TAIPEI: Taiwan authorities are urged to increase the intake of new students from Malaysia at universities of Taiwan.

Wong Yee Yeng, deputy president of the Federation of Alumni Associations of Taiwan Universities, Malaysia, urged Taiwan to look into the limit imposed on the number of Malaysian students studying in Taiwan.

The number of new students studying in Taiwan was 3,400 last year, less than 1% of the 400,000 students completing their secondary school education in Malaysia.

The mission of the Federation of Alumni Associations of Taiwan Universities is to increase the number of Malaysian students studying in Taiwan by 2% or 8,000 this year, said Wong.

One of the strategies is to increase the intake of new students, he said during a courtesy visit to the Office of the President in Taiwan on Thursday.

Wong is part of the delegation of the Federation of Alumni Associations of Taiwan Universities, Malaysia, which has also visited the Ministry of Education and the Overseas Community Affairs Council in Taiwan.

“The association can play a bridging role between Malaysia and Taiwan,” he said.

Lin Chia-lung, secretary-general of the Office of President said the Taiwanese government is planning to increase the number of overseas Chinese to 170,000 by 2030 due to the shrinking population of Taiwan.

“The Ministry of Economics, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Culture are drafting a migration policy to expand the number of foreigners,” he said when meeting the delegation on behalf of Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen.

Currently, a total of 160,000 foreign students have graduated from universities in Taiwan.