Several university presidents yesterday urged the Ministry of Education to allow Chinese students who will soon be entering the nation’s universities to join the National Health Insurance program, just as other international students do.
Asked to comment on the sidelines of the Third Cross-Strait University Presidents’ Forum in Taipei, Shih Hsin University president Lai Ting-ming (賴鼎銘) said problems could arise as Chinese students begin to enroll in Taiwanese universities next year because they cannot be insured under the program at present.
National Chengchi University president Wu Si-hua (吳思華), who hosted the forum, said Chinese students should be able to enjoy the same rights as international students.
Under the National Insurance Act (全民健康保險法), only Republic of China nationals who have had household registration in Taiwan for more than four months are allowed to participate in the mandatory social insurance system.
Foreigners who have had residency in Taiwan for more than four months are also allowed to be insured under the program. However, students from China do not fit into either category.
The director of the ministry’s -Department of Higher Education, Ho Cho-fei (何卓飛), dismissed the possibility, saying Chinese students should be covered under a student insurance plan.
They can purchase other private insurance if necessary, Ho said.
Meanwhile, National Cheng Kung University president Michael Lai (賴明詔) said he was concerned about the ability of universities to attract Chinese students, given the restrictions the ministry sought to impose on them.
Following the relaxation of rules in August, universities are now allowed to recruit students from China, but are barred from providing -scholarship funding or part-time jobs to Chinese.
Michael Lai said Cheng Kung University had sought to provide funding for potential students from China through fundraising.
In related developments, Ho told the two-day forum that education officials across the Taiwan Strait should establish a mechanism allowing them to conduct regular dialogue and thereby ensure that papers signed by ministries or universities on both sides are legally binding.
The ministry has been considering a cross-strait educational memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish a systematic platform for dialogue.
Minister of Education Wu Ching-ji (吳清基) said last month that the ministry hoped to ink the MOU by the end of the year.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
A court has approved Kaohsiung prosecutors’ request that two people working for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Dai-hua (林岱樺) be detained, as a probe into two cases allegedly involving her continues. The request was made on Friday, after prosecutors raided Lin’s two offices and the staffers’ residences, and questioned five on suspicion of contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪汙治罪條例). The people included the directors of Lin’s Daliao (大寮) and Linyuan (林園) district offices in Kaohsiung, surnamed Chou (周) and Lin (林) respectively, as well as three other staffers. The prosecutors’ move came after they interrogated Lin Dai-hua on Wednesday. She appeared solemn following
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
RSS