According to the latest figures from the Ministry of Education in Taiwan (MOE), the number of students from Taiwan studying aboard increased by 20% between 2011 and 2017 (from around 32, 000 people in 2011 to over 40,000 people in 2017). The latest data on the MOE website indicates that the US remains the most favourable choice for Taiwanese students; followed by Australia, Japan, UK and Canada. There was also a rapid increase in the number of students studying in China, with this number being recorded as 2,567 in 2017, nearly double the figure in 2011.

In data from the Department of International and Cross-Strait Education, the number of Taiwanese secondary school graduates studying abroad nearly tripled from 476 in 2010 to 1,242 in 2016, and it is predicted the level of interest among high school graduates in pursuing undergraduate studies overseas will continue to increase. While studying in English-speaking countries remains attractive to Taiwanese students, more and more high achievers from top schools are considering enrolling on courses in Hong Kong and China. Popular subject areas include medicine, science and engineering (including power and energy, computer science and artificial intelligence), and financial management.

Comments by Karen Hsu, Education Services Manager, Hong Kong

According to the tier 4 (T4) student visa statistics released for Q3 2018 by UKVI last November, Taiwan had a very encouraging year with an increase of 7.5%, which was the second consecutive year of growth.

In terms of the number of UCAS applications from Taiwan (by January 2019 deadline), it has grown by 11% (410 applications) compared to the same period last year (370 applications). Numbers of Taiwanese students applying to UK’s undergraduate courses have been increasing significantly from 240 in June 2009 to 460 in June 2018 (+92%).

There has recently been uncertainty surrounding the new admission system for Taiwanese universities (大學多元入學), with parents, teachers and students expressing concern about the new system. This may mean that more parents will consider sending their children to study abroad this year. We predict more applications from Taiwan by the UCAS deadline at the end of June.

Sources:

• 高中畢業生赴海外留學之現象與因應 (a status and trend analysis of high school graduates studying abroad),  The Department of International and Cross-Strait (Chinese only).