The final Joint College Entrance Examination (大學聯招) kicked off yesterday as more than 50,000 students seeking degrees in natural sciences packed testing centers nationwide on a sizzling summer day.
The exam has helped determine for 48 years which university a Taiwan senior high school student will attend. It will become a chapter in history, however, after the three-day test ends on Tuesday. Beginning next year, the exam will be replaced by a diversified college enrollment scheme (
Today all of the 126,000-plus examinees will sit for the Chinese and English portions of the exam -- the two subjects required of all college hopefuls.
An estimated 73,000 students, or roughly 60 percent of examinees, will gain entry to university this year.
Yesterday's tests on mathematics, chemistry and physics went smoothly except that a few students went to the wrong classrooms and had to be rushed to the correct locations by police escorts.
In Taipei, two test takers were apprehended for possession of ecstasy, a drug popular with young dance-club goers.
The students were permitted to take the examinations before being taken into custody on drug possession charges.
While inspecting test centers, Minister of Education Ovid Tzeng (
"The most laudable element of the Joint College Entrance Exam since its establishment in 1954 is the impartiality it offers.
"Yet it has also shown many flaws due to its lack of flexibility in today's more diversified environment," Tzeng said.
"The new scheme, which will be instituted next year, will provide additional channels to enable more students to go to college if they can prove they have special skills, even though they may not have excelled academically."
Tzeng said he hoped people will put their faith in the new plan and that he would ensure students' rights would be safeguarded.
In response to the worries raised by parents and students due to the complexity of the new scheme, Tzeng assured them that the ministry would do its utmost to educate them on the details of the plan through a variety of channels over the upcoming year.
According to Tzeng, under the diversified university enrollment scheme, a prospective college student may be granted admission on the basis of either his application (
The competency test score will serve as a basic standard, which will be used as a fundamental criterion in both applications and school recommendations.
But if students fail to gain admittance through these channels, they will be allocated admission opportunities in accordance with their scores on the competency test.
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