More than 40 percent of university students would prefer to maintain the status quo in cross-strait relations, according to the results of a survey released yesterday.
The survey, conducted by the Chinese Cultural Association, found that while 43 percent of students prefer the status quo, 22 percent favor Taiwan independence and 20 percent unification.
The survey collected the opinions of 1,352 students at 20 universities on various cross-strait issues.
The poll also revealed a drop in support among college students for President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to 48 percent, from 70 percent in a similar survey conducted in 2000.
Kenneth Fan (范光陵), chairman of the association, suggested that politicians should pay attention to the opinions of college students.
"The decline in support for Chen should be noted," Fan said. "College students' opinions to a certain degree represent the mainstream opinions in Taiwan, thus the result should be a valuable reference for the government."
The students were also asked their opinions on former president Lee Teng-hui's (
Sixty-seven percent thought Taiwan's independence by 2008 would be impossible, with 13 percent considering it likely.
With regard to direct links, 64 percent of respondents thought that the new generation of Chinese leaders would accelerate the realization of the links.
But students were not convinced of the benefits of direct links for Taiwan. While 40 percent believed the links would benefit both sides, 39 percent thought China would benefit more and 6 percent that Taiwan had more to gain.
Meanwhile, former education minister Kirby Yung (楊朝祥) said yesterday that investment in college-level education in Taiwan may no longer be lucrative.
"The supply of college-level education in Taiwan currently exceeds demand, thus the future of the industry may not be as good as before," Yung said at a cross-strait education seminar yesterday.
Taiwan has 148 colleges and universities, Yung said, with 51.2 percent of high-school students expected to enroll in colleges and universities by 2011.
However, since Taiwan's birthrate keeps decreasing, with only 190,000 births last year, he said that 18 years from now many colleges and universities will have difficulty finding students to fill their lecture halls. He suggested that it would not be wise to invest in college-level education in Taiwan.
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