On the morning of November 28, President Ma Ying-jeou attended a forum with higher education groups to discuss a range of topics, including how to help universities transform or exit the sector, how to expand the export of higher education and attract foreign students to Taiwan, and how to boost the quality of education to avoid an outflow of skilled individuals.
The president stated that institutions of higher education have increased from 124 in the 1992 academic year to 162 in the 2012 academic year. Nevertheless, Taiwan's birth rate has fallen from 23 births per thousand population in 1981 to 17 in 1988, to 10 in 2003, and to just 8.59 in July of this year, which has caused a continuous drop in the number of school-aged children and a shortage of students at all levels. President Ma commented that pre-elementary schools and elementary schools have been the first affected, but junior high schools and high schools are also starting to feel the effects. He said that universities will begin to experience the impact of these demographic changes in the 2016 academic year.
The Ministry of Education, he said, is aware of the pending crisis and is implementing various measures in response. The first, he noted, is for some schools to close. Amendments to the Private School Act, for instance, clearly provide a legal basis for private schools to transform or shut down, he said. The amendments to this act permit a school corporation and the private school it operates to legally restructure, merge with another entity, or conduct some other type of business connected with education, culture, or social services, he commented. President Ma stated that crisis presents opportunity, so the government will positively face these issues and encourage universities to undergo transformation.
The president mentioned that in comparison with other nations, Taiwan has abundant educational resources, which is why the Executive Yuan in 2011 approved the Study-in-Taiwan Enhancement Program. The main focus of the project is to improve the environment for foreign students studying in Taiwan and to better market the advantages of coming to Taiwan to study, he remarked. The objective is to make Taiwan a hub for higher education in East Asia, the president noted, adding that the goal by 2020 is for the number of foreign students in Taiwan to grow to 150,000, or 10% of the student body in Taiwan's institutions of higher education.
President Ma stated that the number of foreign students (including students from mainland China) in Taiwan in 2007 was 30,213, with mainland Chinese students accounting for only 823. In addition, the students from the mainland were only exchange students and not working towards degrees here, he said. As of last year, however, the number of foreign students here (including students from mainland China) had risen to 67,716, more than double from five years before, with 15,590 of these students coming from mainland China, a rise of nearly 20 fold, he remarked. This points to the attraction of Taiwan's higher education to mainland Chinese students and students from Southeast Asia, the president stated.
In addition, the president stated, the over 67,000 foreign students enrolled here in 2012 comprised only 5% of the students enrolled at institutions of higher education. In comparison with neighboring countries, this percentage is low, so Taiwan still has room to attract more students from overseas, he said.
President Ma then listened to the opinions of the participants attending the forum, after which he commented on the various issues that were discussed. As for helping universities to exit the sector, the president stated, many have expressed concerns about how idle school buildings and campuses would be used. President Ma said that these facilities should be utilized, and assistance would be provided so that they can be transformed. He particularly noted that constructive assistance measures should be instituted.
As for attracting foreign students to study in Taiwan, the president stated, the Ministry of Education should invite scholars to jointly explore and discuss issues such as: standards for the recruitment of mainland Chinese students, and the method of their acceptance into schools here; how to increase the diversity of overseas students recruited to study here; and whether Taiwan and mainland China should sign an "education cooperation framework agreement."
Lastly, in terms of raising the quality of education, the scholars in attendance pointed out that universities are facing a serious funding problem, and called for the establishment of a mechanism to adjust tuition and miscellaneous fees at universities. In response, the president said the government places great importance on the education funding problem. He noted the Ministry of Education should adopt more comprehensive communication strategies and find ways to gain the support of students and parents, so as to carry through with plans to adjust tuition and miscellaneous fees.