Students at Shih Hsin University’s Graduate Institute for Gender Studies have formed a group to protest an alleged plan to close the program, saying that the institute should not be sacrificed on account of the declining birthrate.
Media have reported that the institute, northern Taiwan’s first graduate program for gender studies, is to be the latest scholastic casualty of the nation’s falling birthrate.
An international panel meeting this week to evaluate Taiwan’s adherence to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women also raised concerns about the rumor.
Photo: Taipei Times file photo
The panel requested a response from the Ministry of Education and the Executive Yuan.
Gender and women’s studies programs play a crucial role in helping societies break gender stereotypes, panel members said, adding that more should be established.
The ministry said it had not received notice of the program closing to new applicants.
The school has said it intends to restructure the institute, but has said nothing about closing, it added.
Executive Yuan spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said there are already few graduate programs for gender studies in Taiwan.
If more programs close, there would not be enough high-level research in the field, he said, adding that they would need government support to endure challenges posed by the declining birthrate.
South Korean sociologist Shin Hei-soo, a member of the review panel, said yesterday that gender studies is a critical part of furthering societal change.
University departments can decide what to research, but they also need government support in order to offer a wider variety of courses, Shin said.
The student group raised two demands, starting with opposition to restructuring the program.
Gender studies touches on many fields, including sociology, political science, legal studies and humanities, the group said.
If it were absorbed into the College of Public Policy and Management or the College of Journalism and Communications, it would have a major effect on the institute’s research and teaching direction, as well as the diversity of its coursework, it said.
The group reiterated the review panel’s opinion that gender studies is an important part of higher education and societal liberalization.
The institute should not “become a sacrifice” of the declining birthrate, it said.
It called on the ministry to consider the panel’s views and provide more resources to the institute and other programs to ensure they can weather future challenges.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS