Taiwan's entry into the WTO has inspired fear in the nation's institutions of higher learning. In a bid to counter the impact of world-renowned universities on Taiwan's educational market, local universities and colleges have been attempting for some years to gain the upper hand by means of mergers, alliances or upgrades in the hope of becoming world-class research institutions.
As a result, we have observed many bizarre developments in the world of education in recent years, including the transformation of many business and technical vocational schools into institutes of technology. The presidents of these new institutes all feel that they have accomplished something great during their term. Unsatisfied, however, they focus on the goal of achieving university status for their schools. Many institutions have joined in this wave of transformation, and we now have two universities dedicated to art -- a state of affairs which is almost unequalled internationally -- and several universities dedicated to medicine. Northern Taiwan alone has three physical education institutions, and I believe that we will see them all become universities before long.
Let's take a look at how these universities plan to achieve first-rate international status. School presidents have been repeating this precious aim and presenting their vague and general ideas without being able to propose any concrete measures. What does "international" mean? How is "first rate" defined? What is their vision? Are there any realistic measures or a plan as how to proceed?
Presidents of some institu-tions have realized that Chinese universities often invite academic gurus to give lectures. Can international academic gurus raise the scholarship of universities in Taiwan to the level of first-rate international universities?
In my opinion, these temporarily famous academics are like the TV-stars that everyone seems to admire so much. Live performances are arranged and everyone has a ball for a few hours, learning directly from the guru. When it's all over, the guru blows a kiss, rolls down his sleeves and is off with a considerable appearance fee in his pocket.
The deepest impression was probably left by management strategist Michael Porter, who demanded several million New Taiwan dollars for 48 short hours. Porter did outline a blueprint for Taiwan's competitiveness, but, given social and cultural considerations, whether that blueprint can be put into practice remains a matter for extensive discussion.
The management guru Peter Drucker was once invited to Malaysia, where he charged US$1 million for a few days of lectures, while, a short hop across the water, Singapore stated publicly that it did not intend to invite Drucker, as his fee was far too high. What's more, Drucker is a German speaker, and no matter how much he has to say, he does not formulate his ideas very well in English, so the benefits of a lecture are indeed limited.
The greatest stumbling block for these schools on their way to becoming first-rate international universities are the Ministry of Education regulations. I have worked and taught in six different countries, but never have I en-countered an educational authority so happy to issue official documents and directives as this ministry. Each time the ministry issues a directive, teachers at all levels rush to comply and draft documents in response, wasting much teaching and research time. All these regulations also put a stranglehold on schools' abilities to diversify on their own. How could we hope for our universities to reach international standards?
Taiwan is in fact beset with many unique problems. If university professors could begin by sticking to one issue and leading their students in original and creative research, they could certainly step out onto the international academic stage.
Taiwan is the betel-nut kingdom. The betel nut industry is the only industry that is thriving amid economic recession. Betel-nut beauties are treasured by overseas artists and their make-up and fashions are the subjects of design research.
Before southern Taiwan had a chance to recover from the damage of the 921 earthquake, that disaster was followed by Typhoons Toraji and Nari and the mass rapid transit system in Taipei was flooded and needed repairs requiring half a year to complete.
Socially, the history of "black gold" politics reaches far back in time and the connection between politics and business is rock-solid. Urban traffic congestion makes it well-nigh impossible for people to return from work during peak evening hours. Environmental problems become all the more glaring, the more attempts are made to sweep them under the carpet, with nature being sacrificed on the altar of the "economic miracle." Education is inflexible and the streets are littered with book-worms holding master's or doctoral degrees but understanding nothing, even though they have passed their exams.
The cross-strait problem is unparalleled in the international community, with neither side able to propose a creative solution, each instead holding its own interpretation and blowing a lot of hot air.
The only way to really put education to the service of society is for academics to step forward and face these social problems instead of hiding in their ivory towers. We should be clear that people who have studied overseas should apply the knowledge they have gained in a creative manner to the solving of local problems. Doctor Liao Yun-fan (廖運範) of Chang Gung Hospital does not hold a PhD, and even though he is not a professor under the ministry's regulations, he has still carried out dependable and fundamental research concerning Taiwan's particular variety of liver cancer and created a niche for himself internationally. The outstanding research on Taiwan's poisonous snakes carried out by the late Lee Chen-yuan (李振源) is another example of successful creative research into local problems.
In fact, technological and industrial research in the US was not internationally superior prior to World War II, but, in order to address various social problems during and after the war, acade-mics finally changed their conservative ways and began to emphasize real problems.
This eventually produced many new ideas in several areas, forging academic achievements as well as benefitting society. Education is a long-term undertaking and academic research rarely yields immediate returns. Only through long-term achievement do we learn where our strengths lie, but putting on a show and attempting to achieve short-term benefits leads to certain failure.
Chang Chiu-cheng is a professor at the Graduate Institute of Management at Chang Gung University.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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