Rudakowska, Anna
(2014)
The Key Influencers Of Mainland Degree
Student Satisfaction In Taiwan: Two Years
After The First Enrolment.
International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies (IJAPS), 10 (2).
pp. 164-200.
ISSN ISSN: 1823-6243
Abstract
In the year 2011, Taiwan for the first time opened its higher education to degree
students from Mainland China. However, the number of applicants who took
advantage of this policy in the first two years after implementation was much
below Taipei government expectations. Given the growing importance of the
overseas students to generate additional revenue for higher education, as well as
the development of people-to-people contact across the Taiwan Strait, the goal of
this article is to spot the main challenges that Taiwanese universities and policymakers face in attracting more Mainland students. This research gleans
information from the Mainland students' point of view through a survey conducted
at thirteen Taiwanese universities nationwide. It applies a methodology called the
Net Promoter Score (NPS), which grants respondents the freedom to express their
opinions, perceptions and reflections without limitations set by the interviewer's
perspective. This research has found that satisfaction of the Mainland degree
students studying in Taiwan is mainly driven by a distinctive learning environment,
as they appreciate the "free," "relaxed" and "open" atmosphere at Taiwanese
universities. Secondly, the students highly prize opportunities for personal and
professional development, and thirdly, they enjoy Taiwanese friendliness and
culture and particularly appreciate the nurturing of traditions. However, these
positives are offset by negative factors perceived by the students. Mainland degree
students feel strong resentment towards the inequality and discrimination they
face. There are two sources of this problem. The first is the guidelines established
by the Taiwanese government regulating the stay of Mainland students. Those
rules are described as detrimental to the future career development and therefore
discriminatory. The second is the negative perception and attitude felt among
Taiwanese towards people from the People's Republic of China (PRC). These
factors are responsible for a very high percentage of dissatisfied degree students
(41 percent) who are most likely to discourage their friends and relatives from
studying in Taiwan in comparison with the relatively small percentage of
extremely satisfied students (23 percent), who are very likely to actively encourage
their compatriots to study in Taiwan.
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