Dozens of students yesterday demonstrated outside the Ministry of Education in Taipei, protesting its decision to allow universities to independently decide whether to raise tuition fees for graduate programs. The students expressed concern that the decision may result in a increase in fees for graduate students.
In a conference meeting with university and college presidents from across the nation last month, Minister of Education Chiang Wei-ling (蔣偉寧) said that school administrations would be free to decide whether to raise tuition fees for graduate programs, making many students worried that they may become an “ATM” for their schools.
“When students finish their degree, they go out and contribute to society based on what they have learned at school. Students should not be the ones who shoulder the rising costs of education,” said Chang Wen-hua (張文華), a graduate student at Taipei National University of the Arts and a representative of the Alliance Against Commoditization of Education. “Instead, the government should collect capital gains tax from businesses to fill universities’ financial gap, as most students go on to work for businesses after graduation.”
Photo: CNA
Chang said that graduate students are already suffering from cuts in research funds and that “things would only get worse for us if tuition fees go up and research budgets are cut.”
“We would become academic slave workers,” she added.
“I get a research budget of about NT$3,000 [US$101] a month, but 10 years ago, the amount was NT$8,000,” said Wang Chun-fang (王淳芳), a graduate student at National Chengchi University.
“With little budget and higher tuition fees, we will be forced to work multiple part-time jobs. How are we supposed to focus on our studies and do our research?” she asked.
Responding to the students’ protest, Department of Higher Education deputy director Ma Hsiang-ping (馬湘萍) said that because graduate school is not part of mandatory education, “it’s reasonable that the government, the school and the students should share the costs.”
“We are not likely to change the policy direction at the moment,” she said. “However, I don’t think universities are planning to raise tuition fees for graduate students, because competition is fierce because the number of children is declining each year.”
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a