Most university students believe that low wages and too few entry-level jobs are problems they would face when entering the job market, a survey by the Professor Huang Kun-huei Education Foundation showed yesterday.
The survey, conducted with a focus on “outlook on job prospects and economic conditions” among the university students, showed that 78.8 percent of respondents expected problems finding a suitable job for an adequate salary.
It also showed that 70.5 percent of them agreed that “obtaining a tertiary education degree is the main way for those from low-income families to lift themselves out of poverty,” even though 64.5 percent agreed that “studying to get a degree is a costly investment with low returns.”
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Foundation chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) said that a previous survey found that 40.4 percent of students questioned the value of tertiary education, so the latest poll focused on the reason for students’ doubts.
The latest survey showed that 65.6 percent felt uncertain about the future and did not know the direction their life is taking, while 39.2 percent said their schools do not offer quality education that would help them acquire skills that would be useful in the job market.
It also showed that 37.6 percent viewed their field of study as not offering good job prospects, 37.5 percent said their field of study does not match their interests, and 12.5 percent said they did not have the skills needed to get a job.
A large number of survey participants said they do not have a good prospect for getting a job after graduation, at 39.5 percent, of whom 54.5 percent said they believe they can only get a low-wage job, 50.1 percent said they are worried about becoming unemployed upon graduation and 37.1 percent said Taiwan lacks opportunities for young people, it showed.
“All this indicates that we have serious problems with our tertiary education system,” Huang said, urging the Ministry of Education to work toward solutions.
National Taiwan Normal University College of Education dean Chen Hsueh-chih (陳學志) said that Taiwan has for years been underperforming in terms of wage growth and people were increasingly facing higher costs of living.
About one-third of the nation’s industries could not keep up with price increases indicated in the consumer price index, Chen added.
“I hope the government can work to solve the low-wage problems and constrain housing prices to reasonable levels,” Chen said, adding that this would give graduates hope.
The survey was conducted from Jan. 1 to Feb. 6 and received 5,398 valid questionnaires from students at public and private universities, as well as vocational colleges.
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