What you need to know
Among the foreign students surveyed, most consider staying in Taiwan for future plans and a large number agree they enjoy freedom of speech here. Yet less than half of the Chinese students surveyed think there is a democratic system in Taiwan.
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The Foundation for International Cooperation of Higher Education established by the Ministry of Education recently conducted an Internet survey on nearly 2,800 foreign students in Taiwan.
The results show that 90% of bachelor degree students, Mandarin-speaking students and nearly 80% overseas students would encourage their friends to study in Taiwan. The reasons include fine academic quality, a great living environment, reasonable tuition and scholarship system.
Among the students surveyed, 83.89% of “foreign degree students," 86.87% of “overseas Chinese students" and 82.45% of “Mandarin-speaking students" indicate that they’re willing to stay in Taiwan to work or intern after graduation if offered great opportunities. Nearly 90% of foreign degree students, around 70% of overseas Chinese students and more than 80% of the Mandarin-speaking students recommend others to learn Chinese in Taiwan.
Also, according to the survey, when asked, “Is Taiwan a place with freedom of speech?" nearly 80% of the students surveyed agree. However, only 36.7% of the Chinese students agreed when asked, “Does Taiwan currently have a democratic system?"
This can be implied from the long debated argument of whether or not Chinese students should be included in the health care system. A Ph.D. student from National Chung Cheng University submitted the letter to the press in December 2013, questioning the public, “Facing the consequence of Chinese students being left out of the health care system, many of them, including me, feel suspicious towards democracy in Taiwan. What happened to your democracy system? Isn’t democracy about universal value which mainly includes human rights in life and health?"
As for knowledge of Taiwan’s political situation, more than 90% of the respondents know that Taiwan will hold a presidential election in the near future. The remaining categories of respondents, rating between 70% and 80%, know the presidential election will be held in 2016.
Translated by Yuan-ling Liang
Edited by Olivia Yang
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