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Ministry may not recognize some PRC
qualifications
By Flora Wang
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Feb 09, 2010, Page 3
Vice Minister of Education Lin Tsung-ming (林聰明) confirmed yesterday that the
ministry may not recognize Chinese diplomas obtained before laws on Chinese
educational credentials are amended.
Lin said participants at public hearings held by the ministry generally agreed
that recognition should not be extended to credentials obtained before Chinese
diplomas are officially recognized.
But Lin said the ministry had not finalized its policy as a consensus on when to
set a cut-off date had not been reached.
Lin said if recognition did not apply retroactively, the ministry would hold
examinations for individuals educated in China.
“We are considering having [holders of Chinese diplomas] take two subjects in
the exam. If they pass, [the ministry] would recognize their credentials,” Lin
said.
The ministry said in November that it planned to recognize Chinese credentials
obtained after 1997 — the year the ministry publicized the Act for Reviewing and
Accrediting Academic Degrees on the Chinese Mainland (大陸學歷採認與檢覈辦法) under former
minister of education Wu Jing (吳京).
The ministry listed 73 Chinese higher educational institutes it planned to
recognize when it publicized the act in 1997.
However, a month later, the then Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration
told the ministry that “Chinese degrees are not merely an education problem, but
are connected with cross-strait policy” and advised a rethink.
It said that the large numbers of Taiwanese going to China to study medicine may
cause a surplus of doctors if they all returned. It also said the ministry’s
policy could pose a threat to national security.
In a notice to amend the act made public by the ministry on Saturday, it said it
planned to allow Republic of China nationals, Chinese nationals resident in
Taiwan and those applying to schools in Taiwan to seek credential recognition.
But individuals who went to China to study before the act takes effect would not
be allowed to apply, the ministry said.
Taiwan still does not recognize credentials from China. A number of proposed
amendments remain stalled in the legislature.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Progressive Party released a poll yesterday that
showed 52.2 percent of the public opposed recognizing Chinese diplomas, while
42.4 percent approved.
The poll also showed 80 percent of pan-green respondents opposed the proposal,
63 percent of pan-blue respondents supported it and 51 percent of independent
respondents opposed it.
The poll found 65.2 percent of respondents opposed acknowledgement of Chinese
professional licenses with 28.8 percent approving. Some 51 percent of pan blue
respondents opposed it.
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