University banned from recruiting students in wake of scam

Taiwan’s Ministry of Education has banned Chung Chou University of Science and Technology (CCUT) from recruiting any new students after it was discovered forcing students from Uganda to work in factories for long hours, writes Matthew Strong for Taiwan News.

According to reports on Wednesday 16 February, the college in Yuanlin City, Changhua County, had already been barred from registering new students from overseas following the scandal. Last month, a former student from Uganda said CCUT had not provided him with the scholarship or English-language courses it promised but had forced him to work over 10 hours a day at a factory. A total of 15 other students from Uganda were still enrolled at the college.

As the university had been under observation for quality issues since 2015 and no significant improvements had been recorded, an advisory commission on private schools recommended to the Ministry of Education that beginning this year, CCUT should no longer be allowed to recruit any new students, whether foreign or domestic, the Liberty Times reported. The scam targeting Ugandan students, which involved forcing them to work to pay off debts they incurred since they did not receive the promised scholarships, was reportedly the final element to persuade the commission to ask for tougher sanctions against CCUT.
Full report on the Taiwan News site