In the News

University presidents call for more mainland students

• Publication Date：04/21/2010
• Source： China Times

The nation should open its doors to students from mainland China, the presidents of nine universities said during a news conference April 20.

The presidents made the remarks the day before the Education and Culture Committee of the Legislative Yuan is scheduled to begin reviewing the University Act and the Junior College Act.

The ruling Kuomintang, which helped arrange the news conference, is in favor of amending the two acts to allow more students from the mainland to study in Taiwan. The opposition Democratic Progressive Party, on the other hand, is strongly opposed to the amendments.

Lin Yi-shih, leader of the KMT’s Policy Committee, said more presidents in support of the amendments would appear April 21, when the amendments will be discussed.

“Taiwan cannot open itself to the world selectively,” said National Taiwan University President Lee Si-chen during the news conference. “The gates to its institutions of higher learning must be opened completely.”

Lai Ting-ming, president of Shih Hsin University, expressed similar views. “The nation cannot wait another 10 or 20 years. We must open our schools 100 percent. We want the best students, including students from the mainland.”

“Let the schools decide for themselves,” Lai continued. “Schools not have only the right to exist, but the right to be as good as they can possibly be.”

More than 80 percent of all college and university presidents support allowing students from mainland China to study on the island, Lee pointed out. The reasons are simple, he said: in a globalized world, schools will compete for the best students, and Taiwan would lose out if it did not allow mainland students to study on the island freely.

Michael J.K. Chen, president of Ling Tung University, noted that the presidents of most private schools such as his own are in favor of allowing more students from the mainland. He added that private universities also support calls for the government to recognize degrees conferred by mainland schools.

The amendments would allow a maximum of 2,000 students from the mainland to study in Taiwan, Ling pointed out. Fears that Taiwan’s universities will be overwhelmed by a flood of mainland Chinese students are unfounded, he said.

Furthermore, he noted, roughly 2,000 citizens from Taiwan study in the mainland every year. The two numbers naturally balance each other out, he said.

National Chengchi University President Wu Se-hua made his case from an economic point of view. If the nation is to become more creative and dynamic, its schools must play a stronger role, he said. And for schools to do so, they must have a multicultural environment, he said. (HZW)