The Ministry of Education (MOE) drew up a budget of NT$50 billion (US$6 billion) for a five-year period in accordance with the "Top International Universities and Research Center Developing Project" (發展國際一流大學及頂尖研究中心計劃), as part of the government's "Ten New Major Construction Projects" (新十大建設), in order to help universities improve their infrastructure and management.
Integration
The project is also aimed at helping universities integrate human resources and develop their own special fields of interest and research, to ensure that at least one Taiwanese school would within a decade be listed among the world's top higher-learning institutions.
Key
"People of talent can be key to a country's international competitiveness. To establish the ability to research and develop and to enhance a country's abilities, like the COE Project in Japan and the BK21 Project in Korea have done, we should do something in our higher-education institutions to make Taiwan an island of innovation," Chen De-hua (
"Every university should review its own capabilities and targets to make a reasonable assessment based on the proportion of research versus teaching. There should also be a reasonable system for distributing educational resources," Chen said.
He also said that a policy should not be implemented on a basis of fake equality and that every school should determine its own position and orientation to serve its own function well. Therefore, every university would necessarily receive a different amount from the budget, he said.
Special budget
The fund for the project is a special budget and according to the MOE, seven of the nation's universities -- National Taiwan University, National Tsing Hua University, National Chiao Tung University, National Cheng Kung University, National Yung Ming University, National Central University and National Chengchi University -- have submitted their blueprints for becoming a top international university.
Twenty-two universities proposed projects for setting up leading research centers in the fields of human science, nano and information technology, biological technology, medicine, business management, agriculture and fishery, and environmental technology.
The proposals have already been sent to an ad hoc committee for deliberation and the approved projects will be announced in September, Chen said.
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