There are somewhere around a million university students in Taiwan, as I recall seeing somewhere (can't seem to find a recent number on the net). If the current level of foreign students is actually 1.3%, then that is 13,000 warm bodies. If it is really true that by 2012 Taiwan's universities will be short 15,000 students, then it is intuitively obvious that another 13,000 foreigners would fill the gap. It is also intuitively obvious that by bringing in Chinese, the current system would not need to be changed, English would not need to be expanded, and everyone could keep their jobs. Hmmm.... wonder what they will choose.One of the key problems with really internationalising the university system is, as Mike points out, the low pay of professors and the lack of an open job market for academics in the country. However, another factor may also have an influence: namely cultural chauvanism and hubris.
If Taiwan's university system was opened up and a wave of able and skilled foreign academics were hired in universities across the country that would inevitably entail the influx of different methodologies and perspectives in the classroom. I hypothesise that this would put additional pressure on Taiwanese staff to 'up their game', pressure they would likely resist in the absence of a firm guarantee of an increase in pay should they realise necessary improvements in their performance.
My experience of university in Taiwan, influenced in part by the opinions of many fellow Taiwanese students, is that too many university staff act as if university is a direct extension of elementary and high school. Examples here include treating, and talking to the students, as if they were children, patronising students who question the professor's point of view, having a class bell to remind students when to go to class, shooting down criticism from foreign students by arguing that they need to be very fluent in Chinese to REALLY understand something (on an English-taught course), labeling whole areas of study as 'controversial' as a signal that discussion of them is both futile, erroneous and unwelcome and over strictly controlling student behaviour on and off campus.
I believe that if skilled and proven foreign academics were to come and have the freedom to apply their own methods and evaluation, Taiwanese students would respond instantly by signing up en masse, grateful for the chance for some variety in the way they have learnt since the age of six. I think Taiwanese students own potential, given the right incentives and learning environment, would be unleashed, not just in design, science and maths, but across the board of field. It is also likely though that many Taiwanese academics (particularly those who are China-centric) might regard this as a threat to 'traditional' and 'Chinese' forms of academic process and thought. Unused to having to properly host debate in their classes or receive opinion divergent of their own, I suspect that they would struggle to feel that they can maintain their face and class control when dealing with students who, encouraged by foreign staff, don't accept the professor's word as gospel and who demand more interesting and stimulating classes. Cue then complaints from some Taiwanese staff that (Chinese) culture is being eroded, students have become disrespectful and classes unmanageable.
However, if you focus on increasing the number of Chinese students, all these potential horrors fade away. With China rising, why 'embrace the west'?
Final sub-note: please read Mike's post and you'll see in it that Ma refers continually to 'foreign and Chinese' students. You see, to Ma, Chinese students are not foreign students despite the fact that they come from another country and are not eligible to stay in Taiwan without a visa (just like all other foreigners). That Ma can't bring himself to call Chinese students 'foreign' is to me a sign that he will has no intention of gloriously defending Taiwan if and when the time comes. Far easier just to sell out I guess.
