Since Taiwan opened its doors to Chinese students, complaints have risen that China’s Cross-strait Student Recruitment Center has made more money than Taiwanese schools and travel agencies.
A total of 933 Chinese students were accepted by Taiwanese universities last year, according to college administrators. School admission fees totaled about NT$7 million (US$237,000), with the Chinese Cross-strait Student Recruitment Center taking in NT$2.6 million for providing certified transcripts of records and other service fees.
To allay concern that allowing Chinese students into Taiwanese universities might affect educational and job opportunities for local students and graduates, the Ministry of Education has imposed restrictions on Chinese enrollment, known as the “three limits, six noes” policy.
Under the policy, acceptance is limited to Chinese students from prestigious Chinese schools, the number of Chinese students is restricted to 0.1 percent of total domestic student recruitment and Chinese students are barred from courses in pharmacy, Chinese and Western medicine, high-tech and national security.
As for the six noes, they refer to no entrance examinations for Chinese students, ensuring that their enrolment would not impact on local student recruitment, no scholarships, no off-campus work for Chinese students, and they cannot join tests for Republic of China professional certifications or civil servant examinations.
Some universities have expressed dissatisfaction over the Chinese center making so much money, while the universities themselves have not benefited and had to cover the recruitment costs themselves.
The universities say they lose thousands of New Taiwan dollars for every Chinese student who is recruited.
Chang Hong-de (張鴻德), secretary-general of University Entrance Committee for Mainland Chinese Students, said that 1,700 Chinese students had applied for university entrance and another 700 for graduate school. The center charged NT$350 for each university application, NT$1,350 for graduate school and NT$2,450 for doctorates.
Asked why Taiwanese universities were not able to get any money from student recruitment, Chang said China’s city and provincial governments take charge of collecting diplomas and transcript of records, while the Cross-strait Student Recruitment Center charges a one-time fee of 500,000 yuan (US$79,200).
After negotiations, the committee and the center settled on the figure of NT$2.6 million, or one-third of the total admission fees, Chang said.
With the rest of the funds being spent on the committee’s daily operations, the committee told the universities that they would not be alloted any money to cover processing fees for Chinese students, Chang said.
The universities have complained that their budget for recruitment of Chinese students was in the red because they have to pay out of their own pockets for professors to review the students’ applications.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said the issue showed glaring deficiencies in cross-strait collaboration, adding that Beijing’s ban on direct recruitment of Chinese students by Taiwanese universities had only benefited the center.
A large part of the fees go into verifying documents and doing education background checks, because of fears in Taiwan that some Chinese diplomas might be fake, Department of Higher Education director Ho Cho-fei (何卓飛) said.
If the universities are unhappy about the admission fees, they will have to settle the issue with the committee, Ho said.
Chang said that after student recruitment concludes next month, the committee would welcome any debate regarding raising Chinese students’ admission fees.
However, many academics say that China has its own limits and standards on what scores students need to apply for studies in Taiwan.
As Chinese students need only to achieve the secondary score line of the National Higher Education Entrance Examination, it appears that China does not want its better students to go to Taiwan for studies, some academics said, adding that recruitment rates for Chinese students this year do not look promising.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff writer
‘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
RSS