Low, government-regulated university tuition rates nationwide are eroding the quality of higher education amid a decades-long influx of students, university presidents said yesterday.
In a heated public debate on tuition reform at Chengchi University, National Taiwan University (NTU) President Lee Si-Chen (
"The situation of private universities is like trying to feed four cats with three fish," Chang said, referring to private universities' lack of funding because of MOE-regulated tuition rates that fail to reflect the true cost of an elite education.
Public universities aren't much better off, Lee said.
While the number of public higher education institutions increased from 37 in 1996 to 51 in 2005, with the number of university students skyrocketing from 217,000 to 379,000 during the same period, tuition rates have not risen fast enough to ensure that the exploding student population receives an education on a par with what universities should offer, Lee said.
Government subsidies to universities have not risen fast enough, panelists said.
With 60 percent of high school graduates entering the higher education system, the system is no longer seen as elite, said Lee. It's just another level of education that is open to mediocre students, he added.
Coalition Against High Tuition spokeswoman Chien Shu-hui (
In other words, students bear the brunt of the costs at the higher education level, while future "big business" employers reap the rewards of that education.
MOE Department of Technological and Vocational Education Director-General Chang Kuo-bao (張國保) said yesterday that the interests of economically disadvantaged students needed to be protected in any "tuition reform," as proposed by Lee and Chang.
"Determining tuition rates according to free market principles would also involve amending many, many laws," Chang said, adding that such a change would be "extremely complex and controversial."
MOE Department of Higher Education Director-General Chen Te-hua (
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
A Taiwanese academic yesterday said that Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Wang Xuefeng (王雪峰) disrespected Denmark and Japan when he earlier this year allegedly asked Japan’s embassy to make Taiwan’s representatives leave an event in Copenhagen. The Danish-language Berlingske on Sunday reported the incident in an article with the headline “The emperor’s birthday ended in drama in Copenhagen: More conflict may be on the way between Denmark and China.” It said that on Feb. 26, the Japanese embassy in Denmark held an event for Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s birthday, with about 200 guests in attendance, including representatives from Taiwan. After addressing the Japanese hosts, Wang
RSS