Shih Hsin University (SHU) yesterday announced it would close its Chinese Literature Department in two years’ time, finding it necessary to make the adjustment due to Taiwan’s declining birthrate.
The school’s Chinese Literature Department plans to convene a forum next month to provide information and dialogue with those affected, as well as to explain the best ways to protect students’ right to education, and working rights for professors, lecturers and teaching assistants, the private university’s officials said.
University officials said they had applied this year to the Ministry of Education to stop the enrollment of first-year students in the department beginning in the 2025 academic year.
Photo: Taipei Times
Department of Higher Education section head Chen Kuang-ying (陳冠穎) said the ministry has not received any formal letter on how the university would make curriculum changes and adjustments, although by law, school officials must hold a dialogue with staff and students on how to protect their rights, and explain the procedures to stop enrollment, change department names or merge into another department.
“Each year from February to March, the ministry takes on institutional applications for curriculum changes, meaning that Shih Hsin can apply by March next year, and our ministry will conduct an assessment and check if the school has undertaken proper dialogues, as evaluated on sets of standard criteria,” Chen said.
Regarding the move, the Taiwanese Society for the Study of Chinese Literature and Culture in a release yesterday said that cultivating talent is an important investment, and upholding traditional ideals should be SHU’s responsibility to society.
“We urge the ministry to reassess its education policies to deal with the crisis in the arts and humanities programs at our school in recent years,” the release said.
“Taiwan has experienced a declining birthrate, fewer students enrolling in school and changing industry trends. Therefore, all universities must carefully plan their cultivation of academic talent, and any curriculum adjustments must include full communication and respect the wishes of staff and students. Once a department is terminated, the rights of staff and students must be protected,” it said.
“Language and words are the content of a people’s collective memory and history, and imbued with a depth and scope for the main structures of a nation, and its people do not merely exist within narrow confines. Language and words are also about contemplation, creativity and expressing human ideas, which are the fundamental basis and union of ideas for all academic fields,” it said.
“The borders of a language are the borders confining ways of thinking, so schools should not make rash decisions,” it said.
“As an institution of higher learning, it is a place to pursue higher ideals and values. It is best to invest in talent by educating literate, cultured people for society... Right now, the university curriculum for Chinese language and literature is facing severe competition from other professional fields, but we must face up to this in earnest and keep up with society’s progress,” the release added.
“In academic circles, there is a need for descriptive prose and literature regarding Taiwan’s own stories and its people’s history, from the older classical to the modern era. Language is the deep research into linguistics and our words to reconstruct the past and imagine the future, and as the firm foundation to understanding the world. It is also for exploring the contemporary zeitgeist, and a tool for self-reflection and the motivation for progress, and this is the essence of the curriculum for Chinese language and culture,” it said.
Additional reporting by Jason Pan
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS