Many years earlier, while he was in Manila, he had headed a group of Overseas Chinese who were preparing to found a junior teacher's college in the Republic of China. They applied to the Ministry of Education for accreditation. At the time, the Minister of Education was Chang Ch'i-yun.
莊萬里早年曾在馬尼拉籌辦華僑師範專科學校，向教育部申請立案，時任教育部長的張其昀，有感於在海外興學的不易，乃請經辦人員以最快速度，在一周內辦妥有關事宜，莊萬里一直心存感謝。