Low Enrollment in Long-Term Care Programs for Overseas Students; OCAC Head Pledges Inter-ministerial Talks

(CNA, Taipei, 20th, by reporter Yang Yao-ju) Lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties are concerned about the nearly 50% budget increase for the overseas student retention program in the Overseas Community Affairs Council's (OCAC) fiscal year 115 budget. OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching explained today that the main reasons are the annual accumulation of student numbers and the Ministry of Education's cessation of tuition subsidies. Regarding the low enrollment rate in long-term care programs, Hsu promised to discuss industry-academia collaboration with relevant ministries. The Legislative Yuan's Foreign and National Defense Committee today reviewed the public and confidential parts of the OCAC's revenue and expenditure in the central government's general budget for fiscal year 115, as well as the trust fund under the OCAC's purview in the subsidiary budget. During questioning, DPP Legislator Shen Pao-yang, KMT legislators Huang Jen, Niu Hsu-ting, Ma Wen-chun, and Yang Chiung-ying, as well as TPP Legislator Wang An-hsiang, expressed concern over the approximately NT$1.33 billion allocated to the "Expanded Program for Cultivating and Retaining Overseas Chinese Students" under the "Overseas Chinese Student Further Education and Youth Training" budget for fiscal year 115. This represents a nearly 50% increase from the approximately NT$7.5 billion budget for fiscal year 114, and they asked for details of the plan. In her response, Hsu Chia-ching explained that student numbers accumulate annually. The first year had only about 2,000 students, but with the second year's intake, the number rose to about 6,000. The total in the third year is over 12,000, and with another 7,000-plus in the fourth year, the number will reach 20,000. The subsidized tuition fees will thus increase according to the number of students. Hsu stated that a second reason is that prior to last year, part of the tuition was subsidized by the Ministry of Education (MOE), but the MOE no longer provides this subsidy, so the OCAC must budget the full amount. When asked why the MOE stopped the subsidy, Hsu added that in the past, the program's scale was smaller, and the MOE considered the subsidy's impact to be minor. However, as student numbers have climbed, the MOE believes the subsidy amount now affects its own operational budget. Ma Wen-chun and Yang Chiung-ying further questioned the low enrollment rate for industry-academia collaboration programs in the long-term care sector in fiscal year 113, which does not align with government policy needs. Hsu replied that not many schools offer long-term care programs, and it is also difficult for schools to find matching service-oriented institutions for internship programs. She promised to discuss industry-academia links with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Ministry of Labor, and Ministry of Economic Affairs. Regarding the NT$105 million increase in the OCAC's fiscal year 115 budget for the Overseas Credit Guarantee Fund, Hsu responded to Shen Pao-yang's query by stating that the OCAC hopes to raise the credit line from US$2 million to US$3 million, which requires an increase in the fund's scale. A higher credit line would also attract larger-scale businesses for loans, especially now that