TAIPEI\/KUALA LUMPUR<\/span> \u2013 Malaysian student Shuy Zhi Heng knew he wanted to study in Taiwan after a campus tour of National Taiwan University during a holiday in Taipei in 2023. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful campus, and because it is more cost-friendly to pursue higher education in Taiwan than in other places, I thought it would be a good option,\u201d the 21-year-old told The Straits Times. <\/p>\n Mr Shuy, now a second-year finance undergraduate at the university, is enjoying himself in Taiwan so much that he convinced his younger brother to also choose Taiwan for his university studies. <\/p>\n While Malaysia has for years been the top source of international students in Taiwan, student numbers from the country have declined in recent years, falling below 10,000 for the first time in about a decade to 9,686 in 2024. <\/p>\n In comparison, Vietnam has become the top source of tertiary students for Taiwan, with numbers surging from around 4,000 in 2015, to almost 40,000 in 2024. Indonesian student numbers have also grown significantly, rising from some 4,500 to more than 16,000 over the same period. <\/p>\n Vietnamese process engineer Le Tan Vinh, 30, who graduated with a master\u2019s degree in electrophysics from Taiwan\u2019s National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in 2021, said Taiwan\u2019s offer of generous scholarships was a \u201cbig factor\u201d in his decision to study there. His studies were fully sponsored and came with a living stipend \u2013 with no mandatory service bond. <\/p>\n He added that the island\u2019s edge in science and technology was also a draw. <\/p>\n \u201cTaiwan is much more developed than Vietnam, and there are good employment opportunities in the tech and engineering industries \u2013 I\u2019ve been able to get a good job after graduation and stay on to work,\u201d said Mr Vinh, who is currently working in Taichung, central Taiwan. <\/p>\n Malaysian student Shuy Zhi Heng is a second-year finance undergraduate at National Taiwan University.<\/p>\n PHOTO: COURTESY OF SHUY ZHI HENG <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The spike in student numbers from Vietnam comes amid an overall growth in South-east Asian students in Taiwan. <\/p>\n Taiwan has been actively recruiting international students to make up for its shrinking university enrolment numbers amid a falling birth rate. In 2025, the island\u2019s total fertility rate is projected to have plunged below 0.8, making it one of the world\u2019s lowest.\u00a0<\/p>\n In particular, Taiwan has been trying to attract students from South-east Asia, which has a relatively young population. This is also in line with Taipei\u2019s New Southbound Policy, introduced in 2016 by then President Tsai Ing-wen, which seeks to deepen engagement with 18 countries in South-east Asia, South Asia and Australasia while reducing its reliance on China. <\/p>\n<\/picture><\/div>