Ethnic Chinese Malaysians are turning to Taiwan for educational and career opportunities.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:0017-year-old Wang Ruoxuan is in her final year of secondary school in Penang, Malaysia.
00:16It may also be her last year at home.
00:18She plans to go abroad for college and study technology in either Singapore or Taiwan.
00:23After I studied in Taiwan, many people chose to work there.
00:27They told me that the job opportunities in Taiwan are pretty good,
00:30especially in the field of technology.
00:32The pay and benefits are also pretty good.
00:35So I'm a little excited and I might do more research.
00:39This is the prism we want to focus on.
00:41Triangular prism.
00:43Like Wang, around 90% of ethnic Chinese in Malaysia enroll at these independent Chinese high schools,
00:49where they study in English and Malay, aside from Chinese,
00:52broadening their options for higher education abroad,
00:55an option many here must consider,
00:57because Malaysian public universities follow a quota system that favors Malays,
01:02making it harder for these students to find a place to study in their home country.
01:06It's private Chinese high schools in Malaysia like these that send many students to Taiwan,
01:11making them one of the largest groups of international students in the country.
01:15Hundreds of kilometers away in the capital Kuala Lumpur,
01:19students at another private Chinese high school are taking extra physics classes during a school break,
01:24trying to stay ahead of the competition.
01:26If I were to choose Taiwan, I would still choose NTU.
01:33Because I know that NTU is the best university in Taiwan,
01:37so it has to be the best.
01:40And once done with university,
01:42many of these students say they plan to stay in Taiwan to begin their careers.
01:46In 2023, Malaysians became the largest group of foreign professionals in Taiwan,
01:51with jobs in tech and commerce,
01:53surpassing Japanese workers for the first time.
01:56They also outnumbered workers from Indonesia and Vietnam,
01:59who are the two largest groups of international students in the country.
02:03Some educators say that a similarity in culture and a multilingual background
02:07could also give Malaysians an advantage in finding jobs in Taiwan.
02:11I have quite a lot of students,
02:13about 100 students who stay in Taiwan.
02:15Because it's easy for them to adapt to life in Taiwan.
02:20For example, these big entrepreneurs like Malaysian students.
02:28They have the advantage of multilingualism.
02:32For example, they speak English, Chinese, Minnanese, Malay, and so on.
02:38But that's all in the future.
02:40For now, these high school students have their sights set on the immediate challenge ahead,
02:44taking it one class and one test at a time
02:47as they prepare to leave high school and make their way to Taiwan.
02:51Patrick Chen and Tiffany Wong in Georgetown, Malaysia for Taiwan Plus.