In most countries, there are two tuition rates. Namely, one for local students, and one for international students.
No surprise that the international student rates are typically much higher. That’s because domestic students receive government subsidies funded by local taxpayers. Meanwhile, international students pay the full, unsubsidised cost of their education.
But in Taiwan, things are a little different, particularly for the Chinese diaspora. There are the two tuition rates, yes, but interestingly, there’s a caveat: If you have a Chinese background, even if you’re from abroad, you qualify for the domestic students’ tuition rates.
There’s an agenda to it
This feature of Taiwanese education was one that Briana Leong took advantage of. Leong is a Malaysian writer and content creator, known for her “Solo Date” video series where she explores Malaysia’s unique offerings. Before that, though, she had studied in Taiwan.
She belongs to the 23% of ethnic Chinese who were largely born and raised in Malaysia.
Due to that, she was able to enjoy very affordable tuition fees in Taiwan.
“You can quote me on this because there are papers released in Taiwan that specify this, but the reason why they build affinity with Chinese diaspora is so that when these Chinese diaspora go back, they have an emotional attachment to Taiwan,” Leong says to Study International.
By that, she means if a situation calls for it, Taiwan can use those emotional attachments to garner support globally.
In other words, charging Chinese diaspora cheaper rates is a political strategy in some way.
The history of the “qiaosheng”
There’s a specific term for these Chinese diasporic students, and it’s calledQiaosheng
華僑 (Huaqiao) often refers to those who are ethnically Chinese but live outside of China. Source: Chipi via Pexels
These are the students benefiting from preferential admission policies and cheaper tuition. And while it sounds like a great perk for Chinese diaspora everywhere, it wasn’t always advantageous. The history behind this system has its own downsides.
According to Taiwan Insight, an online magazine by the Taiwan Research Hub of University of Nottingham, many believe the system grew out of theRepublic of China (ROC)’s “efforts to shore up its claims to legitimacy after retreating to Taiwan and imposing its rule over the island in 1949.”
But official accounts frequently trace the system back to 1912, linking it to the ROC’s earlier efforts to maintain ties with overseas Chinese communities.
“Following the founding of the ROC in 1912,nationality law was based largely on ancestry. Ethnic Chinese communities living abroad were not treated as foreigners but as members of the nation residing elsewhere. The label ‘overseas Chinese student’ was never neutral. It reflected a political view of who counted as part of the nation,” the Taiwan Insight writes.
So, after 1949 and retreating to Taiwan, the ROC government simply continued viewing overseas Chinese populations through the same lens — as a part of a wider national community.
“Students who arrived in Taiwan through this system were not seen as studying abroad in the usual sense; they were framed as ‘returning’ to the nation,” the Taiwan Insight writes.
But, back in the day, it meant that Overseas Chinese students were required to play their part by literally joining military training and state-organised programmes. They truly were treated as more than ordinary students.
Their application process was also different (and, in some way, harder) from that of other foreign internationals. For Leong’s instance, she essentially had to go to Taiwan and enrol in a boarding school, which was just like the local education system, except only for international students.
She had to compete with other students to get a better chance of getting into her top schools.
Much has changed since then. Specifically, the political language and agenda that led to this “qiaosheng” student system have been tamped down for the most part, but the system itself still maintains.
But to Taiwan Insight (and Leong), the politics around Chinese diaspora remain, even if more obscured now.
“Earlier slogans such as ‘once an overseas Chinese student, always an overseas Chinese student’ (一日僑生，終身僑生) can still be felt in the rules governing the higher education system in Taiwan,” Taiwan Insight writes. “Students who are admitted through this route, for example, usually cannot change their status to that of foreign students while enroled.”
For students like Leong, that status definitely serves as an advantage more than anything. But it does bring up interesting history and look into how education is interwoven into politics and nation-building.
