said that the center is keeping COVID-19 restrictions and mask regulations the same due to the local virus situation, and an increase in the number of imported cases of the new Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 of SARS-CoV-2, among other risk factors. Easing
TRAVEL CONFERENCE: Representatives from the two countries exchanged views on how to increase tourist numbers, with one identifying individual travel as a trend Taiwan and South Korea aim to increase the number of tourists traveling between the two countries to 3 million, government and tourism industry representatives said at a conference in Hsinchu City yesterday. The annual event was attended by Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Yen-po (陳彥伯); Tourism Bureau Director-General Chang Shi-chung (張錫聰); Taiwan Visitors Association chairwoman Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭); South Korean Representative to Taiwan Chung Byung-won; Yoon Ji-sook, an official at the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; and Korea Association of Travel Agents chairman Oh Chang-hee. Global tourism is expected to soon rebound to between 55 and
DAMAGE CONTROL: The KMT in a statement called the Taiwan Strait ‘international waters,’ after Alexander Huang said China had the right to claim it as internal waters Lawmakers and experts yesterday accused the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) envoy to the US Alexander Huang (黃介正) of acting as China’s stooge, after he said that Beijing has the right to claim waters beyond its maritime territory as its exclusive economic zone and that the US has no legal basis to assert that the Taiwan Strait is an “international waterway.” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said in an online post that most of the world considers the Strait an international waterway, adding that this is important for safeguarding Taiwan. “We have seen US warships transiting through the Taiwan Strait.
The Taichung District Court yesterday sentenced to nine years in prison an unlicensed judo coach who caused the death of a seven-year-old student after slamming him onto the ground more than a dozen times. In its decision against the coach, a man surnamed Ho (何), the court cited his lack of remorse for using excessive force against an inadequately trained child and his failure to reconcile with the parents for his role in their son’s death. Speaking on behalf of the boy’s mother, Taichung City Councilor Jacky Chen (陳清龍) said the family would appeal to a higher court. Prosecutors said that Ho on
RSS