NOT ATTRACTIVE TO MAINLAND STUDENTS?

The enrollment result of Mainland Chinese students attending Taiwan's graduate and doctorate programs has been released, with an admission rate as low as only 38%.

The Mainland Chinese Joint Admissions Committee said that they hope the government can lower the standards for admission in order to attract more applicants.

Universities in Taiwan have been anticipating the arrival of Mainland Chinese students since the Ministry of Education announced to open the door for mainland students to study in Taiwan's universities and graduate schools starting this September.

The enrollment result for master's and doctorate programs for mainland students was released last week, however, it is actually far from satisfaction.

Only 248 spots in the total 653 spots in master's and doctorate programs for mainlanders were filled, 62% less than the Ministry of Education's quota.

Mainland Chinese Joint Admissions Committee said that the high standard for admission of many public universities is the main reason of the result.

The National Taiwan University's Department of Economics, for example, only accepted one out 21 Chinese applicants this year.

The second factor is that most mainland students applied only to famous schools, leading to a relatively low admission rate.

According the committee's analysis, the admission rate of famous public schools is around 43%, while that of private schools is only 23%.

Even so, not all schools are struggling with low enrollment. Shih Hsin University this year opened up three spots, and out of 14 mainland applicants this year, 2 students from Peking University and Xiamen University were accepted.

Shih Hsin University President Lai Ding-min believes that it has a lot to do with the school's early promotion and marketing and establishing sister school relationships with universities in China.

"The school's promotion for next year is very important.

If your promotion is not good enough,

mainland students won't know the difference between us and mainland schools.

In this way, it will be difficult for us to enroll good students."

Meanwhile, Minister of Education, Wu Ching-ji has demanded a review over the recruitment program.

The Mainland Chinese Joint Admissions Committee also hopes that the restrictions on mainland applicants can be lifted, so that students of different academic backgrounds can apply to study in Taiwan.

In addition, the undergraduate programs for mainland students have started accepting applications, which will last till June 16th. The result is likely to be announced on July 4th.

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