New plans to merge public universities in the face of declining student numbers were announced by Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) yesterday.
Declining student numbers caused by years of low birthrates have threatened the viability of many universities, with Wu previously stating that the ministry plans to slash the number of universities from 160 to less than 100 over the next five years.
Yesterday, while making a report to the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee, Wu announced more specific plans, saying that the government intends to proactively guide mergers of at least some public universities with fewer than 10,000 students. There are presently 35 such schools across the nation.
Wu’s report also laid out numerous examples of university mergers in recent years, including the merger of the Taipei Physical Education College and Taipei Normal University into the University of Taipei.
The minister’s report drew criticism from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) who called it “ragtag,” challenging Wu to state exactly when the means and timeline for school closings and mergers would be announced.
She also called the progress on school mergers “extremely slow” and accused the ministry of failing to protect the rights of teachers at a private university when it folded.
In response, Wu said that within two months, the Ministry of Education would present a full report on its proposed measures, including a list of schools set for mergers. He also promised that no further schools would be closed in the next two months prior to the promulgation of the ministry’s plan.
Wu was also quoted by media as saying that under the ministry’s plan, subsidies and other incentives would be provided to private universities to encourage mergers.
He added that if private universities close, currently enrolled students will be allowed to graduate.
If the schools’ teachers resign or look for other work, the ministry will provide subsidies to bring in teachers from other universities to assist in teaching classes, he said.
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