The number of candidates for the joint college entrance examination for technical and vocational education (TVE) this year has dropped sharply by almost 10,000 people year-on-year.
Surprisingly, the examination is little known as the entrance threshold for TVE schools. The public’s ignorance reflects the fact that Taiwanese society does not value technical and vocational education.
It is hard to say whether the nation’s low birthrate also contributed to the sharp decline in applicants, but, in any case, the government is largely responsible.
Due to educational reform, the junior colleges that we used to be so proud of have almost all been closed, the shutdown of the Taipei Institute of Technology perhaps being the saddest loss.
The government’s determination to eliminate junior colleges has given young people the impression that TVE is of little importance, driving them toward regular universities.
However, Taiwan wants to keep its manufacturing industry. No country has completely eliminated the manufacturing sector, but every factory requires a considerable number of technicians.
For example, the assembly of jet aircraft cannot be done by engineers alone — the vast majority of staff are technicians.
In addition, large factories require sophisticated electric power distribution, to be maintained by highly specialized technicians. Without them, manufacturing would be impossible.
Many young people think of manufacturing workers as “black hands” (黑手), referring to their allegedly dirty working environment.
However, many factories in Taiwan now produce precision instruments and are very clean, some equipped with cleanrooms. Unfortunately, these industries have not promoted a positive image to young people. Hopefully, they will work harder to improve their image and attract young people to become technicians.
The main problem is that the government might not understand the importance of industrial production at all, trying to raise industries’ appeal simply by using lofty slogans.
It has defined six core strategic industries to be promoted: the information and digital industry, information security, biological and medical technology, the aerospace and defense industry, renewable energy, and key strategic consumer goods materials.
It has floated dazzling project names, but there are few details on how to achieve any goals.
Take biology and medical technology for example: The government should first look at the medical devices used in the nation’s major hospitals and assess how many of them are made in Taiwan.
Medical instruments require high-precision technology and are made in Europe, the US or Japan by large companies employing many technicians.
The government mentioned the defense industry, which nowadays does not manufacture ordinary guns. Today’s weaponry requires high-precision components, which are made by specialized technical personnel.
If the government only makes empty promises without understanding the importance of industrial production, the situation for technical and vocational schools will become even more difficult, and eventually render plans for industrial upgrades hopeless.
The sharp drop in the number of students taking the TVE joint college entrance exam will diminish the country’s competitiveness. It is a serious problem, and the main responsibility lies with the government.
Lee Chia-tung is an honorary professor at National Tsing Hua University.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
After more than a year of review, the National Security Bureau on Monday said it has completed a sweeping declassification of political archives from the Martial Law period, transferring the full collection to the National Archives Administration under the National Development Council. The move marks another significant step in Taiwan’s long journey toward transitional justice. The newly opened files span the architecture of authoritarian control: internal security and loyalty investigations, intelligence and counterintelligence operations, exit and entry controls, overseas surveillance of Taiwan independence activists, and case materials related to sedition and rebellion charges. For academics of Taiwan’s White Terror era —
On Feb. 7, the New York Times ran a column by Nicholas Kristof (“What if the valedictorians were America’s cool kids?”) that blindly and lavishly praised education in Taiwan and in Asia more broadly. We are used to this kind of Orientalist admiration for what is, at the end of the day, paradoxically very Anglo-centered. They could have praised Europeans for valuing education, too, but one rarely sees an American praising Europe, right? It immediately made me think of something I have observed. If Taiwanese education looks so wonderful through the eyes of the archetypal expat, gazing from an ivory tower, how
China has apparently emerged as one of the clearest and most predictable beneficiaries of US President Donald Trump’s “America First” and “Make America Great Again” approach. Many countries are scrambling to defend their interests and reputation regarding an increasingly unpredictable and self-seeking US. There is a growing consensus among foreign policy pundits that the world has already entered the beginning of the end of Pax Americana, the US-led international order. Consequently, a number of countries are reversing their foreign policy preferences. The result has been an accelerating turn toward China as an alternative economic partner, with Beijing hosting Western leaders, albeit
After 37 US lawmakers wrote to express concern over legislators’ stalling of critical budgets, Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) pledged to make the Executive Yuan’s proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.7 billion) special defense budget a top priority for legislative review. On Tuesday, it was finally listed on the legislator’s plenary agenda for Friday next week. The special defense budget was proposed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration in November last year to enhance the nation’s defense capabilities against external threats from China. However, the legislature, dominated by the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), repeatedly blocked its review. The
RSS