|
¡@
Door opened to Chinese students
STICK TO BOOKS: Under a KMT-DPP consensus, about 2,000 Chinese students will
be able to study in Taiwan, but they won¡¦t be able to work during their studies
By Shih Hsiu-chuan
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Aug 20, 2010, Page 1
Taiwan¡¦s colleges and graduate schools will begin accepting
Chinese students next spring after the legislature yesterday approved amendments
recognizing Chinese certificates and allowing Chinese students to study in
Taiwan.
Following rounds of negotiation, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucuses reached consensus by agreeing to
write into law that Taiwan will not recognize Chinese certificates in
medicine-related areas and that Chinese students will be prohibited from
enrolling in departments that deal with national security matters such as
national defense, sensitive agricultural technology, aviation, satellite
technology and hydrological subjects.
Chinese students will also be barred by law from taking civil service exams and
obtaining professional licenses.
Not written into law, but attached as a resolution, was a ban on Chinese
students working part-time during their studies.
However, the DPP caucus failed to attach other proposed resolutions to the acts,
including one asking Chinese students to pay double the tuition of Taiwanese
students.
Under the amended acts, the number of Chinese students admitted by universities
in the initial stage of the program cannot exceed 1 percent of the total
enrollment. This equals about 2,000 students nationwide.
Taiwan will recognize educational credentials from 41 selected Chinese
universities, with the exception of medicine-related certificates. The
regulation cannot be applied retroactively.
The DPP had previously demanded that a set of restrictive measures ¡X dubbed the
¡§three limits and six noes¡¨ ¡X be included in the law amendments.
The ¡§three limits¡¨ refer to restrictions on the number of Chinese universities
that the government plans to recognize, the total number of Chinese college
students who can enter Taiwan to study and a limit on the types of Chinese
diplomas that will be accredited in Taiwan.
The ¡§six noes¡¨ would ban Chinese students from receiving scholarships or
professional licenses, keep them from working or staying in Taiwan upon
graduation, ban them from receiving extra points on examinations and prevent
them from taking the civil service examinations.
KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (§d¨|ª@) hailed the passage of the amendments, saying
the move represented the nation¡¦s confidence in its democratic system and that
it would create a chance ¡§to transform Chinese students.¡¨
DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (ºÞºÑ¬Â), on the other hand, offered an apology to the
public on the legislative floor for her caucus being unable to block the policy
and impose other measures on Chinese students to better protect the interests of
Taiwanese students.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (¬_«Ø»Ê) said his caucus was satisfied, in general,
with the compromise, as the rest of the restrictions outlined in the ¡§three
limits and six noes¡¨ would be carried out in the form of an executive order by
the Ministry of Education.
¡§From a legal perspective, Chinese students will not be able to come to Taiwan
to work ¡K We just want to make this very clear,¡¨ Ker said. ¡§If [they] come to
Taiwan to study, [they] should be studying.¡¨
Kuan said the details were needed to ensure that Chinese students did not take
away employment opportunities from Taiwanese.
¡§It¡¦s simply too big of an issue to ignore and it¡¦s going to have a huge impact
on our students unless it is regulated,¡¨ she said.
¡@
|
