Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Chou Ni-an (周倪安) yesterday called on newly sworn-in Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) to step down over his announcement that he would approve a hike in college tuition fees.
Chou said that since education is key to social mobility, she would support higher government investment in universities, but students should not be made to pay for it. She said that if Wu insists on raising tuition, then he is not a suitable minister and should resign.
Citing the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Wu said that higher education should gradually become tuition-free to allow everyone equal access to it, adding that Wu should follow the principles laid out in the covenant since it has been ratified and made law.
TSU Taipei City councilor candidate Chen Chia-lin (陳嘉霖) said Taiwan should launch a tuition-free policy modeled on Northern European countries, such as Sweden and Denmark. He said that education is important to national competitiveness and that Wu should stop thinking about liberalizing and commercializing it.
National Chengchi University student Lin Yi-chih (林奕志) said that during Wu’s term as president of the university, Wu had stressed that the government, the private sector and students should share the responsibility to improve higher education, but now he only plans to raise tuition after becoming education minister.
Department of Higher Education Director Lee Hui-min (李惠敏) defended the tuition hikes, saying the ministry had not approved any since 2008, and this year it plans to allow only eight universities to raise tuition, by between 1.37 percent and 2.06 percent. She said plans by universities to raise tuition would be carefully deliberated.
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