In recent years, more and more foreign students from Southeast Asia and Africa have traveled thousands of miles to study in Taiwan with the "Taiwan Dream" in mind . However, after arriving in Taiwan, some of them not only failed to attend classes well , but were even sent to factories to do labor work! What exactly is going on? Today, let us talk about "Taiwan's hard-earned international student problem"! Hiho~ Hello everyone, I am Zhiqi! In recent years, there have been many incidents in Taiwan where foreign students were forced to come to Taiwan to "fake study abroad but actually work." For example, in the "Corning University case" that was finalized in August this year, dozens of Sri Lankan students were introduced by intermediaries. After studying in Taiwan and enrolling in school, he was forced to work 40 hours a week in a food company . The most complete incident currently reported is the case of the National University of Science and Technology of China. In early 2022, Taiwan's independent media "The Reporter" exposed it through a series of reports. In this case, more than a dozen Ugandan students were tricked into coming to Taiwan step by step and becoming "student workers." After the case was exposed, it caused an uproar in the society. Zhongzhou University of Science and Technology also completely suspended enrollment this year and announced that it was "closing and withdrawing." " However, in addition to these two cases, there are many private schools in Taiwan that have been involved in similar "student-worker cases." Even the U.S. State Department's "2021 Human Trafficking Report" also wrote that Taiwanese human traffickers and private universities "use education as a As an excuse" to allow foreign students to suffer forced labor in "extremely harsh working conditions", today we will take a look at how these foreign students fell into the "study abroad trap" based on reports from the "Reporter" and other media ? What happened to them after they came to Taiwan? Why on earth have there been so many "student-worker cases" in Taiwan? But before we start today’s discussion, let’s go into some business service time! [Chungzhou University of Science and Technology Case: Before Coming to Taiwan] Before describing how the entire higher education system has become a base for "human trafficking", we can first take a look at the "Reporter"'s in-depth report on the "Chungzhou University of Science and Technology Case" and take a look at those who were deceived into coming to Taiwan. Students, what have they experienced? According to reports, this incident began in 2019. At that time, the University of Science and Technology of China was facing the problem of a decrease in the number of students, so it went to Uganda to recruit students with the help of intermediaries and middlemen. In order to attract students, the University of Science and Technology of China also gave a It has made three major commitments: first, to provide courses taught in English so that students do not have to worry about language problems ; second, to provide unconditional scholarships to help reduce the tuition burden; third, to match companies and provide internship opportunities in high-tech industries related to what they study, so that they can study while studying. Such favorable conditions for making money attracted more than 300 people to sign up for interviews. In the end, China University of Science and Technology issued 139 admission permits. However, because there were too many people, the remote interview plan was canceled. These students had to fly to Uganda, which is 3,000 kilometers away . The Embassy of the Republic of China in Eswatini" The high cost of long-distance flights such as a visa, which requires an in-person interview , makes many people give up. However, some people still don't want to give up the opportunity and borrow money and scrape together money to buy air tickets to Eswatini. At the end of the interview , a total of 16 students received visas to come to Taiwan. These students originally thought that after going through many hurdles to come to Taiwan, they would be able to learn a skill while earning some pocket money through internships. In their spare time, they might also be able to participate in club activities, travel around the island, etc. But these The imagination was shattered as the school's promises bounced one by one [Central State University of Science and Technology Case: After Coming to Taiwan] In an interview with the "Reporter", Ugandan students said that they only found out after enrolling in Chungzhou University of Science and Technology that the school had promised to give them Those favorable conditions are just words and have not been implemented. First of all, some students who are taught in English said that in fact, the teachers directly teach the class in Chinese. When they ask the teacher to teach again in English, the teacher will reply, " If you want to take English classes, go to the United States." In addition, the "unconditional scholarship" originally mentioned has become a scholarship that can only be obtained by "ranking among the best" in academic performance. But without English teaching, it is difficult for them to just understand the courses, let alone In order to achieve good results , the school also kept urging them to pay tuition, accommodation fees, etc. As a result, students became more and more in debt and had no choice but to hope to make money through internships . Although the school did provide "internships" The opportunity was not the "related to what they studied" and "high-tech industry" internships as originally promised . Arranged by a manpower agency, these students who came to Taiwan to study smart automation engineering, multimedia and games, etc. actually went to food processing and shoemaking . They do physical work in labor-intensive industries such as factories , and are often required to work overtime. Under the pressure of debt, many students have to accept this kind of work arrangement. They cannot say that they will go back to their country . But the salary they earn, in addition to paying tuition and fees In addition, they will also be charged commission by the agency company, which makes their lives very difficult. In cases like the one at the University of Science and Technology of China, there are many other cases [Under the New Southbound Policy, Taiwan’s Private School Student Work Cases Exploded? 】 In addition to the Central China University of Science and Technology, there are many private schools that have reported similar cases . For example, in the Corning University case mentioned at the beginning, intermediaries recruited Sri Lankan students to come to Taiwan under the entrustment of the school and then sent them to factories and slaughterhouses . On-site jobs even allow students to work illegally without a work permit. In addition, in the Gaoyuan University of Science and Technology case, students were recruited through a local agency in the Philippines. This company also charged students "agency fees" and then asked them to do labor work unrelated to their studies. In the case of Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Indonesian students had their documents detained . Many cases , including these cases, are based on the recruitment of foreign students through the "New Southbound Specialized Industry-Academic Cooperation Class" promoted by the government in recent years. pointed out that the original intention of the "New Southbound Special Class" was to provide Southeast Asian students with the opportunity to study in Taiwan through more relaxed visa conditions and related subsidies, and also to allow Taiwanese schools and companies to have more students and international students. Manpower achieves a "win-win" effect . However, this system has drawbacks in its implementation. For example, regulations stipulate that foreign students can only work a maximum of 20 hours a week , but the new southbound special class stipulates that students can work an average of " Internships are about 26 hours, and some unscrupulous entrepreneurs will let these students "fake internships and real jobs" plus the 20 hours of part-time work limit, which means that students can work more than 40 hours a week, leaving them with no time to study at all and becoming student workers. The U.S. State Department's "2021 Trafficking in Persons Report" also directly named Taiwan's "New Southbound Policy" as having been used by human traffickers to attract Southeast Asian students to Taiwan and then force them to work. In addition to the shortcomings of the "New Southbound Special Class" Foreign reports have also pointed out that fundamentally speaking, the reason why "student-worker cases" are recurring is also related to the problems faced by the labor market in Taiwan's higher education system [Why are there so many student-worker cases? 】 The report pointed out that there are two key backgrounds to the problem of the student-worker case. First, it is the problem of "insufficient students" in the higher education system. The report pointed out that under the impact of declining birthrate, the registration rate of many private schools has repeatedly reached record lows. In addition, changes in cross-strait relations in recent years have also led to The number of Chinese international students has dropped from more than 40,000 in 2016 to only more than 3,000 in 2022. If a school's registration rate is not high enough, not only may the Ministry of Education cut its subsidy funds, but its tuition income will also be greatly reduced. Therefore, private schools in Taiwan In recent years, many have responded to the "New Southbound Policy" and vigorously recruited Southeast Asian students. Later, they also began to extend their tentacles to African countries with relatively poor economic conditions such as Uganda. Another background is the problem of "lack of workers" in the industry. With Taiwan's economic development, higher education The popularization of education and the impact of the epidemic in previous years have led to increasingly serious job shortages in Taiwan's labor-intensive industries in recent years. According to statistics, the number of job vacancies in Taiwan's manufacturing industry last year was as high as 77,000, accounting for 33% of the total job vacancies . In this context, some unscrupulous intermediaries have spotted these needs and recruited foreign students for schools. The right hand will then refer these students to the factory to earn agency fees from both parties. In some cases, they will even collect agency fees from the students or take a commission from their salaries. This is because they can recruit students and workers. There are many benefits. Even if schools and factories knew about it , they chose to ignore it . Some schools were even suspected of being directly involved in the case. For example, the University of Science and Technology of China let an "intermediary agent named Lan" hold an unpaid position on campus to facilitate him to handle enrollment matters. Gaoyuan University of Science and Technology directly hired "immigrants". "Employment agencies" help recruit students , while some factories identify students who owe tuition fees and need work , and demand and demand from them, requiring them to work overtime. In addition to agencies, schools and factories, many discussions also criticize and suggest the government's supervision [Why the government failed to prevent it] ? How to improve? 】 In response to the chaotic student-worker case, one problem pointed out by the national private school union is that "the punishment is too light." For example, Gaoyuan University of Science and Technology exposed the student-worker case of the "Cambodian Special Class" as early as 2018. The Ministry of Education did not prohibit them from recruiting overseas at that time. The new southbound special class subsidy may be cut. As a result, the student-worker problem broke out again in the "Philippine special class" last year. They also criticized that the Ministry of Education's punishment for this case of the Philippine special class was still too light and suggested that a "comprehensive suspension of recruitment" should be ordered. " In addition, they also believe that insufficient policy formulation and insufficient supporting facilities are also major problems. For example, although the "New Southbound Special Class" prohibits schools from enrolling students through agents , many private schools in Nanyang have no connections and resources . In order to recruit students smoothly, they still They may use the name of "buying and selling teaching materials" to circumvent supervision and seek help from intermediaries in disguise. Therefore, many suggestions are that to solve the fundamental problem , in addition to stricter regulations and penalties, the government should also target the school enrollment process and students coming to Taiwan. In response to the current situation , more rigorous supporting measures and tracking and inspection mechanisms should be established . Liu Mengqi, deputy minister of the Ministry of Education, also said that a node where the government can intervene in the inspection should be established in the process from enrollment to enrollment. Therefore, they are working on the requirements . He believes that by allowing some foreign students to study Chinese for one year at an institution recognized by the Ministry of Education before enrolling , this will not only allow students to better adapt to studying abroad in Taiwan, but also interrupt the "one-stop" admissions process jointly created by schools and agencies. The process allows the competent authorities to intervene to understand the situation and deal with problems in a timely manner . However, some analysts have mentioned that the reform of one department alone may not be enough because this "study and industry chain" involves too many government agencies except the Ministry of Education. In addition, there is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which issues residence visas, the Ministry of Labor, which is responsible for labor conditions, the Ministry of Economy, which manages factories, etc. If they all manage their own affairs, and other units are not aware of any problems in any link , it will be difficult for them to eradicate the student-worker problem. It is recommended that we try to maintain close communication between various ministries and committees to jointly protect the rights and interests of foreign students. [Our point of view] Before entering today’s point of view, we would like to thank all the members of Zhiqi Qiqi for their support and Only by sponsoring can we continue to operate this channel and produce videos on various social issues. If you are willing to support us to go further or have special issues you want to discuss, you are welcome to become our member or sponsor us with a small amount of super thanks! Having said that, during the process of collecting information this time, we were surprised and sad to find out that there have been so many "student-worker cases" in Taiwan. Of course, not all students from Southeast Asian and African countries will encounter this kind of situation. The trap also involves a large number of people who are ordinary students studying in Taiwan . However, we feel that perhaps the more disadvantaged people are, the more likely they are to be attracted by the temptation of "making money while studying" and fall into the scam. After being deceived, they are more likely to be deceived because they have no money to pay off their debts . At the same time , the fact that they have no relatives and few resources in Taiwan may also make their experiences more difficult to see. Therefore, during this whole process, we feel more gratified that there are reporters who are deeply investigating these cases and reporting them so that these students can The dilemma can be seen and the problem can be faced and reviewed . We also hope that through today's video, more people will pay attention to this issue and monitor the subsequent situation and improvement measures . However, due to space constraints, we still have The case process has been simplified to a great extent , so I hope everyone can go to the information column to find relevant reports and read them! Okay, so at the end of today I want to ask everyone, what do you think should be done first to prevent "student-worker cases" from happening again? Finally, if you like today's video, please share it to let more people know about "Taiwan's hard-earned international student problem"! In addition, you can also click here to read the discussions on "The Blood and Sweat Controversy in Taiwan's Offshore Fisheries" and "Missing Migrant Workers." So, today's Zhiqi Qiqi comes to an end here. See you tomorrow night!
