Following media reports last month that thesis topics of some students at Chung Chou University of Science and Technology’s Graduate Institute of Engineering Technology in Changhua County were unrelated to their major, the Ministry of Education temporarily suspended the institute’s student recruitment for the next academic year.
Some of the theses’ themes ranged from fortune-telling, night markets and teachers’ sense of humor to satisfaction with community volunteers.
Later, there were reports that the thesis topics of some students at Chienkuo Technology University’s Graduate Institute of Electronic Engineering and Graduate Institute of Mechatronoptic Systems in Changhua City were also unrelated to their major. The themes ranged from magic charms, amethysts and the pressure relief effects of fountains to the quality of food and service at a hot-pot restaurant.
The ministry said that it would invite academics and experts to investigate the problem, while also suspending student recruitment at Chienkuo Technology University.
The university said that these theses were cross-disciplinary studies conducted by students who were on the technology management team some years ago and that there would no longer be such studies after the thesis adviser, who was jointly employed by the Graduate Institute of Electronic Engineering and the College of Management, retired in July.
The university stressed that it would conduct a thorough review, while demanding that master’s theses in all departments comply with the institute’s educational goals.
From now on, graduate students must propose a research plan before starting a thesis, and they can only start working on them after approval at a department curriculum meeting. This all sounds good, but it cannot hide the utter chaos in Taiwan’s institutes of higher education.
There are many extremely ambiguous areas in higher education in the nation, the most obvious being “social science” at technology management-related departments and institutes. Enrollment in such courses can be divided into two types: regular and on-the-job students. The research methodologies include qualitative interviews and quantitative questionnaires.
Thesis advisers are from all kinds of disciplines and almost any theme imaginable is covered by this broad community, which produces thousands or even tens of thousands of master’s theses and doctoral dissertations each year. This is also why Taiwan has the highest density of theses and dissertations in the world.
The purpose and format of academic papers originated abroad. After entering Taiwan, this process has been distorted. All that is needed for a thesis to be approved and the student to be given their degree is that it fulfills demands on format and logic, and is endorsed by three advisers.
This is also why trivial issues are being exaggerated in theses, not to mention that the interested parties are able to receive research funds from government agencies and academic units.
The result of the chaos in higher education is that it serves as a “diploma mill,” wasting taxpayers’ money and hurting the nation’s development.
Modern governments have subsidies from birth to retirement in the hope of training future leaders, but if one day national annual revenue and output is insufficient, people will suffer, but it would be too late to review the policy.
Fang Fu-chuan is an international trader.
Translated by Eddy Chang
With escalating US-China competition and mutual distrust, the trend of supply chain “friend shoring” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fragmentation of the world into rival geopolitical blocs, many analysts and policymakers worry the world is retreating into a new cold war — a world of trade bifurcation, protectionism and deglobalization. The world is in a new cold war, said Robin Niblett, former director of the London-based think tank Chatham House. Niblett said he sees the US and China slowly reaching a modus vivendi, but it might take time. The two great powers appear to be “reversing carefully
As China steps up a campaign to diplomatically isolate and squeeze Taiwan, it has become more imperative than ever that Taipei play a greater role internationally with the support of the democratic world. To help safeguard its autonomous status, Taiwan needs to go beyond bolstering its defenses with weapons like anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles. With the help of its international backers, it must also expand its diplomatic footprint globally. But are Taiwan’s foreign friends willing to translate their rhetoric into action by helping Taipei carve out more international space for itself? Beating back China’s effort to turn Taiwan into an international pariah
Typhoon Krathon made landfall in southwestern Taiwan last week, bringing strong winds, heavy rain and flooding, cutting power to more than 170,000 homes and water supply to more than 400,000 homes, and leading to more than 600 injuries and four deaths. Due to the typhoon, schools and offices across the nation were ordered to close for two to four days, stirring up familiar controversies over whether local governments’ decisions to call typhoon days were appropriate. The typhoon’s center made landfall in Kaohsiung’s Siaogang District (小港) at noon on Thursday, but it weakened into a tropical depression early on Friday, and its structure
Taiwan is facing multiple economic challenges due to internal and external pressures. Internal challenges include energy transition, upgrading industries, a declining birthrate and an aging population. External challenges are technology competition between the US and China, international supply chain restructuring and global economic uncertainty. All of these issues complicate Taiwan’s economic situation. Taiwan’s reliance on fossil fuel imports not only threatens the stability of energy supply, but also goes against the global trend of carbon reduction. The government should continue to promote renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, as well as energy storage technology, to diversify energy supply. It
RSS