Universities are urging the government to decide whether to admit foreign students into Taiwan as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. Taiwan has closed its borders to all non-resident foreigners to keep COVID-19 at bay.
The education ministry says that it took part in a Cabinet meeting on the issue of readmitting foreign students Wednesday evening. However, the ministry says that it is still too early to reach a final decision. The ministry says more time is needed to observe the course of the pandemic overseas and assess when the time is right to reopen Taiwan’s borders.
This news has the heads of several universities concerned.
Liao Ching-Jong, President of National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, says this time of the year is a key period for recruiting students from overseas.
Liao says that if the government is slow in deciding whether these students will be allowed in, they may give up on studying in Taiwan. He says that if talented students decide to go elsewhere, Taiwan will lose out. He says he thinks the government should make its decision within the next two weeks.
The President of National Chi Nan University, Yuhlong Oliver Su, shares Liao’s concern about the impact a delay could have.
Su says that this is the time of the year when international students decide where to go study abroad. He says he believes the government must decide on admitting international students by August 15 at the latest to avoid disrupting the start of the fall semester.
The President of National Chengchih University, Kuo Ming-cheng, meanwhile, says that it will be difficult to reopen to international students if Taiwan insists on keeping its number of new COVID-19 cases at zero. He says it would be to Taiwan’s advantage to begin partially reopening to international students.