More students heading overseas to attend school

This article was written by Cecilia Fanchiang and published by the Taiwan Journal on October 7, 2005.

Government statistics show that in 2004, 32,525 Taiwanese students obtained visas to study abroad. Among them, 14,054 were heading for the United States, while 9,207 went to the United Kingdom.

The total number of students heading overseas is up 23.6 percent in 2004 when compared to the previous year. (This is despite the fact that the number of Taiwanese students who studied abroad dropped by 22 percent in 2003, when compared to 2002.) There was a 36-percent increase in US-bound students and a 38-percent rise in those heading for the United Kingdom.

Currently, Taiwanese are the fifth-largest foreign student contingent in the United States.

Australia took in 2,200 Taiwanese students in 2004 and was the third-most popular destination. However, there was a 20.4-percent decrease in the number of students going to Australia.

Meanwhile, Canada and Japan attracted 2,149 and 1,556 Taiwanese students, respectively, in 2004. Both increased by at least 16 percent.

About 700 Taiwanese students went to Singapore in 2004. The number is bigger than that for France or New Zealand.