Major changes are in the works for two of the nation’s top universities, as the Ministry of Education draws up plans to combine a number of post-secondary institutions with the big universities.
Two of the nation’s most prestigious universities — National Taiwan University (NTU) in Taipei and National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu City — have been put on the ministry’s priority list, with six schools planned to be merged into three, the Chinese-language United Evening News reported yesterday.
On the drawing board are three proposals: merging National Taipei University of Education with NTU; merging National Hsinchu University of Education with National Tsing Hua University; and merging National Pingtung University of Education with National Pingtung Institute of Commerce.
The education reform plan was revealed during a legislative session to review the ministry’s budget.
Many of the nation’s universities are facing financial difficulties and decreasing enrollment because of a declining birth rate.
Grilled by legislators who threatened to freeze the ministry’s budget, Minister of Education Chiang Wei-ning (蔣偉寧) said a thorough review was under way and that the six schools had been targeted for mergers into three universities.
“Priority is being given to schools with fewer than 10,000 students, and for cities and municipalities with two or more national universities,” Chiang said.
Officials said proposals for the three cases had been discussed in the past, and they hoped to convene meetings among the six universities to coordinate the details for the merger plan to succeed.
There are 53 universities and vocational colleges in Taiwan, but a number of them have fewer than 10,000 students, which is the case for most normal universities and education colleges.
The three listed for potential mergers into the larger universities meet the criteria set by the ministry.
This was the first time the ministry has come up with a concrete plan on the issue, though there has been demand for such action for years.
Chiang said he hoped to implement the mergers before his term ends in 2014 and to give a timetable for discussing the details with the affected schools in February and March.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard