The Ministry of Education (MOE) is deliberating legislation to regulate private sector internship programs for university students, to help them better apply their expertise in the workplace, Deputy Minister of Education Yao Leeh-ter (姚立德) said yesterday.
Yao, former president of the National Taipei University of Technology (NTUT), assumed office earlier this month, filling the vacancy left by Chen Liang-gee (陳良基), who now heads the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Yao answered questions about how to improve vocational education, vowing to maintain budget increases for vocational schools.
Comparing National Taipei University of Technology with National Taiwan University, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) said that the two institutes are at the top of their respective fields, but the funds allocated by the ministry for the technology university are NT$5.2 billion (US$171.7 million) less than for National Taiwan University.
There is a huge discrepancy between the funding allocated to comprehensive and vocational universities, with comprehensive universities receiving about 70 percent of ministry subsidies, Ko said.
Internship programs offered by the private sector to students are confined to basic, low-paying jobs such as catering and babysitting, jobs that often prevent students from applying what they have learned, she said.
Quoting Yao, who during his term as NTUT said in an interview with CommonWealth Magazine that he hoped the ministry would increase state funding by 1 percent and use the extra money to improve vocational education, and that he takes pride in NTUT’s ability to formulate practical internship programs, Ko asked Yao whether his stance on vocational education is unchanged.
Equalizing the budgets granted to comprehensive and vocational universities is the ministry’s unwavering stance, Yao said, adding that it hopes to steadily increase the funds allocated to vocational institutions every year.
The ministry is assessing the viability of forming an act to improve the quality of internship programs proposed by private companies to improve students’ chances to use their skills, he said.
Ko asked Yao to brief her on what the ministry is doing to help private universities with low enrollment rates reinvent themselves, merge with other institutes or close down amid a low birthrate.
Yao said that the ministry would submit a draft proposal on rules governing transition or closure of private universities to the Executive Yuan next month for approval before sending it to the legislature.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) panned an amendment to the Junior College Act (專科學校法), which stipulates that science and technology universities that were once junior colleges, but have poor enrollment numbers, evaluation scores, administration or financial difficulties revert to junior colleges.
The conditions listed in the act are negative qualities and would not help increase students’ willingness to enroll in these institutes even if they were reinvented as junior colleges status, he said.
Citing data compiled by the ministry, Chang Liao said that three universities could be demoted to junior colleges.
Yao said that the ministry would request high-performing science and technology universities be merged with beleaguered universities after they are repurposed as junior colleges, thereby ensuring that students receive a good education.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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