The government has unveiled a NT$19.13 billion (US$647.84 million) subsidy package for universities this year, in response to growing concerns about the impact of population aging on the education sector.
This year’s allocation is an increase of NT$568 million compared with the higher education subsidies last year.
Part of the subsidies comes from the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) ongoing Higher Education Cultivation Project, Department of Higher Education Director-General Liao Kao-hsien (廖高賢) said on Tuesday last week.
Photo: Rachel Lin, Taipei Times
The current phase of the project, which runs from 2023 to 2027, aims to improve the quality and accessibility of education while enhancing the global rankings of Taiwanese universities, he said.
National Taiwan University received NT$2.63 billion, the largest amount awarded to a Taiwan university, an increase of NT$32.64 million from last year.
National Sun Yat-sen University received NT$616.94 million, up NT$198.1 million from the previous year, while National Chung Hsing University was allocated NT$546.56 million, an increase of NT$85.72 million.
National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University received NT$1.44 billion, an increase of NT$66.52 million from last year, while National Tsing Hua University also received NT$1.44 billion, with the same NT$66.52 million rise. The four universities received the largest increases in government subsidies.
National Cheng Kung University received NT$1.5 billion, up NT$25.78 million from the previous year, and National Central University was allocated NT$464.35 million, an increase of NT$37.67 million.
The National Taiwan University of Science and Technology received NT$45.07 billion, the largest amount among the nation’s vocational universities.
The first part of the project was allocated NT$12.36 billion, which includes NT$2.45 billion aimed at strengthening academia’s ties with local communities and facilitating the enrollment of students from disadvantaged backgrounds or of indigenous descent, Liao said.
The second part of the project was budgeted NT$6.77 billion, including NT$4.86 billion for schools to use at their discretion and NT$1.88 billion to specific departments or research centers, he said.
Last year, 10 research centers at National Taiwan University received NT$45 million in government subsidies under separate programs managed by the MOE and the Ministry of Science and Technology, university president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) reported.
Recent government policy changes shifted the responsibility for funding these research centers to the MOE, whose budget has yet to be approved by the legislature, he said.
Taiwanese higher education institutions need about NT$20 billion of subsidies this year if the nation wishes to strengthen the educational system and retain academic talent, he said, urging lawmakers to support universities.
In agreement, National Central University president Hsiau Shu-san (蕭述三) said that the government should provide greater support to Taiwanese universities, which face increasing competition from foreign institutions.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
RSS