Australia
Chinese Warn that Visa Barriers are Deterring Students from Studying in Australia
China is easily Australia’s largest source of international students, so it is of great concern to stakeholders there that Chinese student numbers are expected to fall next year, the first time since the decade-long boom in overseas education provision began. Some 27 percent of all foreign students in Australia are Chinese, while over a third of the 212,000 overseas university students globally are from China. Approximately one in 10 are from India.
Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans was in Beijing with four senior university administrators in early November to talk with officials there about the expected drop in Chinese enrollments, among other things. It was, he said, intended “to deepen educational cooperation between Australia and China and explore new opportunities for collaboration between universities in both countries.”
The delegation included Professor Peter Coaldrake, Chair of the vice-chancellors’ lobby group Universities Australia [1]; Professor Ross Milbourne, Chair of the Australian Technology Network [2]; Professor Paul Greenfield, Vice-chancellor University of Queensland [3]; and Jennie Lang, Pro-vice- chancellor International at the University of New South Wales [4].
Lead indicators, such as enrollment numbers in English language schools, have suggested that there will be a serious drop in Australian Student Visa numbers. Australia’s appreciating dollar, higher fees, a very competitive market place, alongside tougher graduate immigration rules and slow Australian visa processing times have all been cited as contributing to the decline. Chinese recruiting agents have said that increasing tuition fees have also been a contributing factor.
Last August, 77,000 Chinese students were enrolled in Australian universities. Although this figure represents a 17 percent increase from 2009 (with Indian numbers dropping 23 percent), some are predicting Chinese enrollments will drop by as much as 40 percent in 2011.
– Visa Bureau [5]
November 3, 2010
Foreign Students to Undergo Biometric Scanning
Foreign students will be included in a trial of biometric checks as part of a broader campaign to tighten security measures against potential terrorists. The move has raised concerns with stakeholders in the Australian international-education sector, who are calling for it to be handled sensitively to ensure negative attitudes about Australia as a study destination are not compounded.
In November, the Immigration Department confirmed that biometrics would be extended from detainees and asylum-seekers to most types of offshore visa applications, including student visas. The screening process has been described by the Immigration Department as a discreet, non-intrusive examination that captures a digital facial image and 10-digit fingerprint scan.
– The Australian [6]
November 10, 2010
New Rules for Permanent Residency Announced
Foreign students wanting to stay in Australia as permanent residents will face tightened entry rules under changes announced in November by Immigration Minister Chris Bowen.
According to the announcement, a new points test will emphasize the importance of English, work experience and high-level qualifications. He said the test had been designed to ensure no one single factor guaranteed migration. Bowen said the current test placed an overseas student with a short-term vocational qualification and one year’s work experience in Australia ahead of a Harvard-educated environmental engineer with three years’ relevant work experience.
Foreign students will now need to achieve ‘6’ on the IELTS English language test just to be considered for permanent residency. If they can clear that hurdle, then they will then need to accumulate at least 65 points. Those seeking residency that are aged 25 to 32 start off with 30 points while 18- to 24 year-olds earn 20 points. The new test will continue to award points for study in Australia, enrollment in a regional university, community languages, partner skills and a ‘professional year’. Points would no longer be awarded on the basis of an applicant’s occupation although he or she must still have an occupation on the new ‘Skilled Occupation List,’ which came into effect in July.
The new system, experts say, will help move towards severing the link between Australia’s education sector and migration. A large number of students from countries like India and China had previously used admission in Australian universities and vocational institutes as a means of gaining permanent residency. The new points test is slated to take effect from July 2011, subject to passage of supporting legislation through the parliament.
– PTI [7]
November 11, 2010
China
ETS Requiring Students to Retake GRE, Students Contemplating Lawsuit
Chinese students who were required to retake the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) because of an administrative error that caused Educational Testing Service [8] to cancel their scores from the October test are considering a lawsuit against the U.S. testing and test-preparation company, reports the People’s Daily.
Nearly 74 percent of those who took the invalidated test thought their university application plans would be disrupted, the newspaper said. The New Jersey based testing company offered students a refund or an opportunity to retake the test in November or next year at the next scheduled GRE in June. In addition, the company set up a Web site and a toll-free telephone number to assist students.
ETS has promised to deliver November scores in an expedited manner, saying U.S. institutions will receive them in early December, which would be adequate time to meet the January 1 applications deadline set by most colleges in the United States. However, a number of graduate schools have application deadlines in the first week of December. The testing company has reportedly notified all colleges and universities of the cancellation and make-up and has also promised compensation for “reasonable and documented travel expenses” to its 13 test centers.
– People’s Daily [9]
November 1, 2010
Higher-Education Quality Assurance Network Established
A newly formed association of higher-education institutions will assess quality standards within Chinese higher education, in response to concerns that the system, which has grown rapidly over the last decade, is experiencing declining quality standards.
“The association, as a non-government organization, is designed to evaluate and supervise the quality of higher education,” said Lin Huiqing, an official with the Ministry of Education [10], at the November launching ceremony held in Beijing.
The association is composed of over 200 members, mostly institutions of higher education, but also including the Higher Education Evaluation Center of the Ministry of Education and the Shanghai Educational Evaluation Institute.
The network will evaluate “teaching methods, development of each discipline and curriculum,” Lin said. According to Ji Ping, a senior ministry official in charge of evaluating educational quality, China began a system of higher education quality evaluations in the 1980s, and has since carried out evaluations every five years. The new association will be responsible for the current round of evaluations under a new methodology that will include self-evaluations, and site visits by expert and independent teams.
– Xinhua [11]
November1, 2010
University of Hong Kong To Build Mainland Campus
The University of Hong Kong [12] is planning to open a campus in the city of Shenzhen, a special economic zone that sits on the border between Hong Kong and southern China’s Guangdong Province. Unlike offshoots set up on the mainland by Hong Kong Baptist University [13] and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology [14], it will be a fully integrated part of the university.
According to a report in the South China Morning Post, the site is likely to host an expansion of the schools of engineering and medicine. Asked whether he was concerned about academic freedom, provost of the university Roland Chin Tai-hong, said only that he expected students to follow local laws.
– South China Morning Post [15]
November 2, 2010
Nottingham to Establish New University in Shanghai
After an invitation from the Shanghai city government, Nottingham University [16] has announced that it will establish a new Sino-British university in the thriving east-coast city that will be able to attract top students and faculty.
The move is part of the Chinese government’s plan to attract more international academic talent. It is believed that such talent will be more amenable to the Shanghai location than to other cities, such as Zhejiang, where Nottingham’s successful Ningbo University [17] campus is situated, some 150 miles from Shanghai. According to Provost and CEO of the University of Nottingham Ningbo, Nick Miles, the new campus will have a focus in science and technology.
Discussions on the Shanghai campus are said to be at an advanced stage, with a possible location identified in the southern part of the city and construction funding to be granted by the Chinese authorities. However, the new campus is still subject to approval by the Nottingham University senate and council, and the relevant authorities in China.
The University of Nottingham has some 39,000 students across its international campuses in the UK, Malaysia and China, with 5,000 of them in Ningbo. The Ningbo campus has three faculties: social sciences; arts and humanities; and science and engineering.
– Nottingham News Release [18]
November 11, 2010
India
Universities Draw Students from China
There are approximately 1,600 Chinese students currently studying in India, according to a recent article in Livemint, which cited data from the Chinese Students’ Union in India. However, the Beijing-based Sino-India Education and Technology Alliance [19] (SIETA) believes the actual number is closer to 2,500, because not every student from China registers with the Chinese embassy, which is where the Chinese student union draws its data from.
Most Chinese who enroll at Indian universities, which until 2007 was a small group of less than a thousand students, are attracted by new joint degree programs, low costs and by the chance to hone their English skills. Over the last five years, SIETA has worked to place Chinese students at higher institutions in south India, with a special focus on Tamil Nadu’s Vellore Institute of Technology [20], which admitted at least 360 Chinese students this year alone. The college has gained a good reputation among Chinese students and has quickly become a hub for them. Seven out of every 10 Chinese students in India come on Chinese government and university scholarships, with most enrolled in one- or two-year joint degree programs. The most popular areas of study are computer science, e-commerce, finance and English.
According to Livemint, the number of Indian students heading to China is considerably larger than the Chinese pool in India, citing a number from SIETA in the 9,000 range. Indian students are studying mainly in medicine or engineering programs in China, and are attracted by lower admission standards and reasonable tuition fees. According to SIETA, there were an estimated 4,000 Indian students in China in 2007.
One hurdle to greater academic collaboration and mobility between the two countries is the lack of progress, despite years of negotiations, that both nations have made in recognizing each other’s academic degrees.
“There’s a lack of focus from both governments on bilateral educational exchange,” says Neyas Mohammed, director of educational consulting firm Asian Educational Consultancy [21], who added that until agreements are made there will be no great spike in academic mobility between the two neighbors, and regional economic powerhouses.
According to the Association of Indian Universities [22], fewer than 22,000 foreign students enrolled in Indian universities in 2007-08, compared with the 230,000 foreign students in China in 2009.
– Livemint [23]
October 21, 2010
Yale to Form Partnership with Top Indian Business and Engineering Schools
Yale University [24] announced in October that it is building a partnership with two of India’s top management and engineering schools as part of an effort to train university leaders in India on U.S. best practices in academic administration and institutional management. Funding is being provided by the Indian government to the tune of US$1 million.
The two Indian partners are the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur [25] and the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode. [26] The initiative forms part of a broader effort by the Indian government to modernize its system of higher education, which is currently failing to meet the demands of students and of the labor market. The training programs will be open to public-university administrators from all parts of India.
The three institutions will also engage in research on higher education and organize workshops and seminars on areas of academic administration and leadership designed to support the expansion of Indian higher education. In addition to the training initiative, Yale two years ago pledged $30 million from its endowment to develop deeper ties to India through more course offerings and faculty expertise, expanded student recruitment and research partnerships, and increased faculty and student exchanges. That commitment has since risen to a reported $75 million.
– The Hindu [27]
October 29, 2010
A Common Credit System for All Central Universities
In an effort to increase mobility and flexibility options for students, central universities across India have agreed to create an inter-university credit transfer system. Leaders from 40 of the government-funded central universities recently met and agreed on a common credit system. While details are yet to be agreed upon, government officials have stated that the transfer policy will not include private universities or the yet-to-be-established innovation universities, but will include any new university established with government support.
At present, students at most Indian universities have very little flexibility when it comes to course and subject choices, especially across disciplines. The new credit system would be designed to greatly improve interdisciplinary options, in addition to allowing for inter-university transfers.
However significant hurdles exist, including the need for a greater number of university lecturers; a factor that has often been the most important argument put forward by universities for resisting the introduction of a credit system.
In addition to agreeing on the need for a credit-transfer system, the university leaders agreed to implement a common entrance test for selecting students from across the country. According to Kapil Sibal, India’s education minister, universities would take into account both the score of the class XII exam and that of the aptitude test when making admissions decisions in an attempt to assess students holistically.
– Livemint [28]
September 30, 2010
U.S. and India to Hold Higher-Education Summit in 2011
U.S. President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmahon Singh announced in November that officials from the two countries will hold a higher-education summit next year to build ties between colleges and universities.
“Cooperation in the field of education holds great promise because no two other countries are better equipped to be partners in building the knowledge economy of the future,” the prime minister said, according to The Hindustan Times.
Last year the two leaders announced the Singh-Obama 21st Century Knowledge Initiative, which will provide US$10 million to support cooperation between institutions. The two countries have formed a joint working group that will decide which Indian and American institutions will receive grants as part of the project, said an official of the ministry that oversees higher education.
– Hindustan Times [29]
November 8, 2010
Which U.S. Campuses Have India Plans?
In addition to a group of U.S. CEOs, a number of university officials accompanied U.S. President Barak Obama to India in November, at a time when India is looking to build overseas university partnerships and U.S. colleges are looking to expand their presence in India.
According to Bloomberg news there are many U.S. colleges with India plans. Among the higher-profile examples are Yale University [24] and Duke University [30], both of which have announced plans for a stronger presence in India. Yale President Richard Levin was in India in October to set up a joint program that will educate Indian college leaders. According to officials, Duke wants to open a facility for Indian and U.S. students that would begin by offering business degree programs (although the location is uncertain).
In addition to Duke, Brown University [31] and the University of Chicago [32] are also planning offices, research centers and campuses in India, while the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania [33], Stanford University [34] and Cornell University [35] have traveled to India to raise money and establish collaborations.
In the president’s delegation this month were leaders from Boston University [36], Arizona State University in Tempe [37], and Rutgers University [38]. The group was organized by the U.S.-India Business Council [39], a Washington-based lobbying group. During their visit, the university officials lobbied for a bill, currently pending before the Indian legislature, which would allow foreign schools to open branches in the country for the first time.
Brown University has formed an advisory council on India and is planning an office in New Delhi, said Matthew Gutmann, vice president for international affairs at Brown. Arizona State is seeking to attract Indian companies to an office and retail complex called Skysong that the university is developing in Scottsdale, Arizona, said Sethuraman Panchanathan, the institution’s chief research officer, who was part of the delegation. Georgia Institute of Technology [40], in Atlanta, has looked at land for a facility in Hyderabad. According to Vijay Madisetti, the Georgia Tech professor leading the school’s initiative, a property has been offered, at a discount price, by the government of Andhra Pradesh state and the university is waiting for passage of the Foreign University Bill before taking action. Boston University is reportedly talking to a philanthropist about financing a potential India campus, although officials would not disclose the name of the potential donor or the locations being considered.
– Bloomberg [41]
November 5, 2010
A U.S. Community College Partners with Indian Institutions
A community college located in the suburbs of Washington, D.C in Maryland has announced plans to work with three Indian institutions to improve their program offerings in career and technical fields. With funding of US$195,000 from the Fulbright Commission of United States-India Educational Foundation [42], Montgomery College [43] will use the grant to “build international cooperation, diplomacy and education in India.”
The two-year college will spend the money on developing a faculty and student exchange program with three Indian institutions — the OP Jindal Institute of Technology and Skills [44], Guru Gobind Government Polytechnic [45], and the Industrial Training Institute. In addition, the college will help these institutions develop their curriculums in the fields of automotive technology, construction management, and building trades. In March, the college will also coordinate a two-day national symposium on community colleges in the Indian capital New Delhi.
In recognition of the need for further educational opportunities in India, beyond the university model, the U.S. State Department and USIEF selected Montgomery College to pilot what is one of the first major exchanges at the community college level. Two years ago Montgomery College was asked by Haryana, an Indian state, to establish a two-year institution, but given the restrictions of Indian law, Montgomery was unable to do so. College officials also noted that they would be interested in attempting to establish a campus in India again if the Foreign Education Providers Bill is passed into law.
– Inside Higher Ed [46]
November 11, 2010
Indonesia
A New Private University Modeled on the U.S. Land Grant University
The college-going rate in Indonesia is just 17 percent, a proportion that significantly lags other countries in the Southeast Asian region. Only 7 percent of the population of 240 million holds a degree, and Indonesia’s 80 crowded public universities can admit only a fraction of those who apply, especially as efforts to expand universal access to primary education slowly raise educational-attainment standards.
As in many developing countries around the world, private universities are beginning to take up the slack, but standards vary widely. While many of Indonesia’s 2,200 private colleges are of dubious quality and relatively high cost, the model set by the Sampoerna School of Education [47] stands apart. Putera Sampoerna, the wealthy founder and namesake is building colleges as part of a bold plan to introduce the American land-grant-university model to Indonesia through partnerships with foreign universities.
Mr. Sampoerna, working through his foundation [48], aims to create a first-class university with a curriculum that corresponds to the country’s economic needs, with a high-achieving student body recruited from the country’s lowest socioeconomic classes. Every one of the 190 undergraduates enrolled in the School of Education, the first of the university’s colleges to open, is on financial aid. A second school of business was recently opened in the capital, Jakarta. Officials hope colleges of agriculture and engineering will follow.
In drawing disadvantaged students from the country’s many islands and in focusing on fields critical to this developing nation, such as teacher training and entrepreneurship, Mr. Sampoerna hopes his institution can help build Indonesia’s educational capacity and improve its economy.
The model the Sampoerna foundation has embraced is that of America’s public research-based, land-grant universities, founded more than a century ago with the mission to give practical training in fields vital to a nascent nation, to students of all economic classes. In Indonesia, one of the most critical needs the foundation identified is teacher training. With a push toward universal education, nearly 95 percent of Indonesian children are enrolled in primary school. The quality of that education is often poor, however.
The school emphasizes research methods and practical, in-classroom experience and allows students to major in two areas, English-language education and mathematics education. To build the program, Sampoerna officials worked with to two foreign institutions, Massey University [49], in New Zealand, and Nanyang Technological University [50], in Singapore, for help with curriculum development and faculty training.
Backers of the schools hope that such partnerships will advance the new university’s international reputation, and usher in new partnerships. To broker such international relationships, the foundation has an employee on the ground in the United States, Al Jaeger, who visits American colleges, continuously seeking the best partners for the new university as it seeks to add schools and programs. Mr. Jaeger says he hopes to interest American institutions in all manner of partnerships, including curriculum development, faculty and student exchanges, shared research, and articulation agreements. Eventually, there could even be two-plus-two programs, in which students begin their first two years in Indonesia and finish up at an American college, earning a joint or dual degree, he says. Iowa State University [51] is already working with the Sampoerna School of Education and this spring will send a half-dozen students to Indonesia for student teaching.
– The Chronicle of Higher Education [52]
October 31, 2010
Malaysia
Islamic Banking: 1 of 4 ‘Key Programs’ for International Students
Malaysia’s Ministry of Higher Education [53] hopes to attract 150,000 foreign students into Malaysia’s public and private higher institutions of higher education by 2015. To achieve this target, the government will focus on attracting foreign students at the bachelor and master’s levels in four specific fields.
The four fields will be Islamic banking, hospitality and tourism, engineering, and health sciences. If met, the government hopes the targeted increase will not only help turn Malaysia into a regional education hub, but might also increase the nation’s per capita income. According to the government’s most-recent statistics, there are approximately 80,000 foreign students currently enrolled in 47 private institutions and 20 public ones.
– The Star [54]
October 17, 2010
Malaysia Finalizing Details on Recognizing Credentials from Chinese Universities
Malaysia’s Higher Education Ministry [53] is finalizing an agreement with a number of universities in China that would recognize them as accredited and equivalent to universities in Malaysia, according to a recent article in The Star newspaper.
Deputy Minister Datuk Dr Hou Kok Chung said that, “once this is achieved, both countries will forge closer ties in terms of having better cooperation among our universities,” adding that he hoped the agreements could be reached by the end of the year.
Currently, almost 3,000 Malaysian students are enrolled in tertiary programs in China, while Chinese students make up the largest cohort of overseas students in Malaysia with almost 10,000 students, followed by Iran and India.
– The Star [55]
October 31, 2010
University of Wales Cuts Ties with Local College
The University of Wales [56] has suspended its links with Fazley International College [57], in Kuala Lumpur, over allegations about its principal’s academic qualifications.
The college is one of three educational institutions in Malaysia with which the University of Wales collaborates. Under the 2007 agreement, students are admitted to college programs validated by the University of Wales. But the association with Fazley was suspended after the college’s principal drew attention to a dispute over his own academic qualifications. The 35 students currently enrolled in university-validated courses will not be affected.
News of the suspension comes as the Quality Assurance Agency [58], a body that provides guidance for UK higher education institutions for selecting partners and agents, releases new guidelines for institutions who want to offer degrees or modules with overseas colleges. A Quality Assurance Agency spokeswoman said that the body had recently visited the Fazley International College as part of an audit of UK higher education partnerships with Malaysian institutions.
The spokeswoman said: “We found that the University of Wales’ procedures for selecting and approving partners were ‘explicit and detailed’ and that these procedures were followed ‘with due diligence’. We have since expanded our guidance to universities in the area of partnership agreements. We now advise them specifically to ‘satisfy themselves as to the ownership and governance of overseas partners.’”
The university is the second largest degree awarding body in the UK after the University of London [59]. In 2010, it awarded 20,000 degrees and other awards and had around 70,000 people studying its courses, of which 13,704 were enrolled in validated programs outside the UK.
– Western Mail [60]
November 6, 2010
North Korea
Critics Call for Closure of University Supported by Donors in South
A North Korean university set up with South Korean funding is propagating the personality cult surrounding the Kim dynasty, according to critics.
Pyongyang University of Science and Technology [61] has opened a research center devoted to studying the “Juche,” or self-sufficiency, ideology of former North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung. The Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported that the university was established with donations from South Korea’s Northeast Asia Foundation for Education and Culture in order to help North Korea train experts in information technology, agriculture, biosciences and international trade. Yoon Sang-hyun, of South Korea’s Grand National Party, said: “We must immediately halt further aid for the university, which has turned into a school that propagates the personality cult surrounding the Kim dynasty.”
The university was scheduled to open in April this year but has apparently yet to begin operations. “North Korea rejected our offer to open an MBA school while demanding that the Juche ideology be included as a prerequisite for graduation,” Yoon said.
– Chosun Ilbo [62]
October 6, 2010
Pakistan
Halted HEC Scholarship for International Study Leave Students Adrift
Students who had been promised funding under the Higher Education Commission [63]’s (HEC) international scholarship program for faculty development are waiting in limbo to see if the government will reinstate the program as has been suggested.
Students who had succeeded in securing government scholarships for the current academic year have learned that they will not receive the money because of a severe cutback in higher education funding. A source at the HEC told University World News that scrutiny of around 2,000 scholarship applications to foreign universities and 1,700 to local universities had also been halted.
HEC Executive Director Sohail Naqvi told University World News that the commission hoped to resume the affected programs as soon as funds were available.
“A paucity of funds has compelled us to temporarily stop funding some programs but a few others such as the International Research Support Initiative Program are going on, under which we are sponsoring selected university teachers to do a research fellowship in some of the world’s best universities,” Naqvi said.
This year, the higher education budget in Pakistan was slashed by 33 percent, while last year some four billion rupees out of the 18 billion approved in the previous financial year was not paid out.
According to the HEC’s own estimates, Pakistan currently needs 20,000 PhDs. Over the last seven years, the country enrolled 13,436 PhD students under different HEC scholarship schemes. Of these, around 5,765 were awarded scholarships for PhDs and post-doctoral research overseas. Some 4,200 Pakistani students are currently abroad at different universities in the US, UK, Germany, China and the Netherlands, while more than 3,000 students have completed their PhDs at foreign and local universities during the last eight years.
– University World News [64]
November 5, 2010
South Korea
Universities Target Vietnamese Students
One of South Korea’s top universities wants to establish its first overseas campus in Vietnam, reports Times Higher Education, as part of an internationalization strategy billed as putting “obligation and responsibility” above revenue streams.
Seoul National University [65] believes it has academic expertise to share when it comes to informing nations currently undergoing rapid economic transformation, as Vietnam is and as South Korea did. University officials have presented these thoughts as motivation for their overseas-student recruitment strategies and their plans for a branch campus.
Junki Kim, Seoul National’s dean of international affairs, pointed to the experience of South Korea, a nation with few natural resources, in making education a cornerstone of economic growth. He added that countries such as Vietnam and Cambodia needed “different patterns of growth [from developed Western economies]. What they are looking for is an example like South Korea – where the state provides guidance and capital – and ways in which they can guide or develop a market economy.”
He added that Seoul National would like to start the campus “modestly” by offering programs in development, public administration or public policy, and then gradually developing a full-scale outpost. Professor Kim added that in terms of links with overseas universities, “the UK is the area in which we are lacking”. His comments coincided with a visit to South Korea by pro vice-chancellors from five UK universities, organized by the British Council.
– Times Higher Education [66]
November 4, 2010
Taiwan
Taiwan and China to Sign an Agreement Allowing Bi-National Joint Degrees
Taiwan and mainland China intend to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that would make it possible for their universities to enter into joint-degree program agreements, according to Taiwan Today, as stated by Taiwanese Minister of Education Wu Ching-ji in October.
The minister said that the agreement would likely be signed before the end of the year, which would mean that students’ participation in joint-degree programs could start in February 2011. Currently, schools from the two countries are unable to enter into any such programs. The main problem is that university degrees in China are conferred by the government and not by the schools themselves, which is the case in Taiwan. The MOU would provide schools with a legal basis with which to enter into joint-degree program agreements.
In August of this year, Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan passed a bill stating that the country would recognize the validity of degrees from mainland Chinese schools. The bill also allowed mainland Chinese students to study at colleges and universities in Taiwan. Since then, many schools from Taiwan and mainland China have tried to enter into joint-degree program agreements, but have come up against legal and political hurdles that would be cleared under the MOU.
– Taiwan Today [67]
October 19, 2010