In his latest video presentation on "Weekly Records on Governing the Country" on the Presidential Office Web site, Ma said that as a result of the declining birth rate, Taiwan's universities and colleges will fall short of 15,000 freshmen in 2012, leading to the closure of over 10 universities or colleges.

In the face of increased efforts by foreign universities to woo Taiwan students by offering attractive scholarships, Taiwan must take immediate action not only to keep is elite students at home but also to lure foreign and Chinese youths to study here, Ma said.

He suggested that domestic universities develop "all English curriculums," as schools in Singapore, Hong Kong and European countries have been doing, to attract foreign students.

This will help solve the problem of low student numbers at some local universities, he said. Also, the entry of foreign and Chinese students to Taiwan universities will spur local students to study harder and will help to expand their global perspective, the president said.

Many foreign universities have been aggressively wooing Taiwan students with attractive scholarship offers.

The most recent example is Hong Kong Polytechnic University, which held presentations at several Taipei senior high schools a few days ago to recruit outstanding Taiwanese students.

The university offered scholarship packages of HK$480,000 (about US$62,112) annually that would include HK$80,000 for tuition and HK$40,000 for living expenses.

Earlier this year, the University of Hong Kong also held a recruitment drive in Taipei, offering scholarships valued at HK$150,000 per year for up to four years.

(By Lee Shu-hua & Bear Lee)