Raising the level of internationalization of universities is not merely the current consensus among schools; it has also become one of the standards by which colleges are assessed, to the exclusion of all other subjects. More and more schools and departments are now teaching specialized courses in English. But many students are calling foul. They feel that not only does this approach do nothing to increase their English proficiency; it may also prevent them from mastering professional knowledge. It is, they claim, a case of putting the cart before the horse.

To keep pace with “globalization”, and to attract foreign students at the same time, in recent years the [Taiwanese] Ministry of Education has encouraged and assisted universities to teach more courses in English.