According to the statistics released by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China (Taiwan), the number of Malaysian students studying in Taiwan in 2015 was 14,946, a new record. This represents a growth rate of 12.5 percent (an additional 1,660 students) compared to the number in 2014.

Mr. Chu To-Ming, the Director of the Education Division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia said that there was a significant increase in the number of Malaysian students in Taiwan in 2013 after Malaysia and Taiwan both agreed to recognize the degrees issued by each other’s universities in 2012, and the number has kept growing steadily in the following years.

The number of Malaysian students in Taiwan in 2015 was the second highest number of students from any particular part of the world, ranked second behind the number of students from mainland China who accounted for more than 21 percent of the total number of overseas students in Taiwan in 2015.

The statistics show that approximately 250 Malaysian students undertook a Mandarin language course in Taiwan in 2015. Mr. Chu said that the number of Malaysia Mandarin learners in Taiwan last year was an increase of 190 percent compared to 2014 when there were only 85 students. The demand for learning Mandarin has increased greatly in recent years as someone who has learnt Chinese is more competitive in the job market.