Colleges and universities are adopting more aggressive measures to attract top-notch students to their schools, including offering hefty scholarships, gifts and free accommodations.
With more than 100 institutions of higher learning competing for students, many schools are finding they can no longer expect students to come to them on their own. Though in the past students fought to be admitted into college, times have changed.
Today, 60 percent of college applicants receive an acceptance letter, up from 30 percent 15 years ago. The higher rate of admission has made it more difficult for schools to recruit the best students.
This year, 70,000 hopefuls are vying for posts at more than 1,200 departments.
To attract the cream of the crop, universities are relying on cash incentives. For example, the privately-run Tunghai University (東海大學) offers a four-year, NT$1.2 million scholarship to some of its students.
National Chungshing University (中興大學) and the privately run Da Yeh University (大葉大學) offer NT$700,000 and NT$750,000,
respectively, to students with high scores on the Joint College Entrance Examination.
Many schools -- both private and public -- offer some type of financial aide. To help take the pressure off parents, Yuan Ze University (
In addition to financial aide, universities are offering free computers, housing and job opportunities.
School administrators say the increasing number of colleges nationwide and the economic downturn has forced them to be more creative in attracting students.
But some educators are apprehensive about handing out big scholarships to increase enrollment, fearing academic quality could suffer.
"Schools should focus on academic work, rather than worrying about their survival because of the lack of students," a professor of National Taiwan University said.
"If school authorities spend too much time and effort on devising ways to attract students instead of elevating a school's research quality, I would really begin to worry about the future of Taiwan's higher education."
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