Dept. of Higher Education

June 29, 2006

The Excellent Development of University Education

The 21 st century is a century that is centered on the development of the information economy. Whether we can make further progress in innovation and R&D hinges on higher education. Higher education has become the arena of knowledge innovation and human resources of many nations. It plays a key role in the continuing development of nations and is the source of upgrading national competitiveness. In recent years, in the face of rapid social changes, political freedom, rapid economic growth, change in industrial structure, and diversification of values, the importance of higher education is facing new challenges.

The competitiveness of higher education is an indicator of a nation. To ensure that development of higher education can adapt to the needs of diverse social development, higher education should seek new breakthroughs. In addition, proper adjustments and forward-looking planning should be made. In addition to adjusting the role the government plays in higher education, allowing universities to have more say in their business, traditional social values should be broken through in order to shape the new higher education culture and establish Taiwan 's characteristics and international status.

Development of Taiwan's Higher Education

In retrospect, the development of higher education indicates that education has shifted its center of gravity from elite education to popular education, from government control to openness and autonomy, and from a single standard to diversity. Overall, the development of higher education falls into one of the following five stages: seed, development, consolidation, expansion, and saturation.

1. The Seed Stage (1919-1945)

In 1919, the Taiwan Education Decree was announced with Western higher education introduced. At that time, schools of higher education included three medical, agriculture and forestry, and business schools. In addition, there were two medical departments, and senior business schools. In 1920, the co-educational system was introduced with student population decreasing. In 1928, Taipei Imperial University was founded with 66 students admitted. The teaching consisted mainly of lectures, with the majority of the admitted being elite Japanese students.

2. Development Stage (1945-1970)

In the 1960s, with the rise of labor-intensive industries and other causes, higher education (particularly junior colleges) grew rapidly. Schools of higher education rose from seven in 1950 to 92 in 1970. Among them, private schools accounted for 67%, with the number if students rising from the neighborhood of 7,000 to over 200,000, a growth of more than 30 times.

3. Consolidation Stage (1971-1985)

During this stage, Taiwan withdrew from the UN, the economy turned into export-oriented, and GDP grew steadily. In terms of education administration, legislations were made to regulate higher education. Such legislations include amending the University Act, Private School Act, Junior College Act, and Normal Education Act. In 1971, applications for establishing private schools were terminated. In 1974, the first institute of technology was founded. Technical vocational education and regular higher education coexisted. Higher education began developing in different directions. Currently, Taiwan 's higher education comprises two major segments: regular universities and technical schools. They are supervised by Departments of Higher Education and Technological and Vocational Education, respectively.

4. Expansion Stage (1985-2000)

Taiwan 's economy developed vigorously. The society became liberalized. In the 1990s, with the arrival of democracy, universities began pursuing independence and autonomy. In 1985, the ban against establishing private schools was lifted. Meanwhile, junior colleges were converted into institutes of technology. In the 1990s, universities of science and technology were established. Schools of higher education rose from 105 to 150 with students enrolled rising from about 430,000 to over 1.09 million. In 1994, the University Act was amended and announced, emphasizing academic freedom, university autonomy, and universities ruled by professors, which changed the operating mode of universities. In 1999, a program to pursue academic excellence was launched, encouraging cooperation and exchange between research personnel and consolidation of resources in an effort to create an advantageous academic domain.

5. Saturation Stage (2000-present)

In this stage, the number of universities has reached the point of saturation. In 2000, the program to consolidate research-based universities was launched to encourage universities to upgrade themselves to international standards through intra-, inter-university consolidations, university system, and merger, or by inviting internationally renowned scholars to teach at the school. In 2001, to let the public understand the policy of and the way things are done by universities, the MOE published the University Education Policy Whitepaper. In 2003, the Higher Education Review Committee was established, putting forth a report on the planning of higher education. The report fully reviewed the development of higher education and put forth a direction for improvement. In 2004, the Program to Move toward Top Universities was prepared; research excellence and internationalization became the objective of outstanding universities. In 2005, overall assessment of the handling of university affairs was conducted. The Program to Reward Outstanding Universities was promoted in an effort to encourage universities to pay more attention to teaching and push ahead with the lifting of university education quality. The six normal colleges were all converted into universities of education.