The first culture shock that strikes many foreign students is "students sleep, eat, talk on their cell phones, and send text messages in class, and the teachers seem to give their tacit permission to do so!" says Antonio Beardall, a student from Belize in the Department of Information and Library Science at Tamkang University. At first he assumed that collegians in Taiwan simply didn't care about their schoolwork. It was only later that he learned that students are admitted into university departments in the order in which they placed on the national entrance exams, and a lot of students end up having to settle for fields in which they have no interest, and in which they have no intention of getting a job after graduation.

He wonders, "Why don't they just transfer to another department?" Over three years, he observed many students who were totally uninterested in and distant from their subjects, but he saw only one who dared to leave school, first do his compulsory military service, and then retake the university entrance exam in order to pursue his real love, fashion design.

He feels that in the face of this reality, teachers should do all they can to make class lively and interesting, or focus on practical applications in order to get the students interested. "But some of the teachers seem to have lost their passion for teaching, and they stand at the podium for two hours without moving or asking the students any questions, without changing even their facial expressions or tone of voice!"

"If they have no interest in studying, why do they work so hard to get into university in the first place? Just to meet the expectations of their parents or other people? It's just a waste of four years of time and money!" says St. Vincent's Jamali Jack, a student of Journalism and Mass Communication at Ming Chuan University, who has the same impression as Beardall. In his country, if young people don't want to study they just find jobs, where they can acquire skills and experience, so that they are just as competitive in the job market.

So long as foreign students make a determined effort to fit in, they will have many opportunities to experience the cultural life of Taiwan, both on-campus and off.

One of the most common "adjustment problems" mentioned by students from Western countries is the way that professors teach.

Students we interviewed from several Latin American countries said the same thing: "Discussion and debate is the most important element in our classrooms back home," but in Taiwan the teachers just scroll through their PowerPoint presentations and drone on about each page, without any interaction with the students. "Even if we raise questions, teachers generally don't give very full answers, and rarely will go a step further to initiate wider discussion."

So there are definitely complaints. But foreign students have mostly adapted to local culture and to Taiwan's education model of "teachers only teach what they feel like teaching without any concern for what the students want to learn."

"In class it's always just the same few of us who ask questions," says Jamali Jack. He really wants to know what his Taiwanese classmates think. It doesn't matter to him if their English is fluent or not; the point of learning is to engage in a provocative exchange of diverse views.

"Taiwanese students don't really have the habit of questioning their teachers, parents, or superiors," says Jack, who offers the following example: If there is a problem with an exam grade, a Taiwanese student will normally just grumble and then quietly accept the result. But Jack lets the professor know his reaction, and will ask the teacher to have another look at the exam sheet to see if it has been misgraded by mistake. "Taiwanese have too much respect for titles. Professors, school presidents, and the nation's president are just people, and they too can get things wrong!"

As for the Chinese tradition of respecting one's teachers, he thinks that respect should be "mutual." He was unfortunate enough to run into a teacher this semester who doesn't have much respect for students. This professor of advertising, after listening to the students introduce themselves in the first class of the semester, said imperiously, "If you think you understand advertising, that means you understand nothing at all!" Jamali Jack, stressing that creativity, curiosity, and the art of collective brainstorming are prerequisites for success in the mass media and especially advertising, says that if there is no tolerance or sincerity in listening to the views of others, then genuine dialogue becomes impossible.

Students from all over the world bring ways of thinking quite different from those of Taiwanese, sometimes causing shockwaves in the classroom, sometimes providing opportunities for local students to reassess their own academic attitudes.

"I worked in an advertising firm for several years, so this was the class that I was most looking forward to," says Jack, with obvious disappointment in his face. He never expected the teacher to start off the first class with such an arrogant attitude. After a few weeks, he had the chance to talk with the professor one on one, and, sticking to his guns, expressed his views about mutual respect between teachers and students. He had only half finished when the teacher finally couldn't control her anger any more and cut him off: "I don't want to hear any more!" He was really dismayed.

Thereafter, Jack completely lost interest in the class, but couldn't drop it because it was required. So he chose to "informally" drop it-he goes to class as required, but acts invisible, not asking any questions and avoiding any conversation with the teacher.

Jack's example may be an extreme one, but according to many professors with experience teaching foreigners, international students come from a wide variety of backgrounds, and teachers need to be psychologically prepared in order to meet the differing and contradictory needs and demands of the students.

Liu Lung-lung, a teacher in the Applied Computing Program at Ming Chuan, says, based on the students in his own department, says that there is often a big difference between the motivations and credentials of foreign students compared to Taiwanese ones. Some students from the Americas are 25 or 26 and already have some specialized training or working experience, and they have come to Asia to seek new opportunities in life. Many students from the Pacific islands or Africa, on the other hand, while very earnest about learning all kinds of skills, often have not been exposed to enough basic knowledge, so it is necessary to teach them from scratch.

Given this M-shaped see-saw with foreign students at the two extremes and Taiwanese kids in the middle, teachers must be flexible and break the students into groups depending upon level, with different teaching materials and grade requirements. There are also changes in attitude depending upon the student's year in school. By their junior or senior years (years 3 and 4), foreign students are generally fully acclimatized to local life and are more concerned about pragmatic issues like securing their scholarships for another year, so are really picky about grades. Teachers have to use up a lot of emotional energy in dealing with these different demands.

So long as foreign students make a determined effort to fit in, they will have many opportunities to experience the cultural life of Taiwan, both on-campus and off.

In addition, because international colleges and programs are not restricted to foreign students, but are also open to Taiwanese students, in class students from Taiwan and Southeast Asia are often too shy to open their mouths, with the result that "discussion is dominated by students with the best English." This is a common problem experienced by many professors.

Maria Huei-sheng Tu, chair of the International Business and Management Program at Ming Chuan University, says she has had complaints from Taiwanese students that she "favors" the foreign students because if she is not careful, it is quite easy to spend half the class in discussion with the vocal foreigners. It is really a challenge to figure out how to maintain interaction while not delaying the progress of the course and harming the rights and interests of the quiet students.

Over the last two years she has been deliberately thinking about how to help local students join in the discussions, and she has told her students, "Just give me a look and I'll figure out some way for you to have your say." Based on her own observations, after "working out" for a while, some Taiwanese are very active about talking in class, and no longer hesitant about using English to engage in discussions with students from all over the world, who anyway all have their own accents.

One teacher, Yu Pei-hsuan of the Department of International Trade at Tamkang University, avers that "forming mixed small groups of Taiwanese and foreign students is an approach that works quite well." At first she just taught in a lecture format, but found that many foreign students fell asleep. So she switched to a diversified pedagogy including case studies, reports, practical applications, and videos, and the students' response was markedly different. Forming mixed groups including both Taiwanese and foreign students, and including at least one Taiwanese student with good English in each group to act as a bridge, is equivalent to forcing them to interact, with very positive results.

So long as foreign students make a determined effort to fit in, they will have many opportunities to experience the cultural life of Taiwan, both on-campus and off.

Interestingly, students from Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe have a different take on the methods used by teachers in Taiwan, which is essentially 180 degrees from the views of students from the Americas and Western Europe.

"In the Czech Republic, the professor is the leading actor in class, and students' only role is to listen. But here teachers retreat to the second line and emphasize teamwork," says Zuzana Krejci, an exchange student in the Department of Chinese at National Chengchi University, adding "this is a new learning experience for me." Korean student Shin Ah Ram, a senior in the Department of Diplomacy at NCCU, says that at good universities in her country attendance is taken at each and every class, whereas some teachers at NCCU do not keep track, so that students have a relaxed attitude about attending class, which she feels is "not good at all."

Another subject that gets of lot of discussion is, "Should schools treat foreign students exactly the same as Taiwanese students, or adopt a policy of 'one country, two systems'?"

"We all hate the roll call system at Ming Chuan," says Tenga Taua, who comes from Kiribati. Most foreign students have working experience and are a little older than their local counterparts, and the roll call system makes them feel belittled, as if they had to be compelled to go to class. Moreover, if students can study a specific curriculum more effectively on their own, why do they have to go to class at all?

Foreign students find physical education classes especially frustrating. Most have them have long been able to do the basic physical skills required for badminton, basketball, or whatever, and are familiar with the rules of these everyday sports, but teachers don't make any flexible arrangements in class and the schools require that attendance be taken in these classes.

So long as foreign students make a determined effort to fit in, they will have many opportunities to experience the cultural life of Taiwan, both on-campus and off.

Looking at the issues from another point of view, what is the impact on Taiwanese students of being in classes that get "stirred up" by foreign students?

Michael Chu, a Taiwanese sophomore in the International College at Ming Chuan University, relates, "It used to be that whatever other people 'stuffed' into me, that's what I would take." After hanging out with foreign students, however, not only has his English improved at mercurial speed, the biggest change has been to spark a passion for learning actively, rather than just passively. Although he is not yet certain what he will do in the future, when he comes across something that interests him, he already knows how to boldly go out and pursue what he wants.

For example, now when he does a report he is no longer satisfied just doing cut-and-paste to pile up a bunch of facts into a PowerPoint presentation that he will just point to with his laserpen and read off mechanically. Now he takes the time to digest all the information so he can explain it in his own words. This makes it easier for classmates to understand and also gives him a strong sense of accomplishment.

"But there are both good and bad things about the way foreigners do things-you have to learn from the good and take the bad as a warning," says Michael Chu. Some foreigners are just too easy-going, even irresponsible at times, and put themselves first in both their schoolwork and relationships, without regard for the convenience or feelings of others. For example, they might promise to come to a meeting, but arrive really late or not come at all. He used to feel hesitant to speak straight out, but now he will protest: If foreigners are arrogant and only do the easy things in meetings to organize events, so that there is an unfair division of responsibilities, he will fight for his point of view with reasoned arguments.

Beyond the fact that international students enter Taiwanese classrooms and stir up the waters, the rest of the school acts as if they weren't even there. Chen Shu-heng, dean of international cooperation at NCCU, says that one time a foreign student was feeling suicidal and sought counseling, but the counseling center refused, saying "foreign students are not our responsibility." The offices of academic affairs and student affairs have the same mindset, or criticize foreign students for "always bringing trouble" and "taking up resources," which is very frustrating for him.

From this point of view, it seems that when the pluralistic values and hospitality that Taiwan has always been proud of are put to the test in university internationalization, and there is still much room for improvement.

An old Chinese proverb has it that "meeting friends from afar is a happy occasion." Now that we have opened our arms to welcome foreign students to Taiwan, the real measure of our sincerity in promoting internationalization is whether we can listen to their opinions with an open mind and ungrudgingly respond to their needs and demands.

So long as foreign students make a determined effort to fit in, they will have many opportunities to experience the cultural life of Taiwan, both on-campus and off.

So long as foreign students make a determined effort to fit in, they will have many opportunities to experience the cultural life of Taiwan, both on-campus and off.

So long as foreign students make a determined effort to fit in, they will have many opportunities to experience the cultural life of Taiwan, both on-campus and off.

The real meaning of campus internationalization will only be realized when schools and professors sincerely listen to the suggestions that foreign students make about education in Taiwan.