Local media reports have said that some universities and teachers are experiencing difficulties. A number of private universities have closed over the past few years, and more private university teachers are facing drastic pay cuts.
Some teachers have seen their salaries cut by as much as 40 percent, falling even lower than the pay of elementary and high-school teachers, while 35 percent of private universities could not afford to distribute year-end bonuses.
Faced with the closures of private universities and pay cuts among schools ranked at the bottom of the nation’s more than 150 universities, education authorities have blamed it on a declining birthrate.
However, it seems to have overlooked the fact that other than a falling birthrate, it can also be attributed to a government policy to greatly increase the number of universities.
The birthrate started to decline quickly in 2000 and fell to the lowest in the world in 2010. This was a much faster decline than in Japan or South Korea, where the birthrates are also dropping.
The decline began to speed up in the four years following the implementation of a policy to establish more universities in 1996.
That everyone in Taiwan can go to college is a situation rarely seen in other countries, and it is one of the causes — or at least a catalyst — of the birthrate decline.
I once conducted a cause-effect analysis on the number of universities and a declining birthrate at the university where I teach.
The results showed that university students tend to attach greater importance to the quality of their leisure time.
I published the results of my study in December 2013, concluding that it would be difficult to reverse the birthrate decline if the policy to greatly increase the number of universities is not reversed.
Some other academics later proposed a marriage ladder theory, which states that women tend to marry men with higher education.
Since everyone can attend college, women’s chances of finding eligible men have decreased. This can be proven by the Ministry of the Interior’s marriage rate data, which have been on a decline year-on-year.
Instead of blaming the low birthrate for the pay cuts, financial difficulties and closure of lower-ranked private universities, the policy to greatly increase the number of universities should be held responsible.
Unfortunately, the Ministry of Education has failed to seek a solution, and offers little assistance to help uncompetitive private and public universities close down safely. Instead it has pushed the problem aside using “warnings” and “punishment.”
When the government implemented the policy to boost the number of universities, the aim was to provide the public with more educational opportunities and improve their knowledge.
It also attempted to reform the Joint College Entrance Examination, which decided the fate of students by a single exam, and wanted to avoid a job-education mismatch.
However, according to the education ministry’s data, the percentage of students who suspended studies, dropped out or transferred to other departments due to incompatibility with their interests is close to what it was before the education reform — and is on the rise.
Thus, the policy to greatly increase the number of universities could not escape the “decision trap,” as that solution only caused more problems.
Such decisions require great caution.
Eric Wang is an adjunct professor at National Chung Cheng University.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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