The Taiwan/China relationship is complicated. Since 2008, with the election of the Kuomintang’s (KMT’s) Ma Ying-jeou as president, there has been a dramatic lessening of tensions on the business, political and diplomatic fronts. This has been marked with the opening of regular direct flights across both sides of the Taiwan straits and direct shipping links between the island and mainland China.

However, when it comes to higher education, relations have still not completely opened up. While there is wide agreement that there would be benefits if there was cross recognition of each side’s university accreditation, there are still many worries about the short-term challenges this would pose. This is particularly true in Taiwan, where all discussions about China are potentially political. Taiwan’s opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) which is pro-Taiwan independence, and is only now slowly emerging from under the shadow of the previous Taiwan president Chen Shui-bian, has been quick to capitalize on fears of the island being over-run, if not by the People’s Liberation Army, then by mainland Chinese graduates of universities and colleges in Taiwan. The party is particularly strong in southern Taiwan in the cities of Kaohsiung and Tainan, and which continue to be DPP dominated even though most of Taiwan’s other counties have come under the rule of KMT supported candidates.

Background to the problem

For Taiwan, its higher education problem began in the 1980s, when Taiwan’s Ministry of Education sought to widen the number of students accepted into the island’s universities. Like China, university admissions were determined through university entrance exams and up until the 70s, average annual admissions were in the region of 11%. As Taiwan democratized, local politicians supported the opening of new colleges and universities as a way to build local popularity among their voter base. At the same time, the Ministry of Education loosened up restrictions on the opening of new universities and colleges. The end result today is that now, everyone who wants to attend university on the island is able to gain admittance. 

But it has not just stopped there. Today, there is an excess of universities and colleges in Taiwan, with 147 private and public colleges and universities serving the island’s 1.2 million students. Of this number, 1/3 of the schools are public, while 2/3 are private. While the public institutions are directly chartered and managed by the Ministry of Education, the private institutions are also indirectly financially supported for up to 15% of their annual budgets, also by the Ministry of Education. This has created an additional financial burden on Taiwan’s economy, which has faced higher unemployment and a smaller tax revenue base as more businesses have relocated their manufacturing to China.

Adding to Taiwan’s current problems are the brutal reality of Taiwan’s low birth rate and age demographics which means that many smaller universities and colleges are operating at far below their normal student capacity.

For political reasons, it is almost impossible for the Ministry of Education to shut down some of the universities and colleges, since such a move would be unpopular with both alumni of the affected institutions and local politicians. The only acceptable solution is to increase the number of students admitted. For this, the most readily available Chinese-speaking source of students pursuing higher education is China.

The China Challenge

In contrast to Taiwan, only some 60% of Chinese students are admitted to university and college in China every year. Since university education is a prerequisite for white collar jobs in China’s cities, these exams are a major annual event in the country, with parents accompanying what is usually their only child as they sit the exams. The Chinese government deliberately wants to move its population up the value chain, from the first generation, which was largely uneducated rural farmers working in factories at low wages, and now wants more educated factory workers and city workers. For this reason,  government policy wants to speed up the number of Chinese attending university. University enrollment in 2009 was 6.4 million in 2009, compared to 5.7 million in 2007 and only 2.2 million in 2000.  

Because of China’s thirty year old one-child policy, the age demographics of the country is moving back; this precludes China’s Ministry of Education from opening more universities and colleges, since at most, the new institutions would only operate at full capacity for only a few years before running into the same problems facing Taiwan’s surplus of higher education institutions. China experienced large population growth in the 50s and 60s, and that particular age group of the workforce will start retiring in 2015, slowing demand for higher education in China. In the period after 2015, the size of China’s workforce will essentially fall off a cliff.

So, from almost everyone’s point of view, the answer is simple. Admit Chinese students to Taiwan’s schools for higher education. The only dissenters  from this view on Taiwan are the hardline pro-Taiwan independence advocates who see this as yet another compromise to China’s authorities by the Ma administration, and depict the Chinese students as a potential fifth column, destined to change the character of the island to something much more closely resembling China. 

The Accreditation Question

So what has held back the development of education relations? For years, many Taiwanese have gone to study in China’s universities, but Taiwan’s Ministry of Education has continued to refuse to recognize Chinese diplomas. For years, this was because Chen Shui-bian, while serving as president (2000-2008), deliberately wanted to put a brake on the development of relations, and in the education field, one of the easiest ways was to refuse accreditation for Chinese universities on the island, preventing many Taiwanese from finding jobs on the island after returning from study in China because mainland diplomas were not recognized on the island. According to Nathan Chow, director of Shih Hsin University in Taiwan, this restrictive period under the Chen presidency severely hurt Taiwan’s economic standing, making it less competitive than other countries in Asia which did not place restrictions on economic and education ties with China.

Even though Ma Ying-jeou was elected in 2008, recent election setbacks on the island have forced the KMT to take a hard look at the pace of the development of its relations with China. Ma has been criticized for poor planning in opening Taiwan’s relations with China, and his DPP critics have been able to win in local elections on the island. DPP legislators have selected the education issue as a potential sign of capitulation to China. Since the DPP is now in the opposition, it has been under less pressure to come up with a counter-proposal to the KMT’s openings on the educational front to China, even though they have no ready solution to the excess number of universities and the increased financial burden placed on the government.

According to Nathan Chow, the criticism has centered around five major questions:

 

  • What is the true purpose of opening up education in Taiwan to Chinese students?
  • Do Chinese students actually want to study in Taiwan?
  • Does Taiwan only want the worst students from China coming to Taiwan?
  • Is it fair for Taiwan to subsidize Chinese students, and to take from Taiwan students’ quotas?
  • Will this solve the problem of excess private universities in Taiwan?

Faced with these questions, the Ma administration has been forced into a defensive posture by the opposition pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party.

 

Since China’s population base is so much larger than Taiwan’s, China’s Ministry of Education has been much more generous about recognizing Taiwan’s universities and diplomas. Many Taiwanese, unable to find work because of the accreditation issue, have chosen to find work in China instead, or to move on to other countries. In the past year, the Chinese authorities, recognizing the value of China-educated Taiwanese, have opened up their labor restrictions, making it easier for them to find work permanently in China, instead of forcing them to return to Taiwan. 

A Turning Point for Taiwan, China? 

As with so many issues in Taiwan, anything with a China angle is likely to be highly politicized. This is even true when improved education relations between China and Taiwan are likely to accrue to the benefit of both sides. In Taiwan, the Ma administration will have to work on a comprehensive and detailed education plan which will be implemented with care, and which will show clear benefits to the island’s people, if he is going to hope to win in another term in 2012.