Minister of Education Cheng Jei-cheng (鄭瑞城) said at the legislature yesterday that the schedule for the government’s proposal to recognize Chinese educational credentials was still under discussion after many legislators questioned him about the issue.
As for the issue of allowing Chinese students to enroll in Taiwanese universities, Cheng said there would be a cap on the number of Chinese students allowed to enroll in domestic universities and that individual universities would also have a cap.
He said those universities interested in recruiting Chinese students should establish a committee to handle the matter while the ministry would establish the necessary regulations.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
TIMING
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said that Cheng had mentioned that it would take about two to three years before Chinese diplomas could be recognized by the government.
Chen said he wondered why President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said the proposal would be carried out next year.
In response, Cheng said that the ministry was still deliberating over the time schedule for the proposal but that it might be completed earlier than expected.
However, he said that the bonus point scheme would not apply to Chinese students who wished to come to Taiwan to study and that the ministry would not offer scholarships to them.
Meanwhile, Cheng said that if everything went as planned, it was expected that national and private universities would be allowed to open extension education programs in China in the next academic year to recruit Chinese students as well as the children of Taiwanese businesspeople based in China.
VERIFICATION
In response to questions by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) about how to verify Chinese educational credentials proposed, Cheng said that given the fact that there are numerous high schools in China, it would be hard for the government to verify them all.
Thus a student’s academic performance, including national exams, would be used as the main criteria, Cheng said.
KMT Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) said that some had suggested that Taiwanese businesspeople offer scholarships to encourage Chinese students to study in Taiwan as part of their core staffer recruitment program.
Hung said that the government should consider this proposal because Chinese students would become accustomed to Taiwanese ways of thinking and better understand Taiwanese culture after studying here.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by