Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends.
Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed.
National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education and sports science.
Photo courtesy of National Taiwan Normal University
NTNU provost Liu Mei-hui (劉美慧) on Sunday said that most of the programs were designed decades ago for teachers to advance their education, due to the difficulty in being admitted to graduate schools at the time.
Given that most educators in the past few years already entered the workforce with a postgraduate degree, most of the part-time master’s degree programs are no longer necessary, she said, adding that a small number of them would continue and a degree thesis would be replaced with a professional practice report.
National University of Tainan ended six part-time graduate degree programs in music, visual arts and design, and applied mathematics.
Most students in the programs were teachers, university chief secretary Lee Yu-chih (李郁緻) said.
The credit hour fee was NT$3,000 due to the higher costs of having lecturers working at night or on weekends, she said, adding that in-service students can apply for regular master’s degree programs at a lower credit hour fee of NT$1,500.
National Chung Hsing University discontinued the part-time graduate degree program “CTSP,” named after the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區).
University president Chan Fu-chih (詹富智) said the program was a funded project that used to approve an additional 140 students to different department every year.
It was removed as the project has ended and all the students have graduated, he said.
Many universities set up part-time postgraduate degree programs when many workers needed a master’s degree to negotiate a promotion and higher wages, former Providence University president Michael Chen (陳振貴) said.
Such programs are often more expensive, with credit hour fees of up to NT$6,000, he said.
However, as the birthrate continues to fall and workers with a postgraduate degree become common, the cancelation of part-time programs was inevitable, Chen said.
Meanwhile, universities added 60 programs this year, mostly in fields related to what President William Lai (賴清德) called “five trusted industry sectors” — semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), the military, security and surveillance, and next-generation communications — as well as global issues such as climate change, health promotion and society resilience, Ministry of Education data showed.
For example, National Taiwan University and Da-Yeh University established undergraduate programs in semiconductors, while National Kaohsiung Normal University launched a part-time master’s degree program in chips.
In digital information and AI, National Tsing Hua University created a medical informatics master’s program, Taipei Medical University established the Graduate Institute of Data Science, National Changhua University of Education formed the Intelligence Vehicle Engineering Department and National Ilan University created a part-time master’s degree program in computer science.
After universities apply to add or remove programs or departments, the Ministry of Education discusses the matter with other agencies to ensure that universities’ education programs align with national policies and private sector needs, official from the ministry’s Department of Higher Education Chen Kuang-ying (陳冠穎) said.
Additional reporting by CNA
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
RSS