• Overall, the number of Taiwanese students getting new/ renewal student visas grew 2.7%. Regardless the birth rate has dropped ever since 1979, now only a third, 7%, of what back then, the visa number has been stably increasing since 2012, compared to which is about 43% higher, and the growth rate is about 22% in the last decade. 
• The ranking is pretty much similar over the last decade, as U.S. continues to be the most popular destination, followed by Australia, Japan, U.K., Canada, Germany, France, then New Zealand.
• Though US continues to be the top with 13,000 new visas issued, the number has been dropping, about 16% lower for the last decade.
• Japan's figure keeps increasing might because of the government subsidiary from 2014 and its project of "300,000 international students by 2020" as well as the heat of inter-country exchange and recruitment among Asian schools. 
• In terms of each country's representing % of the total visas issued, you can see the increasing of diversity. Back in 2009, U.S. dominated the market with almost half of the total, while over 90% of the visas were issued by the top 8 countries, and nearly 80% (78.66%) were to English speaking countries, U.S, U.K., Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. 10 years later, now, U.S. got less than a third (31.64%), and the percentage of  English speaking countries is 65% while that of "Other Countries" doubled from 7.45% to 14.22%. Germany, Australia, Japan, as well as Canada are still on the rise. 
• Taiwan is still a very strong market for study abroad if you measure it on a per capita basis. Take the U.S. for example, in 2018, Taiwan ranked number 7 in terms of places of origin for international students studying in the United States, following China, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and Vietnam. However, what the data is showing us is that Taiwanese today are considering a broader range of options than just US, UK, Canada & Australia, expanded to countries in Europe and Asia.
• We feel that the increase in student enrollment to Canada, Australia and Japan, especially Australia, is the direct result of the working holiday program between these countries and Taiwan. The data shows a "spillover" effect from the working holiday scheme. Students tend to go over to these countries through the Working Holiday scheme, then they decide that they would like to stay there a bit longer and some of them stay on to pursue more education and eventually, the students may eventually choose to immigrate there.

In the academic year of 2017-2018, the number of high school graduates in Taiwan enrolling in overseas bachelor programs is approaching 1,584, 2.52 times the number in 2011, 627, based on the most recent statistic by Ministry of Education in Taiwan. It comprised merely 0.72% of the total number of graduates; however, the percentage has been stably growing since then, regardless the decreasing birthrate and population. The possible reasons are Influence of the globalization and the active recruitment of students in Taiwan by internationally renowned schools, and the uncertainty caused by the changeable education policies.

Here are the key findings.

1.      The ratio of the number from the top 10 schools to the total number of high school graduates studying abroad is around 37%.

2.      In 2017, the five schools with the most graduates choosing to study abroad were as follows (ranked in descending order): the private Kang Chiao Bilingual School (187 students), National Experimental High School at Hsinchu Science Park (61 students), Ming-Dao High School (50 students), I-Shou International School (47 students), and Washington High School (47 students). Among the traditional elite public schools, The Affiliated Senior High School of National Taiwan Normal University had the most number of graduating students studying overseas (47 students), followed by Taipei First Girls High School (45 students). National Wu-Ling Senior High School increased to 26, and National Taichung First Senior High School surged from 1 to 11. Some private schools have a higher percentage of students studying abroad because of the operation mission and/ or the smaller number of students. For example, Kang Chiao Bilingual School had 74% of its graduating students studying overseas in 2017, same as at the private I-Shou International School, with a figure over 60%, while at the Taipei Fushing Private School, it was over 25%. Research indicates that this is also related to the fact that these schools label themselves as bilingual schools, or they have special courses for studying overseas purposes. On the other hand, the National Experimental High School at Hsinchu Science Park was purposefully set up to provide schooling for the families working at Hsinchu Science Park, families with foreign nationality children born to Taiwanese parents or children of returning scholars from overseas; the school had almost 30% of its students studying overseas after graduation. 

According to the data from the Ministry of Education (MOE), here are the key findings:

- The number of students enrolled in schools in major countries overseas had risen by 2,700 to nearly 40,000 in 2016, setting an 11-year high.

- The number of people who took out student loans to study abroad in 2016 topped 700, the most in the last five years in Taiwan.

- There were only about 37.0 percent of those who would like to pursue a higher degree were interested in graduate programs in Taiwan, with the rest wanting to go overseas.

- The top destination for those hoping to study abroad was the United States and Canada, followed by Europe and Japan.

More details and data tables are as below:

The Ministry of Education, which at one point was concerned not enough young Taiwanese were going abroad, found in 2016 that the number of students enrolled in schools in major countries overseas had risen by 2,700 to nearly 40,000, setting an 11-year high.

The number of people who took out student loans to study abroad last year topped 700, the most in the last five years, indicating that young people are heading abroad in increasing numbers, even if they have to borrow money to do it.

 

At the end of June this year, one of the most popular magazines in Taiwan - CommonWealth conducted a “Survey on NTU(National Taiwan University) Graduates’ Intentions and Motivation in Going Abroad.” Online questionnaires were sent to the 18 departments that have the highest test scores required for admission.

The survey found that 48.0 percent of respondents planned to continue their studies immediately after graduating or after working for a couple of years. Another 40.9 percent said they would enter the job market, while 10 percent were preparing for national exams (to apply for civil servant jobs). Of the nearly half that wanted to pursue a higher degree, only about a third (37.0 percent) were interested in graduate programs in Taiwan, with the rest wanting to go overseas.

 

The top destination for those hoping to study abroad was the United States and Canada, chosen by 70 percent of respondents, followed by Europe and Japan. The top consideration cited by 85 percent of those wanting to go abroad when choosing an overseas location was career development, followed by the caliber of education.

Overall, 40 percent of the students graduating from the 18 leading departments were planning to go abroad to advance their studies or head overseas to work, and they are likely to settle in another country.

Also, Taiwanese students’ practice of “voting for schools with their feet” has seen a dramatic shift in the past five years. Citing Ministry of Education statistics, NTU’s Kang, the deputy vice president for academic affairs says the number of senior high school students in Taiwan who immediately go abroad after graduating doubled in six years to 1,478 in the 2016 school year.

 <See full article of CommonWealth>

http://english.cw.com.tw/article/article.action?id=1649

Data from Department of Statistics, Ministry of Education, Taiwan

Reference: CommonWealth, http://english.cw.com.tw/