To recognize the contributions of vocational education teachers, the Ministry of Education has said it would set up a “National Academia-Industry Master Award” and give a prize of NT$900,000 (US$30,579) to each of the 10 winning teachers every year.
The award, the first of which is to be given in October, is aimed at honoring full-time teachers at public and private vocational senior-high schools, technical colleges and universities, as well as those teaching at the vocational departments of general senior-high schools, Department of Technological and Vocational Education Director Yang Yu-hui (楊玉惠) said on Sunday.
Qualified for recommendation are teachers who have produced excellent research over the past 10 years; who have made remarkable contributions to cultivating technological and vocational professionals; and who have helped strengthen the ties between academia and industry, the ministry said.
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology president Liao Ching-jong (廖慶榮) lauded the government’s increased attention to vocational education, but added that it should categorize domestic universities that have different objectives.
European nations, for example, have divided their universities into two categories — general universities and industrial ones, he said.
Likewise, Taiwanese technical universities should be identified as industrial schools, which ought to put more emphasis on the research and development of techniques and technologies, and help solve the industrial sector’s problems, he said.
The ministry means well in setting up the award, but teachers at senior-high schools might have little chance of winning it, said Chang Wen-chang (張文昌) — a teacher at Taipei’s Songshan High School of Commerce and Home Economics and deputy director of the National Federation of Teachers Unions’ policy section.
High-school teachers focus on teaching, instead of research and development like those at universities, he said, expressing the hope that the ministry would implement more measures to encourage high-school teachers.
In addition, the award’s prize seems less appealing when compared with that of the ministry’s National Chair Professorships, which gives winners a prize of NT$3 million over three years.
The ministry is seeking to increase the prize money for the National Academia-Industry Master Award, Yang said.
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