The recent storm over the academic fraud scandal and subsequent resignation of Chiang Wei-ling (蔣偉寧) as minister of education have blindsided attempts to clean up corruption within academia, while, after an initial groundswell of anger and criticism, public outrage has subsided, almost as if nothing had happened.
This is a perfect reflection of the root problem behind the state of affairs of Taiwanese academia: The authorities simply do not have the capacity for self-reflection and also lack the resolve and courage to undertake much-needed, sweeping reforms.
Let us take a look at how things came to this: About 10 years ago, there was an economist involved in policymaking who strongly advocated that academic contribution evaluations be based on how many papers a given academic had published in overseas journals. This met with strong opposition at the time.
Some objected on the grounds that “you cannot compare apples with oranges,” saying that applying standards such as the Science Citation Index and the Engineering Index — designed for use in the natural sciences — wholesale upon social science research in the nation, which is simultaneously diverse and very specific to Taiwan, was of questionable utility.
Others were critical of the enforced implementation of evaluations based upon the Social Sciences Citation Index, saying that this was open to abuse of power and could lead to the unintended consequence of reinforcing systemic elitism.
The trouble was that, back then, these voices proved about as effective as a dog barking at a speeding locomotive. Before long, academia in Taiwan was enveloped in a preoccupation with university rankings based on a numbers game of who had published how many papers, with hiring and promotions being decided through a narrow reading of these citation indices.
Shockingly — though perhaps not all that surprising — this preposterous situation, in which reviews only take into account quantitative indices, originated within the field of science and technology, a discipline that prides itself in its rigorous precision, and the minister of education was complicit in this.
Not only, then, have previous repeated announcements to the effect that the government will raise standards in academia proven hollow, or suggestions to apply the same review standards to the social sciences as are used in the natural sciences been proven wrong, but the recent turn of events has also revealed the rampant mendacity and fraud within academia in Taiwan. Who now will trust these citation indices, or believe that Taiwanese academics did not doctor the figures of papers they submit?
At its root, the problem derives from the failure of the academic world to address how best to assess an individual’s academic contribution in a fair, effective way. The result of this preoccupation with quantitative indices to the exclusion of any other criteria has been the reinforcement of the vested interests of overseas — and English-language — periodicals, while academics in this country taking part in genuinely useful research do not get their due recompense.
Over the past decade, the humanities and social sciences have fallen on bad times at Academia Sinica, and its natural science departments have been discredited. How has it come to this? Is it not time for those responsible to own up and apologize? And rebuild the entire system from the ground up to allow the errant world of academia to get back on the right path?
Ku Chung-hwa is a standing board member of Citizen’s Congress Watch.
Translated by Paul Cooper
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of
RSS