Taiwan’s national policy of studying abroad, at public expense has a long-standing history in China and Taiwan. The policy plays a significant role to facilitating Taiwan to d pursue modernization. However, with the drastic changes of the times and the challenges of globalization, Taiwan’s Ministry of Education has not only reformed the related system of public study abroad, but also developed a series of measures to encourage students to study and experience abroad. Among them is “the Knowledge Sea Project” (Xuehai Project) that has engaged with colleges nationwide, nearly thousand graduate students every year, and annual large-scaled funding. This study collects, records, and scrutinizes the process of development, implementation and transformation of the national project that has launched since 2006. Through in-depth interviews with 12 executives from 11 public and private universities and technology colleges around Taiwan, the research analyzes the relationship between policy/project text, executive discourse and neo-liberal discourse. This study finds that the program, as one of newly policy measures of studying abroad has been disseminated by the neo-liberal discourse, resulting in some implementation challenges and the myth of pursuing equity. Unpacking the intertwined interviewees’ narratives and neo-liberal discourse facilitates a more comprehensive understanding of the issues of Taiwan’s study abroad policy underpinning by neo-liberalism.
