2. Private school in Taiwan
2.3. International schools for foreign residents
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The article 83 of the Private School Law specifies the possibility to establish school for foreign children.
‘’Citizens of the Republic of China, foreigners, and foreign legal persons legally accredited to do so may set up private elementary schools, junior and senior high schools, and affiliated preschools in the Republic of China, exclusively for students with foreign nationality.(...)’’ Private School Law, article 83.
The ‘’Regulations for the Establishment and Management of Private Elementary Schools, Junior and Senior High Schools, and Affiliated Preschools for International Residents’’
revised in 2013 review over 40 article the condition to run international school.
2.3. International schools for foreign residents
Taiwan increasingly interacts with the global community and over the year numerous international schools opened in the island. These schools provide education for foreigners located in Taiwan, with education based on their home curriculum. Instructions are convey in English, German, French, Korean or Japanese, based on their curricula.
The MOE is listing on its website the educational Institutions for Foreign Resident, including the Private High Schools, Lower Grade Schools and Affiliated Kindergartens for International residents at the K-12 level.
1 Taipei American School 2 Taipei Korean School
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4 Taipei Bethany American School 5 Taipei Japanese School
6 Taipei European School
7 Taipei Adventist American School 8 Grace Christian Academy
9 Hsinchu International School 10 Hsinchu American School 11 Pacific American School 12 Taichung Japanese School 13 American School in Taichung 14 Morrison Academy
15 Morrison Academy Kaohsiung 16 Kaohsiung American School 17 Kaohsiung Japanese School 18 Kaohsiung Korean School
19 Dominican International School Kaohsiung
Some school are not listed here but belong to the international school based on less strict criteria. The International School Consultancy (ISC Research)8 listed 29 schools in its last report as belonging to the international school in Taiwan.
In fact another type of international schools had developed around the island. Those private schools often integrate Chinese and English into the curricula and coursework. They employ
8 www.iscresearch.com/
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faculty and staff of international backgrounds, and recruit in the pool of local students. They emphasize multicultural campus life and adopt a mix of Taiwan curriculum with bilingual programme, some with a Christ-Centered community. They prepare students for entrance of overseas university, mainly in USA. These new trends in education represent Taiwan’s dedication to meeting the new challenges of globalization while coping with its rising awareness of local demand.
We can identify some school entering this category:
1. Taipei Wego Private Bilingual Senior High School 2. Taipei Fushing Private School
3. Taipei Private Tsai Hsing School
4. Taipei Private Dongshan Junior High school 5. Kang Chiao International School (Taipei Campus) 6. Taipei Kuei Shan School
7. I-Shou International School in Kaohsiung 8. Victoria Academy in Yunlin
9. Pu Tai Senior High School in Nantou
In 2011 the European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan (ECCT) CEO, Freddie Hoeglund, said that international school had a crucial role in relocate expatriate from Europe in Taiwan.
Corporation support the establishment of such school. The Japanese, American and European school are all operated as non-profit and rely also partly on corporate sponsorship.
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The quality of the school is a great matter for its supporter and the yardstick to measure it is the acceptance for prestigious university in Europe, USA or Canada.
The Japanese, American and European school are all located in the same area, in the Shilin District, or Tianmu. The first of those three international schools to be established in Taiwan was the American school.
After the Korean War started in 1950, USA stationed its troupes in Taiwan. Embassy and military were located along the Zhongshan North Road, around the area of the current domestic airport. The first American school were located in this area, then relocated in Tianmu, in the land occupy currently by the European school. Later on the school expanded and move to the 6th Section of the Zhongshan North Road, in front of the Japanese School and have both its primary and Secondary School in the same campus.
The European school, have a more recent history, it was created in 1992 when both French, British and German school decide to join and share a common campus, in the premise of the old American school in the Wenlin Road. Today the three school fully integrated have students based on two campus, the primary school on the Wenlin road campus and the Secondary School in Yangminshan, Yangde Avenue, not far from the Culture University.
Before USA switch its relationship to China in 1979, the American school was packed with military personnel children and had enrolment up to 3,000 students. Following the drop of enrolment after the military retired, in the mid 1980, however classroom filled up again with children of executive that were overseen the manufacturing in Taiwan.
In 1980 Taiwan open its high tech science park in Hsinchu and it’s also impacted the demographics of international schools. The effect was a reverse brain drain and many
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Taiwanese engineer and scientist return home, and were in demand of international education for their children. The increase of dual-national brings a change in enrolment demographics from school solely based on foreigners to a new equilibrium with more and more dual-citizen, principally American Taiwanese. In 2005 the American School in Hsinchu opened and is registered with the American Institute in Taiwan and is in the process of accreditation with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Kaohsiung American School was established in 1989 as an elementary school serving the needs of local and expatriate families.
The increase number of dual-national students, is part of the global trends of the international schools, were nearly 80% of English-medium international schools come from the host country, as survey by the ISC Research Team. Even as Taiwan, and also China, is restricting the enrolment in the international schools to foreign passport holders, the enrolment of local students had increased over the year. In fact many wealthy family or parents that lived abroad are able to secure a foreign passport for their kids, and the trend is increasing with globalization. This restriction however had been pointed in the past as market barrier entry for foreign investor school. It was not the case in Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore were international school developed rapidly in the past decades.
Schools run by the government, need to comply to the national curriculum and prepare students to the national exams. There are mechanism set by the government to control the quality of teaching, training and select teachers, and guarantee a level of public education in line with the population expectation and the country needs.
The private school however, are more or less, under the market control. Parent’s have choice to choose between the public or private education or between different private institutions.
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Even if the law and the government require some guarantee in term of quality of education, some other mechanism need to be setup to monitor the school credentials.
Private school, are free on the use of the curriculum and will often differentiate themselves with public education, by offering another alternative approach or educational philosophy, as Waldorf, Montessori, for the kindergarten or the primary school. World to mouth play an important role in school selection, were parents getting recommendation through friends, family, social media or parental forums.
For Junior or Senior High School, parent’s expectations are often link with the higher study.
Therefore the schools prepare the students for the best university and make sure that the school will be recognized by the worldwide university. In this process, the school have to choose a curriculum that would provide the best chance for acceptance in the western universities. School will often offer Advanced Placement Capstone Diploma (APCD) or an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma.
The IB Global Centre located in Singapore is in charge of the IB schools in Taiwan. The following school offer International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma in Taiwan:
1. I-Shou International School 2. Kang Chiao International School 3. Kaohsiung International School 4. Taipei American School
5. Taipei European School 6. Taipei Kuei Shan School 7. Victoria Academy
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Most of the international school seeking additional recognition through accreditation bodies, that can give guarantee of teaching for schools all over the world. Here is a list of accreditations.
1. Council of International Schools (CIS). A school evaluation based against internationally-agreed standard.
2. Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ACSWASC), accrediting association and one of the six regional accrediting agencies in the United States.
3. Advanced, a non-profit, non-governmental organization that accredits primary and secondary schools throughout the United States and internationally
4. New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), guarantee the quality of specific programs.
5. Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSACS), peer evaluation and regional accreditation of public and private secondary/high schools
6. Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI), accreditation program for secondary and elementary schools based on Christian philosophy of education 7. Centre for British Teaching (CFBT), an Education Development Trust and an
UK-registered charity
In addition schools can also join federations. The Federation of British International Schools in Asia (FOBISIA) stays aligned with current practices in British education, provides professional development for educators and opportunities for inter-school competitions and enrichment (sports games, Model United Nations…).
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guarantee or framework can be in place. The Taipei American School benefit from an agreement concerning the legal status and operating privilege, sign between the American Institute in Taiwan and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States, This agreement offer some advantage as tax rate or exemptions. The French Section of the Taipei European School has signed a partnership agreement respectively with the Agency for French Education Abroad (AEFE), the German Section of the Taipei European School with the Central Agency for Schools Abroad (ZfA). Close tight between school and home country is often a guarantee seek by expatriate family for their children's education while travelling abroad. In addition, government often offer diplomatic support, subsidies to schools, staffing or grant to students.
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