The number of foreign students attending Taiwanese universities last year dropped 9.46 percent from 2019, mainly due to a marked decline in the number of Chinese students, the National Audit Office said in a report.
Last year, there were 116,038 foreign students — 67,299 degree students and 48,739 non-degree students — a decrease of 12,119, or 9.46 percent, from 128,157 in 2019, the report said.
China in 2020 stopped allowing Chinese students to study in Taiwan, saying that COVID-19 pandemic controls and “the cross-strait situation” were the reasons for the change. Chinese who had already come to Taiwan were allowed finish their studies.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
Regarding the number of Chinese studying in Taiwan, there were 16,696 visiting students and 8,353 degree students in 2019, four visiting students and 6,032 degree students in 2020, zero visiting students and 4,293 degree students in 2021, 22 visiting students and 3,121 degree students in 2022, and 2,523 visiting students and 2,128 degree students last year, the report said, citing data from the Mainland Affairs Council.
From January to June this year, there were 953 visiting Chinese students, and the number of degree students from China is projected to decrease to zero by the end of this month, it said.
To address Taiwan’s low birthrate and key industries’ demand for talent, the Ministry of Education in 2022 launched a program to increase the number of Chinese students (including from Hong Kong and Macau) and other foreign students in line with the National Development Council’s immigration policy, the report said.
The goal of the program is to increase the number of foreigners studying at departments and institutes related to Taiwan’s key industries and retain talent, it said.
However, 79 percent of foreign students, or 91,673, came from 10 nations or regions last year — India, Indonesia, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, South Korea, the US and Vietnam — and no mechanism has yet been created to track the employment of foreign students after graduation, it said.
The office has asked the ministry to establish an employment tracking mechanism to better evaluate the program’s outcomes, and it is urging subsidized schools to improve their employment counseling services to help top foreign students join Taiwan’s workforce after graduation, the report said.
The ministry should find ways to attract students from other countries and regions, particularly because the number of foreign students has been decreasing for about five academic years, it said.
Overall, the outcomes of the program needs to improve, as enrollment is limited and many foreign students have left school because they failed the Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language, the report said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and