There were more than 110,000 overseas students enrolled at Taiwanese universities last year, accounting for 8.27 percent of the nation’s university student population, the Ministry of Education said yesterday.
The number of foreign students rose by 16,537 last year to 110,182, according to ministry statistics.
Department of International and Cross-strait Education section head Liu Su-miao (劉素妙) said last year’s surge “caught us by surprise” and she attributed it mainly to 7,000 more Chinese students.
It also reflected more aggressive recruiting efforts overseas by local universities, which have been hit by declining enrollment by Taiwanese students because of the nation’s low birth rate over the past two decades, Liu said.
The figures also show that the ministry’s objective to increase the number of foreign students from 30,000 in 2008 to more than 100,000 this year had been met.
The government’s aim is to turn Taiwan into an “advanced learning powerhouse” in the Asia-Pacific region, Liu said.
Ministry statistics also showed that the number of foreign students pursuing advanced degrees increased by 6,000 last year.
Foreign students mainly come from Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Macau and Vietnam, in that order.
There was also a sharp increase in the number of students from India, Indonesia and Myanmar, Liu said, adding that her department expects to further diversify its sources of students in the future and hopes to recruit 150,000 foreign students a year by 2021.
The ministry said that Taiwan has built a reputation for having a friendly learning environment after easing regulations on overseas students, offering more scholarships and promoting a counseling system.
The focus now would be to encourage overseas students to remain in Taiwan to work after graduation and give the nation’s private sector more access to overseas graduates, it said.
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