富蘭克林留遊學中心

＜獨家專訪＞富蘭克林國際教育機構接受日經新聞獨家採訪

 擁有二十五年代辦經驗的Dr. Vivien Liang　於７月２３日接受日經Nikken新聞的獨家專訪，為正在苦惱出國留學的學生們，提供意見及解惑，並分享在COVID-19疫情趨使下，２０２０最新的留學趨勢，詳細採訪問答將會在本篇的文末展示！ 

據日經新聞網報， 赴美國大學的外國留學生正在減少。越來越多的高中畢業生選擇在亞洲範圍內留學。

日本大學英語授課課程－頂尖國際化大學專案（Top Global University Project）從早期為Global 30，是主打希望在２０２０年能有超過３０萬名的國際學生，擴大到最新的日本頂尖國際化大學專案（Top Global University Project）畢業的學生們往往在就業方面，大多比去歐美的學生順利。因為通過在日本就讀大學的四年內，學生的語言方面會不斷的精進，畢業時會掌握中文、英文和日文的優勢，成為市場上不可多得的人才。

• 為何選擇日本？
• 離家近，生活適應較無障礙。
  • 掌握３大語言，滿足求職市場所需，畢業即就業！
  • 日本治安相較歐美良好，上學不用提心吊膽

日本大學在國際上的名聲及排名，優於大多數歐美名校！

英國教育雜誌《泰晤士高等教育》（Times Higher Education）發表的最新世界大學排名可以發現，在前30所大學中，除了英國牛津大學和美國史丹佛大學之外，新加坡國立大學也名列其中。在前100所之中，還包括東京大學等日本大學。

日本的超級國際化大學計劃（Top Global University Project）中所概括的學校，大多是日本名列前茅的大學，日本當地的學生夢想著進入的大學。相比歐美的各大名校的學費，日本的學費價格實在，但教育水平卻是數一數二的優秀。在數百間日本名校中，國立學校的cp值更勝一籌！私立學校的學費往往是國立學校的學費的二到三倍以上。

想去日本東京留學，但學費之外的生活費太高！

相信許多學生都對大城市有著很高的嚮往，想居住在東京那樣的大城市，但是又覺得生活費太高，實在負擔不了！如果你是這類的學生的話，那我私心推薦你考慮筑波大學，一所cp值爆表的大學。筑波大學是一所國立大學，地理位置良好，他位於東京首都圈的筑波市，搭乘公共運輸工具只需要不到半小時的時間即可以到達繁華的東京地段。而且，筑波大學在日本國內的排名第8名，畢業生往往都會成為各大企業搶著要的菁英！是我個人私心覺得最划算，cp值最高的大學！

日本留學經驗分享

就讀道明中學的陳同學，當初和其他同學一樣嚮往著去歐美就讀大學，但是在他準備申請大學的資料時，他無意中發現了日本英語授課的課程，一開始是抱著好奇的心態去查詢資料，卻深深的被頂尖國際化大學專案（Top Global University Project）所吸引。道明中學的陳同學的在校總成績（ＧＰＡ）是3.4，托福成績97分，雅思成績7.0，SAT是1170分。他總共申請了五家大學：立命館大學、國立橫濱大學、上智大學、慶應大學和筑波大學。錄取了立命館大學、國立橫濱大學和筑波大學，３所都是非常好的大學，然而他最終選擇了筑波大學。選擇筑波大學主要是考量到它的地理位置，離東京近，但生活費各方面卻比東京來的便宜，國際上的排名也受到認可！陳同學的爸爸更是驚嘆第一次收到帳單時的反應，因為一年的學費大概是台幣二十幾萬，甚至比台灣的國際學校的學費更加便宜！

日經新聞的資深記者，鄭庭芳記者和Dr. Vivien Liang的採訪環節：

Ｑ：鄭庭芳記者　Ａ：Dr. Vivien Liang

Q: Generally speaking, what is the trend for studying abroad for Asian students this year and looking forward? What has changed? What are the key factors? Do you have any latest statistics/survey results you could share with us?

A :

For the past ten years, there has been a great change in the student mobility in Asia. Because the increase of job opportunities in Asia, especially in China, many Asian students decide to pursue studies in Asian countries instead of going to the US or the UK. Among the Asian countries, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore are the three most popular destinations in Asia.       

                                  (Source: JASSO website)

For Asian students, the trend for studying abroad this year would be going to Japan and Singapore to pursue academic studies. Actually, this trend was not seen ten years ago. Since the rise of Asia Economy, more and more Asian students studied in the US decided to go to China or other parts of Asia to have better career opportunities after graduation. In 2009, the Japanese government launched the G30 (Global 30) project with the aim to attract over 30,000 students to study in Japan within ten years. But at that time, Japan was still not a very popular destination for international students. Most students were still interested in studying in the US or the UK, hoping to create wide-spread people network and familiarize themselves with the Western business culture. Nevertheless, a few years later, the spotlight changed to Hong Kong. Since 2012, more and more students pursued their undergraduate and graduate studies at the universities in Hong Kong because of their high ranking, exchange opportunities in international corporations, and future development in the business field. Starting in 2016, students returned to their high schools to share their experiences studying in Hong Kong. During these periods, universities in Hong Kong went overseas to recruit talented high school students and offered great amount of scholarships to outstanding students who received high scores from the national examinations. However, the trend of studying in Hong Kong suddenly changed due to the continuous demonstrations in 2019 and then worsened because of the COVID-19. The spotlight shifted again and this time it changed to Japan and Singapore.

Singapore has been an evergreen education destination in Asia with its high education quality and international environment. Being the most competitive economy in the world in 2019, best country for children to receive education and grow up in and safest city in the world; it has attracted a lot of attention for students not just from Asia but also from European countries. With career opportunities being another important factor for students to study abroad, students could be interested to know that more than 46% of Multinational Companies and 59% of Multinational Technology Companies choose Singapore as their Global, Asia Pacific and Asia Headquarters. This could be one of the main factors of why Asian students have been going to Singapore since early 2000. Just that Singapore Institutions are not as active in their recruitment in comparison to Japan and HK.

The latest statistical data from JASSO published in April 2020, the numbers of Taiwanese student studying in Japan increase from 7,423 in 2018 to 7,518 in 2019. And based on our experiences, the number of student will only increase. As a result, the high number of potential target students in Taiwan can be expected for the upcoming years. Particularly, for Japanese students, it is said that remote learning with a global environment will be the first prior choice for students to choose. ZOOM, Skype, WebEX and other video conference system are being popular and being a common tool for companies and students to use for their meeting s and having classes. Furthermore, students are seeking for shorter term experience of going study abroad rather than longer term study abroad experiences. This is because due to COVID-19, the employment rate has dramatically dropped in Japan and students are fearing they cannot get a job if they choose to study abroad in longer term. But once the COVID-19 eases out then it is said that Japanese students will again challenge to study abroad in longer term.

Q: Where are the top 3 popular destinations for studying abroad for Asian students this year? Have the destinations changed compared with the past few years? Why?

A: 

       For Taiwanese students, the most popular destinations this year are Singapore and Japan. In the past 5 years, the most popular learning destinations in Asia for Taiwanese students were in the order of Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan. However, due to the demonstration in 2019, Hong Kong was not favored by most parents who are not willing to send their children there for college study. On the other hand, Singapore and Japan, although it is always behind the US and the UK, have now gained more attention by students and their parents. Originally, the universities in Singapore and Japan do not accept GSAT (General Scholastic Ability Test), the national college entrance examination only administered in Taiwan, as the requirement for admission. They only accepted SAT or ACT, the US based international examination. The good news is, Singapore universities gradually accept GSAT to replace SAT or ACT, and in some Universities, school average score and IELTS/TOEFL will be recognized too. The acceptance of GSAT as the application requirement is another reason that why students consider staying in Asia instead of leaving for the US, which only accepts SAT and ACT.

For Japanese students, the three top destinations are the US, Australia and Canada. (Toyokeizai) But due to COVID-19 and visa issue, it is said that popularity of Australia might increase because it is relatively safe and border will be open faster than other counties for Japan. Also the popularity of the Philippines or nearby Asian countries, for example Singapore will increase for those who would like to improve their English ability.

Q: Do you think Singapore and Japan or some other Asian nations such as Australia/NZ besides the US become more popular because of their country’s policy for foreign students and the coronavirus outbreak? What kind of trend do you see and what incentives these countries provide to international students (like Japan’s G30) while the US is not as friendly as in the past to take in foreign students?

A:

Similar to the US, Singapore and Japan are also advanced countries, but they have safer learning and living environment and better universal health insurance program. In terms of the learning and living environment, gun possession issue in the US is a major concern for all parents and there have been a lot of terrible cases about the shooting rampage in the US university campuses. On the contrary, it is well-known that Singapore and Japan are two countries in Asia that have the strictest law and the safest learning and living environments, with Singapore being the safest city in the world. In particular, the Singaporean government is willing to provide tuition grand, which requires grand recipients to work in Singapore for three year after graduation, as huge incentives to support and recruit more talented students from around the world. For the insurance program, in the US, even the international students are required to purchase the health insurance, they still need to pay a lot fees when going to the doctors; whereas the fees paid to the hospital when seeing the doctors is way much less in Singapore and Japan.

From the perspective of Japanese students, Singapore and Japan will increase their popularity as they are also ranked in Timer higher education and QS world ranking. We think the quality of education in Asian universities such as Singapore and Japan is known for its standard. Furthermore, the recent trend of Japanese universities were faculties which have all-English program with mandatory study abroad experiences. For this reason, Tsukuba University, Ritsumeikan University, Waseda University, Akita Interntional University, Chiba University and other International Universities which offer liberal arts course are popular. Yet, due to the corona outbreak, the program itself is not working well so this year’s high school survey conducted by university journal Japan online has announced that students are now shifting to be more on science stream rather than art stream. The popular faculties this year are focusing on medical science, computer science (AI, Network cybersecurity, Machine Learning, Web Development) engineering, environment and business which have higher market demand. Taking COVID-19 crisis, Japanese universities are providing many opportunities of scholarship for international students. Taking Kyoto University of Advanced Science as an example, KUAS is providing two types of scholarship: KUAS-E scholarship and Super KUAS-E scholarship. Super KUAS-E scholarship cover 100% tuition waiver and JPY 100,000 /month stipend for excellent international students. There are few international graduate students received this super KUAS-E scholarship this year and next year will be the first opening for undergraduate program for brand-new all-English engineering program.

Q : Have you encountered cases where students were originally planning to pursue higher education in the U.S. but later changed their minds? What were the reasons? Where did they decide to go instead?

A :

     Yes, we do have a student who has been accepted by UC San Diego and NUS (National University of Singapore) and NTU (Nanyang Technological University) decided to give up the admission offer by UC San Diego and chose to go to NUS. The most obvious reason is that the world ranking of NUS is much higher than that of UC San Diego. This student is also offered the half-tuition scholarship by the university.

Q : Based on your observations/experiences, do you see the Trump administration’s recent immigration policy changes or the escalating geopolitical tensions have any impact on the willingness of Asian students pursuing higher education in the U.S.?

A:

     Definitely. The recent strict immigration policy (H1/B1) did greatly affect students’ willingness to study in the US. Also, the original programs of OPT (Optional Practical Training) and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) for students who graduated from the US universities to stay in the US for three years were also impacted. Moreover, the safety issue in the US is another issue that concerns most parents. The long-term racial discrimination issue, and particularly, the discrimination escalated to the highest point due to the outbreak of the COVID-19, has heightened parents’ concerns to send their children to the US. However, graduate students who pursue masters’ or doctoral degrees under the STEM program are not affected as much as those of undergraduate students because they might have higher opportunities than undergraduate students to seek employments after graduation. But, in general, the number of students decreases greatly since Trump took the office. Before the appearance of the vaccine for the COVID-19, parents’ willingness to send their children to study in the US will not resume to the level as the past. For Japanese students, Trump administration’s recent immigration policy has increased the send of distrust to Japanese students who would like to pursuit higher education in US but for those who would like to study in higher ranking universities might not be so influential.

Q :  Is there a rising trend where Asian students(or their parents) choose to study in other Asian countries, such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore, UK, and other countries, instead of the US, due to COVID-19 and why?

A :

     Because of the COVID-19, these is indeed a very obvious trend that students and their parents begin to consider studying in Asian countries, particularly in Singapore and Japan, instead of the US or the UK. Studying in other Asian countries that is within the close range to the island country like Taiwan is only an expansion and extension for many aspects such as education, culture, living circle, and even future career opportunities, to those similar countries. There are six major reasons as follows.

1. Stable political and economic status: Singapore and Japan are well-known for their stable political and economic statues. Students studying in these two countries do not have to worry about any demonstration that might affect their studies.
2. Strong health insurance programs: The health insurance programs in these two countries are affordable and students do not have to pay a huge amount of money to go to the doctors.
3. Multiple language advantages: Singapore is a place where four races merged. Students studying in Singapore can at least master English during their studies. And for students who study in Japan, they will have the advantage of being tri-lingual talents.
4. Rich culture experiences: Different cultures are equally respected in Singapore. Students can learn to enjoy and respect various cultures and viewpoints. Japanese culture is also diverse according to different regions. Students will be able to immerse in the traditional Japanese culture and learn the Japanese spirits during their studies.
5. Affordable expenditure and abundant scholarships: Compared with the US, the living cost and tuition in Singapore and Japan are less expensive. There are also many opportunities to receive financial support. In Singapore, the government provides tuition grand to students with excellent academic performance. Similarly, universities in Japan also offer full tuition wavier with allowances such as Kyoto University.
6. And most importantly, we are well aware that the economy in the west is not doing that well, while in Asia, we see major investment coming in. Earlier in the sharing, I have highlighted that 46% of MNCs and 59% of multinational technology company coming to Asia will have their Global HQ, Asia Pacific HQ and Asia HQ in Singapore.

In addition, it is surely a timing for Asian universities to change the trend. Although it is still slow, there are rising number of people studying in English and other languages. For those who would like to learn other languages instead of English might pursuit education in South Korea or China and for those who would like to learn about specialized skills such as Engineering then now is the trend for students to choose universities by the uniqueness of universities rather than by ranking.

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