Education Fairs

2008 Spring US-Taiwan Study Abroad and International Exchange Workshop

Meeting Summary

Opening Remarks by Mr. Stephen Smith of AIEF’s Washington, DC Office:

Stephen Smith opened by explaining that the purpose of the workshop is to increase cooperation and educational exchange opportunities between U.S. schools and Taiwan’s educational institutions. He cited various common challenges facing U.S. and Taiwan educational institutions, including: declining domestic student enrollment, increasing international student enrollment, internationalizing campuses, preparing students for the global workforce, and obtaining funding for international initiatives. Smith observed that recent developments in the United States, such as the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act of 2007, offer potential opportunities for Taiwan’s educational institutions to recruit U.S. students.

Statements of Invited Speakers:

The common thread amongst the speakers at the workshop was the subject of internationalization and the want to establish student exchange programs between U.S. and Taiwan universities. Mr. Brendon Lo of Chengchi University enforced this when he noted that internationalization is one of the main focuses at Taiwan’s universities, including bringing international students to Taiwan. Dr. Anne Therese Falkenstein of Providence University spoke of how much P.U. values international, cultural, and educational exchanges and offers incentives such as full tuition scholarships to all international students entering their university. Ms. Hsiang-Ping Ma, Section Chief of the Bureau of International Cultural and Education Relations of the Ministry of Education, also reported that the number of study abroad scholarships offered by the MOE has been increasing.

U.S. schools are also interested in establishing student exchange programs and have hopes that more of their students will study abroad in Taiwan. Mr. Mark Hallett of Colorado State University addressed this topic by saying that CSU currently has an agreement with National Taiwan University and is seeking additional partners in Taiwan in the areas of infectious diseases, environmental science, etc.

Mr. Nicholas Papp, Director of AIT’s American Cultural Center, went on to talk about the “Transformational Power of Global Partnerships.” He presented a graph showing the increasing number of Taiwan’s students going to the U.S. over the years. With declining birth rates, Taiwan will need global partnerships, said Papp. He recommended that U.S. school representatives visit EducationUSA advising centers in Taiwan. As part of his presentation, Mr. Papp showed a diagram of a pyramid with the following concepts listed from bottom to top: awareness, interest, knowledge, advocacy, and action. Papp stressed that this pattern is important because it provides a plan for achieving goals.

Mr. Gregory Harris, Commercial Officer at AIT, explained that the FCS (Foreign Commercial Service) does matching with agents through fee-based services. Competition for students in Taiwan is tight, he said. He noted that U.S. business programs have been strong. Harris indicated that he sees opportunities for 4-year universities and ESL programs. He said that there are 100 seats for every seven students in Taiwan’s universities. Harris recommended the web site www.export.gov to access the market research library for data on Taiwan.

Dr. Lin of Leadchief, an agency in Taiwan, noted that his agency does their part to promote cultural exchange by providing student placement for several U.S. universities as well as promoting opportunities for American students to come to Asia. He is currently working on joint master’s programs in Asia-Pacific countries.

Open Discussion:

On the topic of studying abroad and establishing exchange programs, the workshop participants expressed many concerns. These concerns included: students obtaining sufficient language proficiency then they go abroad, students being accurately placed into language programs, students only studying abroad for short term programs in the summer and not staying for an entire term, international credit transferability, and the safety and legal issues associated with home stays.

Ms. Sarah Wu from Southern California University of Health Sciences and Ms. Carin Wu from Academy of Art University discussed how their schools accept diversity by letting international students know that their English language abilities do not have to be perfect and they do their best to place students in English classes depending on their level of proficiency.

When Mr. Nicholas Papp of AIT asked Mr. Brendon Lo of Chengchi University why his school’s students generally prefer to go abroad to study only in the summer, and not for an entire year. Mr. Lo replied that foreign schools do not promote their programs aggressively in Taiwan. In addition, he said that many students from Taiwan are not interested in studying abroad for a lengthy period of time.

Dr. Patrick Fong of AIEF’s Los Angeles office stated that AIEF offers several resources to help U.S. and Taiwan schools. He said that in the past AIEF has organized student ambassador programs in Taiwan for U.S. students. Participants toured Taiwan to learn about the local culture. He brought up the idea of reviving this peer promotion program, hopefully with support from the Ministry of Education, U.S. schools, and other organizations. This well help to prepare students for studying abroad so that they can better cope in a different culture. Mr. Zaid Ghori of Long Island U. agreed with the need for cultural and language preparation before studying abroad. Mr. Stephen Smith mentioned that AIEF has been providing pre-departure guidance for many years to Taiwan’s students through its EducationUSA advising center and other resources.

Dr. Kwan of China Medical University said that his institution accepts the transfer of credits from foreign partner institutions. Mr. Brendon Lo of Chengchi University said that it is up to the departments at his university to decide as to whether or not to accept credits earned from foreign institutions. Dr. Anne Therese Falkenstein of Providence University said that, before going abroad, students can go over courses they plan to take to have them pre-approved. However, she cautioned that this is not foolproof.

Ms. Marianne Vaccaro from St. Giles International spoke out in favor of home-stays, saying that they can be a great experience for international students. Her program first educates U.S. host families, she said. Mr. James Seery of the Windsor School said that many of his school’s international students stay with relatives or family friends. He also said that his school receives home-stay recommendations from American students and other home-stay families.

Conclusions & Recommended Actions:

Mr. Stephen closed by asserting that the underlying concern associated with the majority of the issues raised at the workshop seems to be “trust.” He said that this concern impacts the establishment of partnerships between institutions, the transferability of credits, the arrangement of home-stays, and many other issues. Offering AIEF’s services to facilitate cooperation between U.S. and Taiwan institutions, Smith encouraged the workshop participants to take an active role in helping to build trust in order to benefit their own and their partner institutions or organizations.

Recommended Actions:

• With support from U.S. and Taiwan educational institutions and organizations, AIEF should continue to organize this type of workshop in conjunction with its American Education Fairs in Taiwan. 

• Encourage U.S. schools to offer English placement tests in Taiwan to establish the understanding between Taiwan students and U.S. schools on English proficiency acceptance.

• Establish a network to encourage student exchanges between U.S. and Taiwan schools.

• Add an internship component to study abroad programs in the U.S. and in Taiwan.

• Provide scholarships for U.S. students wishing to study in Taiwan.

Taiwan School Representatives’ Workshop Survey Results:

• 90% of representatives from Taiwan’s institutions were satisfied with the location and schedule of the workshop.

• 57% of representatives indicated that their institutions offer scholarships to students from the USA.

• Areas that they would like to see developed: student exchanges (32%), school visits (26%), summer study programs (26%), placement counseling (11%), other (5%).

• Topics about which that they hope to receive information: studying in the USA (29%), cooperation with U.S. schools on curriculum (29%), American students studying in Taiwan (21%), internships in the USA (14%), other (7%).

• Two representatives from central Taiwan expressed the hope that a future workshop could be held at a location closer to their institutions.