Higher education in art in the nation’s south is under threat by a government plan to merge Tainan National University of the Arts (TNNUA) and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), TNNUA students and faculty members said at a protest in Taipei yesterday.
Outside the Ministry of Education and the nearby Legislative Yuan, about 200 campaigners protested against the ministry’s plan, chanting slogans such as: “The system is murdering art,” “The arts need a southern perspective” and “Restore the north-south balance in art [education].”
Lawmakers who oppose the plan to merge the universities and were present at the protest panned the ministry, saying a motion had been passed by a legislative committee to halt the proposed merger.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
Ministry of Education Secretary-General Wang Chun-chuan (王俊權) later issued a statement saying that the ministry would suspend the proposed merger as requested by the legislature, adding that it had “heard the voice of the faculty members and students.”
Ku Shih-yung (顧世勇), an installation artist and director of the Graduate Institute of Plastic Arts at TNNUA, said the merger would compromise the university’s unique educational model.
TNNUA focuses on individual mentoring and apprenticeship to train high-achieving artists based on European models, and the university’s students have a proven record at international exhibitions and competitions, Ku said.
However, the university’s achievements have not been recognized by the ministry’s performance metrics, which rate universities on quantitative rather than qualitative terms, Ku said.
As a result, the ministry has made a “highly unreasonable” demand for TNNUA to merge with NCKU on budgetary grounds alone, despite NCKU proving incapable of offering any clear educational vision for the arts, Ku added.
TNNUA student representative Cheng Hsiang-yu (鄭翔羽) said the university’s small size is an intended feature for its mission to promote artistic excellence, not a defect as the ministry perceived it to be.
The ministry has failed to grasp the internationally recognized necessity of having dedicated art schools with administrative autonomy, and its merger plan is a violation of the government’s stated policy for balanced distribution of resources in the north and south, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Cheng Li-chun said.
DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said that private-sector actors have been working hard to promote education in the arts, but the government seems to be busy “killing it,” adding: “I am against amalgamation for the sake of amalgamation.”
DPP Legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) also lambasted the ministry as having led a “top-down effort” to “kill TNNUA’s founding spirit,” saying that the Education and Culture Committee earlier yesterday passed an impromptu motion to demand the ministry suspend the merger.
The ministry made plans to merge the universities because of TNNUA’s small size, remote location, low rating in performance metrics, a 70 percent subsidization rate of its budget and concerns over the school’s ability to enroll students, a ministry statement said.
The scheme would not have set a timetable for implementation and TNNUA would have been able to opt out by providing an alternative plan of improvement to its educational and fiscal performance, the ministry added.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or