Philippine E-Journals

Trends and Indicators of Taiwan’s Higher Education Internationalization

Joseph Meng-chun Chin | Gregory S. Ching

Discipline: Education

 

Abstract:

The advent of globalization has ushered in an era of internationalization. Whether in the west or in the east, much debate on such processes has been stirring up the academe. Likewise in Taiwan, in order keep up with the pace of the world, measures and changes in both structure and policy are being implemented in all levels. This article is an attempt to discuss the factors behind the internationalization of Taiwan’s higher education. Discussions on global views on local contextual perspectives, concepts on internationalization, and strategies, and rationales behind Taiwan’s internationalization were done. Interviews were conducted with local internationalization officers, internationalization scholars and experts, and international students in Taiwan. Results were then analyzed together with the changing trends and issues on the importance of internationalization, which led to the quest for a set of performance indicators. Finally, an analysis of previous assessment practices and mechanism from both foreign and local sources was done, which culminated in the proposal of a set of performance indicators to measure the internationalization in Taiwan’s higher education institutions. Further studies and test measurement on HEIs’ internationalization using the proposed indicators are urged, in order to gain more insights on the internationalization of Taiwan’s higher education institutions.