Higher education has long been considered a key to promoting industrial development and changing the nation’s economic fortunes, or at least, to cultivating talent and enhancing Taiwan’s competitiveness.
For the younger generation, higher education has also been understood to lead to reliable employment and an improved quality of life over the long term.
However, in the past several years, some private colleges and universities have seen enrollment shortfalls, which some people link to oversupply and the nation’s low birth rate, while others blame a slowing economy and the government’s restrictive educational policy. Critics have called for the government to solve the issue, including the establishment of a merger or exit mechanism for private institutions.
Last week, Kao Fong College of Digital Contents in Pingtung County said it was disbanding after years of student shortages and financial difficulties, making it the nation’s first private college to shut down. Another Pingtung-based private college, Yung Ta Institute of Technology and Commerce, was told by the Ministry of Education to halt admissions for a year to focus on restructuring. Several other private schools, including Kaomei Junior College of Health Care and Management in Greater Kaohsiung and Hsing Kuo University in Greater Tainan, are on the ministry’s radar.
Problems faced by private schools have continued to grow since the number of higher education institutions ballooned from 99 in 1972 to 162 thanks to a government policy to promote new schools.
Yet according to a white paper on education released by the ministry in December last year, the falling birth rate will have the most severe impact on school enrollment in 2016, with 55,000 fewer students for colleges or universities — almost a 20 percent decline from 1997. The economy will suffer, as the white paper also says the total productivity of graduates in 2028 will need to be double that of last year’s graduates to maintain the nation’s development, if the birth rate remains low and the proportion of elderly people continues to increase.
There are more people than ever seeking higher education, alongside growing concern that the number of colleges and universities has led to an oversupply of graduates, high unemployment among young people and lower starting salaries. As the quality of higher education has not grown accordingly, worries over the nation’s educational competitiveness increase, too.
A vicious cycle stalks poor-performing schools: The lower their performance, the less attractive they are to students, leading to lower enrollment, rising financial difficulties and reduced faculty and staff numbers, which spark labor disputes, which in turn fuel academic underachievement and hurt graduates’ employment prospects.
The government should take full responsibility for this oversupply and poor quality because it encouraged the establishment of private institutions, but did little to ensure quality control. The ministry initiated its reform plans in 1999 and offered exit guidelines to institutions, but the problems remain, with the ministry planning to reduce the number of colleges and universities to about 150 this year.
A responsible government must tell the public that they have a path to prosperity through higher education or other alternatives, instead of talking about institutional exit mechanisms without guiding schools toward success. The ministry intends to close or merge schools with lower enrollment rates, but is only pushing schools to focus on recruitment, rather than on other efforts to stay competitive.
Moreover, not understanding what challenges face private schools — whether their tuition is inadequate, why most of them lack unique characteristics and whether the government’s unfair resource allocation affects them — poses a real crisis in the future of higher education.
The cancelation this week of President William Lai’s (賴清德) state visit to Eswatini, after the Seychelles, Madagascar and Mauritius revoked overflight permits under Chinese pressure, is one more measure of Taiwan’s shrinking executive diplomatic space. Another channel that deserves attention keeps growing while the first contracts. For several years now, Taipei has been one of Europe’s busiest legislative destinations. Where presidents and foreign ministers cannot land, parliamentarians do — and they do it in rising numbers. The Italian parliament opened the year with its largest bipartisan delegation to Taiwan to date: six Italian deputies and one senator, drawn from six
Recently, Taipei’s streets have been plagued by the bizarre sight of rats running rampant and the city government’s countermeasures have devolved into an anti-intellectual farce. The Taipei Parks and Street Lights Office has attempted to eradicate rats by filling their burrows with polyurethane foam, seeming to believe that rats could not simply dig another path out. Meanwhile, as the nation’s capital slowly deteriorates into a rat hive, the Taipei Department of Environmental Protection has proudly pointed to the increase in the number of poisoned rats reported in February and March as a sign of success. When confronted with public concerns over young
Taiwan and India are important partners, yet this reality is increasingly being overshadowed in current debates. At a time when Taiwan-India relations are at a crossroads, with clear potential for deeper engagement and cooperation, the labor agreement signed in February 2024 has become a source of friction. The proposal to bring in 1,000 migrant workers from India is already facing significant resistance, with a petition calling for its “indefinite suspension” garnering more than 40,000 signatures. What should have been a straightforward and practical step forward has instead become controversial. The agreement had the potential to serve as a milestone in
China has long given assurances that it would not interfere in free access to the global commons. As one Ministry of Defense spokesperson put it in 2024, “the Chinese side always respects the freedom of navigation and overflight entitled to countries under international law.” Although these reassurances have always been disingenuous, China’s recent actions display a blatant disregard for these principles. Countries that care about civilian air safety should take note. In April, President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) canceled a planned trip to Eswatini for the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s coronation and the 58th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic
RSS