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
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