International Student Recruiting Policies in Asia Pacific Countires : A Comparative Education Study
Anita Zi-chun Chu1, Regina Ju-chun Chu2, Natalie Shiao-Jen Jin3
1Assistant Professor, Department of Tourism & Hospitality Management, Tamkang University
2 Assistant Professor Graduate Institute of Technological & Vocational Education, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology
3 Associate Researcher, National Science Council
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to provide a comparative research of educational
internationalization policies in Asian countries for their inbound international students.
This study compared nation’s policy of international student recruiting in the view of
vision and implementation, including award application qualification, study field,
scholarship content, scholarship quota, selection method, grant period, service
commitment and related authorities. The countries included in this study are China,
Australia, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, and Taiwan. Developed countries’ policy may
provide a benchmark for Taiwan government in attracting international students to
study in Taiwan for the purpose of promoting Taiwan’s competence. The research
results should be beneficial as reference to educational policy makers to design their
country’s international education policies.
Keywords: International education; Human Resource Development; Comparative
Education; International student recruiting
國家高等人力培育---亞洲國家國際學生招募政策之比較教育 研究
朱子君1、朱如君2、金曉珍3
1淡江大學旅遊與旅館管理學系助理教授
2國立台灣科技大學技術及職業教育研究所助理教授
3行政院國家科學委員會副研究員
摘要
本研究的目的在於提供以比較研究為基礎之亞洲各國教育國際化政策探
討。本研究比較了中國、澳洲、新加坡、日本、馬來西亞以及台灣的招收國際學
生政策。從政策計劃之遠景、執行面、申請資格限制、學習領域、獎學金內容、
獎學金之配額、甄選方式以及標準、獎勵期限以及服務要求等面向一一探討各國
之特色。研究發現，在人才需求迫切以及流動快速的今日，國家對於國際人才知
吸引以及關係之建立之積極度，影響了國家的競爭力，以先進國家的招收國際學
生政策為標竿，可以提升台灣對於國際學生之吸引力。此研究結果對於教育政策
制定者在規劃國家高級人力培育政策上具有一定程度的貢獻以及參考價值。
關鍵字：教育國際化、人力資源發展、比較教育、國際學生招募
Knight (2004) defined the internationalization of education as the trend and
process that the education of a country develops towards the international society.
The USA, Britain, France, and Germany were the main target countries of
international students. In the Asian-Pacific Area, only Australia and Japan ranked
seventh and eighth, respectively, in 1990, and sixth and seventh in 1995, were among
the top ten target countries of international students. In 2001, Australia became the
fifth largest target country for international students, recruiting more than 120,987
foreign students, and Japan still occupied the seventh place, accepting 63,673 foreign
students (Dai, 2004). As Australia and Japan were the major target countries of
international students in the Asian-Pacific Area, a discussion of their related policies
on how to attract foreign students is worthwhile.
The Japanese government believed that high-quality human resources laid the
foundation for the development of a country and society. The international education
policies could assist developing countries to bring up talents, as to make intellectual
contributions to the international society. More importantly, through these policies it
could establish friendly relationships with other countries and strengthen national
competitiveness (Ministry of Education and Science, 2004). Dai (2004) also pointed
out that the provision of chances for Taiwanese students to study abroad, the
employment of professors with international professional capabilities, and the
recruitment of foreign students constituted the current main strategy for the
internationalization of education in Taiwan. Education in Taiwan was
internationalized to enable Taiwanese students to have international competitiveness,
to improve its quality and international status, to enhance the cooperation and
exchanges between Taiwan and other countries in this field, and to promote the
international friendship.
This research selected Mainland China, Australia, Japan and Malaysia as the
main subjects and explored their international education policies. It was also
beneficial to probe into related policies in Singapore which also has a small area and
limited natural resources. Therefore, this research used these countries for reference,
introducing their international education policies recruiting international students.
1. 1. Mainland China
Besides sending talents to study abroad, Mainland China set up kinds of
scholarship programs to attract foreign students and scholars to participate in learning,
training, and research activities in China, in order to deepen the understanding and
friendship between Chinese and people in other countries and strengthen the exchange
and cooperation with other regions in education, technology, culture, economy and
trade fields. According to the scholarship programs, 2,145 foreign students were
recruited in 2001 and the number of foreign students receiving Chinese Government
Scholarships amounted to 2,091, coming from 135 countries in 2002 (Chinese
scholarship Council, 2007). In 2007, Chinese Government Scholarships provided full
or partial scholarship for the nations, institutions or schools which had signed
exchange agreements with Mainland China. The foreign students receiving full
scholarships could not only be exempt from registration fee, tuition fee, fee for
laboratory experiment, fee for internship, fee for basic learning materials and
intramural accommodation, but also get international traveling subsidies and the
allowances for traffic fares spent in China when enrolling and graduating. Foreign
students could also get a fixed living allowance every month; the students who studied
in China for at most six months could receive the one-off settlement subsidy of RMB
300; the students staying in China for at least one school year could obtain the
settlement subsidy of RMB 600 and receive comprehensive health insurance during
this period. The partial scholarship students had no settlement and no traffic subsidies.
Mainland China not only welcomed foreign students to pursue their
undergraduate, master’s and doctoral courses in China, but also provided scholarships
for Chinese language learning. For general visiting students and senior visiting
students, China encouraged university students and professors to come for a
short-term exchange.
The Great Wall Fellowship was a full scholarship program provided by the
Ministry of Education of China for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to recruit general visiting students and senior
visiting students and to arrange one-year courses taught in English for them. The data
of all applicants were sent by UNESCO to China Scholarship Council, and individual
applications would not be accepted. In 2007, this program provided 25 quotas for
foreign students: the Study in Asia Scholarship --- another full scholarship --- was set
up by the Ministry of Education of China to promote the exchange and understanding
between Chinese and people from other Asian countries. This program sponsored
general visiting students and senior visiting students, and in 2007 it provided a total of
20 quotas; the Distinguished International Students Scholarship was set up to sponsor
outstanding international students who had finished their bachelor’s or master’s
education in China and decided to continue to study in China for their master degree
or doctorate degree. In 2007, this program provided 50 quotas: the Short-term
Scholarship Scheme for the Teachers of Chinese Language from Abroad was
organized by Beijing Language & Culture University and Beijing Normal University
to encourage the teachers from various countries who had been teaching Chinese for
at least three years to come to China and research Chinese teaching methods; the
Chinese Culture Research Fellowship provided short-term exchanges in China for the
experts and scholars from specific fields (China Scholarship Council, 2007).
The various kinds of scholarship schemes set up by the China Scholarship
Council indicated that the policies of recruiting international students were made to
boost internationalization of education and academic exchanges because only
educational background and age of the foreign students were restricted, and especially,
the foreign teachers teaching Chinese in their own countries and the experts
researching Chinese culture were encouraged to participate in related exchange
activities.
1.2. Australia
After the 1990s, the international education policies in Australia had new
orientation due to the inter-dependence of international politics & economy and an
increasingly strong concept of cooperation. The Australian Education Centre pointed
out in 1992 that internationalization and international education could help Australian
education develop towards a system of more international orientation (Liang, 1997).
Australian international education policies focused on attracting foreign students
to study in Australia. About 20% of the income of Australian universities was the
tuition fees paid by foreign students (Australian Education Centre, 2007). The
statistics announced by the Australian government showed that the university
registration fees contributed by foreign students amounted to USD 1.5 billion in 2004
(Wang, 2006). Using the Asia-Pacific area as an example, the number of foreign
students in Australia was more than 120,000 in 2001, inclusive of over 60,000
students from Japan and over 6,000 students from Taiwan. From Table 1, we learn
that Australia attracted the largest number of international students in the
Asian-Pacific area.
Table 1
The Number of International Students in the Asian-Pacific Countries in 2001
Countr
y Australia Japan Malaysia New
Zealand India Taiwan South
Korea Thailand Philippines Number of
International Students
120,987 63,637 18,892 11,609 6,98
8 6,380 3,850 2,508 2,323
Source: Dao (2004), Internationalization of Higher Education: Comparative Analysis of International Students Policies of Asian Pacific Countries
The international students in Australia were mostly self-sponsored, but the
Australian government had scholarship programs in place for foreign students since
1950 in order to strengthen the contact and exchange between Australians and people
of other countries. Along with the increasing number of international students every
year, the Australian government also continuously added the quotas and sum of
scholarships. Scholarships for the Asian-Pacific students were increased by AUD
442,500,000 in budget, based on the original total sum of AUD 1.4 billion in five
years. The number of the Asian-Pacific students who could apply for the scholarships
amounted to 19,000. The Scholarship Notice Board of the Australian Education
Centre indicated whether international students could win scholarships depending on
their academic achievements, research plans, potential, and the needs of the
Australian government and their own motherland. There were six categories of
scholarships in postgraduate research courses, doctorate research courses, vocational
and technical courses, and post-doctorate research courses. All the scholarships were
given to the students in the form of one-off payment, including all kinds of allowances,
tuition fees; moreover, there was a subsidy for traveling which was an especial item
rarely found in other countries’ international education policies. The subsidy items in
Australian international education policies indicated how much the Australian
government valued foreign students (Australia Education Centre, 2007).
1.3. Singapore
In spite of being a small area, Singapore has a strong competitiveness. When
researching the human resources structure and personnel policies in Singapore, Bao,
Tu, and Chu (2005) discovered that Singaporean government used relaxed
immigration policies and all sorts of preferential measures to attract foreign talents,
which made the non-native research and development talents account for a high
proportion. This phenomenon was rarely found in other Asian countries. In addition to
active measures to attract foreign talents, the budget for education was second only to
that for national defense in Singapore, which showed how the Singaporean
government valued the education of talents. In the analysis of the international
education policies in Singapore, Chin(2001) observed that the Singapore education
system, according to the 1991 Singapore Education Law, provided 10- to 11- year
general education which included six-year primary education and four- to five-year
secondary education--this was considered as the second education reform in
Singapore.
In the recruitment of foreign students, Singapore had a total of four financial
assistance schemes for these students: Firstly, tuition was sponsored by the Singapore
Ministry of Education, and only students studying in the three Singapore local
universities and Singapore Polytechnic could apply for it and had to sign contracts
with the Singapore government to promise to serve the companies in Singapore for
three years after graduation; Secondly, each college or university could decide by
themselves the policies of study grants. Foreign students could apply for study grants
to pay for their tuition and other expenses. The examination criteria of study grants
depended upon the foreign students’ economic situation; and the highest grant for a
school year could be as much as SGD1,500, about USD1,000; Meanwhile, foreign
students could apply for loans with favorable interests and the allowed highest loan
was as much as 80% of their tuition. Scholarships were also provided for foreign
students and were decided on by the applicants’ learning capability, leadership &
organizational ability and academic performance (Ministry of Education, Singapore,
2007).
1.4. Japan
According to Offers for the 21st Century International Education Policies in
1983 and Promotion of the 21st Century International Education Policies in 1984, the
Ministry of Education and Science in Japan worked out the One Hundred Thousand
International Students Program up to 2000 (Lin, 2002). The Ministry of Education
and Science along with Japanese universities made great efforts in order to implement
this program. The corresponding measures summarized by Horie were as follows (Dai,
2004):
a. to improve the quality of university education and research and to meet
the needs of international students for courses and teaching;
b. to amend the regulations of awarding degrees and shorten the time of
getting Doctorate degree;
c. to provide international students with financial assistance by increasing
the quota of scholarship students and arranging cheap accommodation;
d. to offer language training courses in order to adapt international students
to the life and study in Japan.
This program was a great success from 1983 to 1992: international students
increased at the average rate of 20.1% every year. But after 1992, the Japanese
economy went into downturn period, and the recruitment of international students also
faced difficulty. In 1997, the Ministry of Education and Science adopted the following
three measures (Dai, 2004):
a. to improve the quality of university education and the administrative
efficiency;
b. to provide more complete information for the international students who
planned to study in Japan;
c. to establish cooperative relationship between local governments and
private sectors for international students.
Although the program of recruiting 100,000 international students up to 2000
was not achieved, the statistics in 2004 showed that there had been 109,508 foreign
students studying in Japan. Table 2 showed the source countries of international
students in Japan and the proportion of Chinese students was still going up.
Table 2
The Major Source Countries of International Students in Japan in 2004
Country China South
Korea Taiwan Malaysia Thailand Indones
ia Vietnam USA Bangladesh Mongolia Others Number of
International Students
70,814 (1,748)
15,871 (971)
4,235 (-)
2,002 (276)
1,641 (622)
1,479 (598)
1,336 (510)
1,310 (125)
974 (467)
714 (240)
9,132 (4,189)
Total 109,508
Note: the contents in () referred to the number of international students on government scholarships Source: MEXT (2004), Outline of the Student Exchange System in Japan.
In 2004 MEXT of Japan sponsored the following seven categories of
international students on government scholarships: postgraduates, teachers of
continuing education, undergraduates, Japanese language learning, students from
technical colleges, students from special schools and students under Youth Leadership
Program (YLP). These international students could get subsidies to pay for their
tuitions, plane tickets etc. They would obtain JPY 25,000 as the temporary allowance
in Japan and a subsidy of JPY 9,000 or JPY 12,000 every month for their
accommodation and another subsidy for 80% of the medical expenses they had paid
(MEXT, 2004).
It was clear that the international education policies in Japan mainly aimed to
recruit foreign students; and it could be found that Japanese students sponsored by
their government to study abroad were often fewer than foreign students studying in
Japan, and these Japanese students also got smaller amounts of scholarships. Japan
mainly recruited the foreign students from developing countries. Its policies explicitly
stated the source countries of international students, and in all five categories these
international students had to come from developing countries. Japan regarded its
decision as one of the contributions to the world in helping developing countries
cultivate talents.
1.5. Malaysia
At present, Malaysia has established nine public universities, one international
university, eight private universities, and over 500 private professional colleges,
providing junior college courses to doctorate courses. The majors in these colleges
and universities cover business administration, electronic engineering, art and design,
multimedia production, computer applications, fashion design, architecture, tourism
management etc. Currently, a vast majority of public universities mainly recruit their
native students, and only a few of postgraduate courses are open to international
students; but usually private colleges and universities will not refuse foreign students
(International Cooperative and Exchange Center for Technological and Vocational
Education, 2007).
The Malaysian government began to encourage civil and foreign units to
establish universities in 1995. Up until 2000, there had been a total of eleven public
universities, seven private universities, branch campuses of three foreign universities,
and over 400 private colleges. Most of the private colleges could provide dual degrees
because they had established cooperative relationship with some foreign universities,
which gave the Malaysian government the confidence to change Malaysia from a
main source country into a target country for international students in 2020 (Dai,
2004). The evolvement of Malaysian international education policies indicated that
the unfair ethnic policies and the shortage of universities in early days made a large
number of Malaysian students choose to study abroad, but along with the investment
in domestic higher education, this trend had been slowed. The Malaysian government
had begun to center its international education policies on the recruitment of foreign
students.
1.6. Taiwan
Tsai (2003) found that the foreign students in Taiwan who were enrolled for the
purpose of international exchanges mainly came from Asia. The Ministry of
Education in Taiwan recognized the efforts of some colleges and universities in the
implementation of educational internationalization by offering them financial support.
Currently, in Taiwan 144 college and universities have signed 3,077 contracts of
academic exchange with 1,639 colleges and universities from 75 countries all over the
world. The statistics in the recent two years as shown in Table 3, indicates the
increase of international exchange and cooperation in the education circle of Taiwan.
According to Table 4 – the statistics of educational internationalization from Ministry
of Education (2005), colleges and universities in Taiwan are actively making
programs with some foreign equivalent institutions about exchange teachers and
students, cooperation and research. On the other hand, the Ministry of Education
(2006d) aims to have enrolled 12,830 foreign students until 2011, so it encourages
colleges and universities in Taiwan to expand the scale of recruiting foreign students
by providing financial aids; and those making good achievements in this respect could
be awarded, at most, NTD 10,000,000.
Table 3
The Number of Contracts for International Academic Exchange and Cooperation Signed by Colleges and Universities in Taiwan in 2005-2006
Table 4 The Statistics Table of the International Academic Exchange Activities of College and Universities in Taiwan in 2006
Indicator Achieved Number
Number of Exchange Teachers 397
Number of Exchange Students 2,501
Number of Theses Contributed to Foreign Journals 19,369 Number of International Seminars, Symposia 964 Number of Foreign Partner Colleges and Universities 939 Number of Academic Cooperation and Exchange
Programs with Foreign Colleges and Universities 649 Number of Colleges and Universities Setting up
Dedicated Units for Foreign Students 57
Number of Colleges and Universities Offering Courses
Taught in English / Number of programs (departments) 30 / 115 Number of College and Universities Establishing Dual
Degrees with Foreign Equivalents 30
Source: Ministry of Education e-newsletter (2006a), Various Data on the Internationalization of Education
Ministry of Education e-newsletter (2007), Statistics for the International
Academic Exchange of Colleges and Universities in Taiwan The number of
foreign students coming to Taiwan also increased from 7,844 in 2004 to 13,070 in
2007. As Table 5 shows, these students were mainly from Asia, America and Europe,
Year Number of
Contracts
Number of Colleges and Universities in Taiwan
Number of Foreign Colleges and Universities
Total Number of Partner Colleges and Universities
2005 566 108 421 394
2006 746 119 502 425
and most of them were Asians, especially Japanese students occupying the largest
proportion.
Table 5
The Number, Major Source Countries and Proportion of Foreign Students in Taiwan
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Number
of Students
%
Number of Students
%
Number of Students
%
Number of Students
%
Number of Students
%
Japan 1,520 23.8 1,832 25.0 1,825 23.3 1,879 19.5 2,126 22.1 USA 790 12.4 849 11.6 862 11.0 1,252 13.0 1,452 15.1 Indonesia 1,158 18.2 961 13.1 1,002 12.8 1,391 14.5 1,394 14.5 South Korea 1,038 16.3 1,223 16.7 1,112 14.2 1,115 11.6 1,254 13.0
Malaysia 83 1.3 146 2.0 194 2.5 332 3.5 425 4.4
Canada 250 3.9 243 3.3 304 3.9 361 3.8 360 3.7
Thailand 162 2.5 175 2.4 202 2.6 279 2.9 332 3.5
France 114 1.8 147 2.0 160 2.0 169 1.8 228 2.4
Britain 131 2.1 131 1.8 140 1.8 178 1.9 194 2.0
Australia 83 1.3 107 1.5 118 1.5 116 1.2 189 2.0 Ministry of Education (2006b), the Table of the Number of Foreign Students in Taiwan
The above research and the measures made by the government to promote the
internationalization of education revealed that one of the important methods that
Taiwan adopted to internationalize its education was to recruit foreign students. The
statistics of related data displayed that the number of Taiwanese students of foreign
students coming to Taiwan increased, which could be attributed to the implementation
of related policies.
2. Comparative Analysis of Policies Regarding International Study
The research adapted the comparative study steps by Bereday (1964): description,
interpretation, juxtaposition and comparison. The international education policies of
Aisa-Pacific countries were stated, the following sections compare foreign students
recruiting policies of various countries and regions by aspects of vision and
implementation. With respect to vision, the main purposes of the international
education polices are compared while a country-to-country comparison by seven
indicators regarding implementation of these policies is conducted. The indicators are
as follows: application qualifications and requirements, research field, scholarship
content, scholarship quota, selection method, grant period, and responsible
organization. The following is the comparative analysis of various indicators:
2.1. Comparison of Vision on Encouraging Foreign Students
The main purpose of establishing governmental scholarships by Mainland China
is to promote the mutual understanding and friendship between Chinese people and
people of foreign countries. The counterparts shall be countries, organizations or
schools that have signed exchange agreements with Mainland China. It can be seen
that the enrolling foreign students is consistent with encouraging studying abroad.
Namely, facilitate students going abroad by enrolling foreign students. However, the
Japanese policies regarding enrolling foreign students start from making contribution
to the world and cultivating talents for developing countries. In the spirit of this ideal,
Japan mainly enrolls foreign students from developing nations. And the scholarships
of Australia are aimed at promoting the links and relationship with people around the
rest of the world, in particular, the countries in the Asia-Pacific Region. The
international education policies and immigration policies of Singapore are meant to
introduce into the country more talents from foreign countries, and to promote
national competitiveness. In recent years, Malaysia has been making great efforts to
enroll foreign students, hoping to become a major foreign student target country by
2020. Meanwhile, the country is expecting to become a developed nation by that time.
The purpose of Taiwan scholarships is to promote understanding and knowledge of
Taiwan, support the building of the country, and cultivate useful talents for the
country in order to promote the development of industry, economics, and education as
well as global competitiveness. The scholarships directed by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs for students from countries that have diplomatic relations with Taiwan are
much more generous. This is a rather special part of Taiwan scholarships as the
studying abroad policies are mutually cooperative with foreign policies.
To integrate the policies regarding enrollment of foreign students for
classification, the policies of Mainland China and Australia are aimed at promoting
international exchange, while polices of Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan are
obviously related to the development of the country. The Japanese policies have a
broader vision of transcending national interests to cultivate talents for the world.
2.2. Comparison of Implementation of Policies Encouraging Foreign Students by
Country
2.2.1. Application Qualifications and Requirements
The Chinese government only rewards applicants from countries, organizations
or schools that have exchange agreements with China in addition to limitations on age
and education of such applicants. The applicants for an Australia scholarship have
education limitations and shall come from UMAP member states. Japan sets out
limitations on age and source countries for various scholarships by category.
Applicants of 5 categories must come from developing nations. Taiwan scholarships
have only limitation on education; and the scholarships of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs are available only to students from countries that have diplomatic relations
with Taiwan. The financial tuition support of the Singaporean government only
rewards students from three local universities, and the universities of science and
technology. The foreign student categories by country are as shown in Table 6, mainly
including undergraduates, and master degree students. Mainland China and Japan, in
particular, reward language students and educational staffs while Australia rewards
professionals in particular. Taiwan rewards foreign students both for learning Chinese
and academic study.
Table 6
Foreign Student Scholarship Application Category Comparison
Mainland China Japan Taiwan
Category
1. Undergraduate 2. Master degree 3. Doctorate 4. Chinese language learner
5. Professor
1. Undergraduate 2. Vocational college and 3.
university students 4. Master degree 5. Japanese language learner 6. Teachers
1.Undergraduate 2.Master degree 3.Doctorate
4.Chinese language learner
By comparing the age limitation on applicants of scholarships awarded by
Mainland China and Japan, it can be seen from Table 7 that Mainland China has
fewer limitations on age. In particular, the age limit for visiting professors to
Mainland China is 50 years old, indicating that Mainland China welcomes relatively
aged and veteran professors to Mainland China for international exchange. However,
Japan encourages young teachers to come to Japan for exchange.
Table 7
Age Limitation on Foreign Student Scholarship Applicant Comparison by Country
Mainland China Japan
Undergraduate Below 25 17-22
Master degree Below 35 Below 35
Language learning Below 40 18-33
Professor/teacher
Advancement Below 50 Below 35
2.2.2. Research Field
Mainland China encourages personnel from fields such as education, science and
technology, culture and trade to exchange and cooperate, while Australia Endeavor
Executive Awards offer professional training opportunities in business, industry,
education or governmental employees. In addition, the scholarships provided by the
Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan are limited to science, industry, medicine,
agriculture and other fields relating to high technology. However, the studying abroad
policies of other countries have no specific limitations on research field. Mainland
China, Japan, and Taiwan offer scholarships for learning Chinese, Japanese and
Chinese languages respectively.
2.2.3. Scholarship Content
Mainland China offers full scholarships and part scholarships with scholarship
content including registration fee, tuition, experimental fee, internship fee, basic
teaching materials fee, board and housing, international travel expenses, and domestic
transportation fee. The students may claim a one-time settlement subsidy and regular
monthly living expenses, and enjoy comprehensive medical insurance during the term
of studying. The part scholarships do not include the settlement fee and the
transportation fee. The scholarships of Australia are often provided in the form of a
total package including travel subsidies, settlement subsidy, living allowances,
language training fees and tuition. Japan compensates students for tuition, airfare, a
temporary settlement fee of JPY 25,000, a board and housing fee of JPY 9,000 or JPY
12,000 per month and payment of 80% of the actual medical expenses. Singapore
subsidizes 80% of the tuition and a scholarship of about USD1,000 per year. Taiwan’s
package includes tuition, board and housing expenses, insurance and other fees paid
on average every month.
The subsidies are listed by country as in Table 8, consisting mainly of tuition,
airfare, house and board, insurance and living allowances. Mainland China, Australia
and Japan offer foreign students one-time settlement or temporary settlement fees.
The subsidies of Mainland China are greatest in number by comparison.
Table 8
Foreign Students’ Scholarship Subsidies Comparison by Country
Mainland China Australia Singapore Japan Taiwan
airfare domestic transportation registration tuition
living expenses experimental fee internship fee basic materials board and housing settlement fee medical insurance living expenses
tuition
living expenses insurance language training fee
travel allowance settlement allowance
part of tuition scholarship
tuition airfare
living expenses temporary settlement subsidy house part of the medical expenses
tuition and other fees
house and aboard insurance living expenses
The comparison of monthly living expenses of foreign students is as shown in
Table 9. It can be seen that the monthly living expenses of Mainland China are rather
low at only USD 100 to USD 200, the main reason being that Mainland China offers
many items of subsidies leading to rather low monthly living expenses. In addition,
the only USD 1,722 average per capita GDP of Mainland China is rather lower than
those of other countries. Hence, expenses in Mainland China are lower than those in
other countries. In other countries, since the number of subsidies is less and the living
conditions are higher than China, the monthly living expenses allowance is naturally
higher than that offered by the government of Mainland China. The allowance of the
government of Australia is USD 1,200 and USD 2,000. Japan scholarship offers
masters an allowance of USD 1,500 while Taiwan offers USD 750 and USD 900 in
allowance. The differences in allowance can reflect the living conditions of these
countries. Countries of higher per capita GDP would offer higher allowances to
foreign students to meet the requirements of the local living.
Table 9
Foreign Student Scholarship Monthly Living Expenses Comparison by Country
Mainland China Australia Japan Taiwan
Undergraduate/USD About 100-140 About 1,200 About 1,150 About 750 or 900 Master/ USD About 140 About 2,000 About 1,500 About 900 Doctorate/ USD About 180 About 2,000 . About 900
In addition to the aforementioned subsidies, the governments may request
foreign students to study languages if necessary to strength their language capabilities.
It can be found from the aspect of language training that Mainland China provides
students with one to two years of Chinese language training. Australia has no
language related requirements on masters, however a half year of language training is
offered to other foreign students. Japan offers Japanese training of one year for
undergraduates, half a year for master degree students. Taiwan offers one year of
Chinese language training to students. The provision and time of language training are
related to the language popularity. Non-English speaking countries often provide
language training to help students get used to the life and study in the countries. The
language learning subsidies are listed by country in Table 10:
Table 10
Foreign student language training term comparison by country
Mainland China Australia Japan Taiwan
Undergraduate 1-2 years Half a year 1 year 1 year Master 1-2 years N. A. Half a year 1 year
Doctor 1-2 years Half a year . 1 year
2.2.4. Scholarship Quota
Mainland China subsidized about 2000 foreign students per year in 2001 and
2002. Australia supports, by various scholarships, foreign students from the
Asia-Pacific Region to as many as 19000. Japan supported more than 5000 foreign
students in 2004. Taiwan established its scholarship in 2004 and subsidized 580
foreign students that year. From the perspective of scholarship quota, Australia has
the most complicated subsidies and greatest number of foreign students, making
Australia the country in the Asia-Pacific Region to attract most foreign students.
2.2.5. Selection Method
In case of the Mainland China governmental scholarships, the governmental
organizations responsible for dispatching students to study abroad, and related
organizations or Chinese embassies, submit the related documents of the applicants to
the Study Abroad Fund Committee, which then transfers such documents to related
institutions of higher learning according to the conditions of the applicants and
willingness. Enrollment is decided by such institutions of higher learning. The roll of
those enrolled will be published by the Committee. In case of the scholarships of other
countries, review of written data is conducted according to the submitted documents.
It thus can be concluded that the selection methods of scholarships of most countries
are mainly of reviewing written documents.
2.2.6 Grant Period
Mainland China supports foreign students for 2 to 7 years, while Australia
subsidizes a month to 3 and a half years. The Japanese government offers subsidy of
one year to 5 years. The subsidies of Taiwan’s scholarships include one year for
language learning and may last between 3 to 5 years. The comparison of same subsidy
receivers is shown in Table 11. Mainland China has rather longer and more flexible
grant periods of subsidy. And such periods may be extended, depending on the
language capabilities of foreign students. And both Mainland China and Japan support
foreign students one year for learning the language.
Table 11
Study Abroad Scholarship Grant Period Comparison by Country
Mainland China Australia Japan Taiwan
Undergraduate 4-7 years 2 and a half years 3-5 years 5 years
Master 2-5 years 2 years or 3 and a
half years 2 years 3 years
PhD 3-5 years 3 years or 3 and a
half years . 4 years
2.2.7. Related Authorities
In Mainland China, scholarships are under the charge of the State Study Abroad
Fund Management Committed as delegated by the Ministry of Education. In Australia,
the Department of Education, Training and Science, is in charge of scholarships. In
Japan, the scholarships are under the charge of Japan Student Services Organization
(JSSO) which is under the Ministry of Education and Science. In Taiwan,
scholarships are offered by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and are under the charge of the Bureau of International Cultural and
Educational Relations R.O.C. It can be concluded from related authorities of studying
abroad polices that such polices are usually under the charge of organizations in the
ministry of education. However, the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs offers more
generous scholarships to countries that have diplomatic relations with Taiwan to
maintain such relations by studying abroad polices. This measure has special purpose
in the backdrop of diplomatic difficulties in Taiwan.
3. Conclusion
Due to the increasing number of people who are coming to study, campus staff
has many opportunities for contact with foreign students. In order to provide
appropriate support and assistance for foreign students, it is very important to improve
the English ability of school staff. The curriculum and instructional arrangements may
need to pay more efforts in assisting international students. On the other hand, student
affair services need to be strengthened. This study recommends improving the English
ability for staff on campus in order to construct a friendly campus environment for
foreign students. Moreover, as Japan government’s vision, to cultivate world citizen
and create a global role in improving human capital is another good point for Asian
countries in developing their educational policies since Asian countries has played an
increasingly important role in world society.
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