The number of foreign students pursuing formal academic degrees in Taiwan has increased significantly in the past four years, with the number of foreign undergraduates almost doubling, according to new statistics released by the Ministry of Education.
For foreign students, the most popular disciplines are banking and finance, business administration, information technology, science and engineering, the statistics show.
Bureau of International Cultural and Educational Relations director Lin Wen-tong (林文通) said students from India are the most noteworthy, as 90 percent of them were pursuing doctorates in chemistry or chemical engineering.
In the last academic year, more than 550 of the 1,497 foreign nationals pursuing doctorates in Taiwan were Indian and an overwhelming majority of them were chemistry or chemical engineering majors, Lin said.
“The trend could be attributed to a long-term talent shortage in those two sectors in India,” he added.
According to the ministry’s statistics, the number of foreign undergraduate students increased to 4,847 in the last academic year, from 2,454 in 2007, when figures for foreign students were last published.
The number of foreign students pursuing master’s degrees also rose from 2,033 to 3,603 in the same period, while the number of doctoral degree candidates more than doubled to 1,497, from 743.
One of the government’s major educational policies has been to try to attract more foreign students, Lin said, adding that the ministry looks forward to seeing the number of students who come from abroad to pursue academic degrees or conduct short-term study programs increase to 130,000 by 2020, from 48,000 in the last academic year.
At present, Southeast Asian nations are the top source of expatriate students pursuing formal academic degrees, while those from China form the bulk of exchange students in short-term study programs.
Lin said students from different countries tend to have different favorite academic disciplines. For instance, students from Southeast Asian nations mostly study banking, finance and business administration.
“Local universities or colleges’ MBA and banking/financing departments have been the top choice for Southeast Asian students,” Lin said. “Perhaps, it’s because their countries were once hard hit by the global financial tsunami and an MBA degree could make it easier for them to find jobs in their home countries after they graduate.”
A breakdown by nationality showed that students from Vietnam tend to study international trade and Thais focus on -pursuing MBAs. Students from Indonesia and Malaysia are mostly ethnic Chinese who opt for the humanities, social sciences, journalism or mass communication.
In contrast, students from the US are mostly interested in studying Chinese language and culture. Japanese students also like to study the humanities and social sciences.
Because Taiwan plays an important role in the global information technology industry, Lin said, an increasing number of young students from eastern European countries such as Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic have traveled to Taiwan to pursue academic degrees.
Local tertiary education institutions recruited 200 students from Russia after they took part in an education fair in Moscow last year, Lin said.
“We are considering organizing a delegation of local universities to hold education fairs in major eastern European countries to attract more of their young people to study in Taiwan, as part of efforts to expand our education market,” he added.
‘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
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
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
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