As Taiwan’s persistently dismal birthrate give rise to growing worries over dwindling student populations, the latest projections calculate a mere potential of 130,000 local students joining local colleges by the year 2028. NCNU President Dr. Dong-sing Wuu (武東星) explains that when that day arrives, only the top universities with the ability to recruit from the international pool will be able to survive and stay competitive.

International students will be a good solution to counter Taiwan’s plummeting birthrate and its implication for academic distress in future enrollment. Taiwanese universities, however, have yet not sought help from one another, opting instead to fight alone in attracting foreign interest. To help make a concerted effort that will benefit all local academic institutions, Dr. Wuu advises the University Entrance Committee for Overseas Chinese Students (海外聯合招生委員會) of Taiwan to expand its operations and scope by standardizing global recruitment for all Taiwanese schools.

Concerted Global Recruitment:

National Chi Nan University (NCNU) has been responsible for assisting the Taiwan government with running the University Entrance Committee for Overseas Chinese Students program since 1996, culminating in almost 200,000 overseas compatriots completing their studies in Taiwan and finding employment in their home countries.

A collective effort to conscript international talents will be more effective than working alone, Dr. Wuu argues. So if the University Entrance Committee can coordinate a global front for Taiwanese universities, it would be a beneficial arrangement for all participating parties. He adds that first-stage trials can begin with targeting neighboring countries including Japan, South Korea, and Thailand. Time-wise, he suggests a small-scale push starting next year.

Statistics compiled by the Ministry of Education show that international enrollment tallied up to 78,701 in the 2020 Taiwanese academic school year, with the most number of students coming from Vietnam, then Malaysia and Indonesia.

Japanese nationals account for 7,458 students (including 2,147 pursuing formal degrees), followed by 2,803 Thai students (1,197 for degrees) and 2,776 Korean students (842 for degrees). This shows the great potential of tailoring recruitment campaigns to South Korean and Japanese audiences, he adds.

Japanese Compatriots Incoming:

Thanks to Taiwan’s stellar pandemic-fighting efforts raising the nation’s international visibility as a whole, Dr. Wuu explains that overseas interest in Taiwanese universities has surged as well. For example, it was recently reported that a Japanese school in Takasaki, the Tokyo University of Agriculture 2nd Senior High School, had launched a program for assisting Japanese high school students to pursue higher education in Taiwan.

Overseas compatriots from Japan, in particular, have grown fonder of Taiwanese schools as well, starting at 21 such students in 2018 and then doubling in numbers over the past 3 years. Such data paves the way for the need for deeper engagement with Japan on the academic frontier, Dr. Wuu notes.

Over two decades of experience have been accumulated since the founding operations of the University Entrance Committee for Overseas Chinese Students program, and Dr. Wuu believes that established system can be adapted for all overseas students. Furthermore, this initiative could offset the current drop in compatriot enrollment from Hong Kong and Macau due to certain circumstantial factors, as well as the stalled numbers from Malaysia in recent years due to high market saturation. He believes that these common challenges can be overcome by providing a “one-stop service platform” for all non-Taiwanese applicants.

One-Stop Service:

Dr. Wuu points out that this “one-stop” platform can be first constructed as an open community of Taiwanese universities working together to co-introduce the different facets and strengths of public and private academic institutions here. Each school can retain its own set of admission rules and application requirements, with the core aspirations of providing multiple options to all potential students and streamlining the recruitment process by pooling together resources.

The application process currently remains divided for overseas compatriots and international students. Dr. Wuu explains that compatriots apply through one unified window and can apply up to 4 schools through personal selection, and up to 70 schools based on their standardized examination results. All non-compatriots, however, are defined as international students and thus required to apply to each university separately. Unlike those who hold compatriot status and provided double the chance to receive acceptance through one coordinated system, international applicants have to apply to multiple schools individually to boost their admission rates.

Universities Work Together:

Calling attention to the need to hold dialogue over the current student quota system, Dr. Wuu points out how its current allotment is calculated based on providing additional quotas to the total enrollment number assigned individually by the Ministry of Education: 10% more spaces for international enrollment, and the same 10% extra goes for compatriots as well.

This quota system also has several disadvantages, including over-assigning quotas to schools that are not looking to recruit to that full amount, while limiting the ability of elite establishments such as National Taiwan University, National Cheng Kung University, National Tsing Hua University, and National Chiao Tung University to accept more due to student-instructor ratios; they require the Ministry of Education’s coordination to hire more teaching personnel.

Both issues are interlinked, and if both parties can approach this with a mutual understanding of working for the common good, Dr. Wuu believes that the inclusion of such elite universities will boost the platform’s visibility and attract more students to Taiwan as a whole.

He also cites the importance of Taiwan’s ambitious push to become completely bilingual by 2030, in which English will be completely incorporated with the national education system, from elementary to university. This environment will prove to become a key factor in attracting international students, and their presence here will help facilitate the bilingual environment envisioned by policymakers.

The Ministry of Education has also announced the selection of 4 flagship universities that will work closely with education officials to help the nation achieve the milestones of converting 90% of all doctoral programs, 70% master’s, and 50% undergraduate classes into English, Dr. Wuu adds.

Another suggestion to take into account, he says, is to adopt bilingual instruction in class, especially during the 9 years of transition until full adoption in 2030. He recalls first switching to teaching with English as the dominant instructional language, and using Mandarin to supplement. This benefited a student from India, and also raised the overall comprehension levels of partaking Taiwanese students.

Chinese text by Liberty Times 

Created Date

Mon, 03/01/2021 - 23:01

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