Ministry of Education Objectives for 2013 (January-December)

1. To publish a “White Paper on Human Resource Development”, targeting the training and recruiting of highly-skilled people; to establish top-ranking world-class universities and cutting edge research centers to encourage teaching excellence at the university level; and to implement evaluation and transformation mechanisms for improving research and teaching at universities. 
2.  To establish exemplary universities of science and technology and implement phase 2 of the technological and vocational education reform plan; to train highly skilled technology professionals at all levels, and comprehensively improve the competitiveness of Taiwan’s technological and vocational education; and to reduce the existing gap between learning and practical utilization. 
3.  To refine teachers’ pre-service training and education, and in-service training, and promote an evaluation system for elementary school and junior high school teachers, in order to enhance the quality of elementary and secondary school teachers; and to make access to art and aesthetic education universally available to Taiwan’s citizens.
4.  To implement a 12-year basic education system and phase in a policy of tuition-free education for all vocational senior high school students; to achieve the balanced development of vocational senior high schools in all regions, and to improve the quality of vocational senior high schools.
5.  To increase the number of elementary school teachers, and reduce the sizes of elementary and junior high school classes; to renovate or rebuild dilapidated elementary and junior high school buildings; to control the quality of school-provided food and drinks; and to ensure pre-school education quality by providing tuition-free pre-school education and care for 5-year-olds.
6.  To implement inclusive education for students with a disability, to enhance the quality of aboriginal students’ education, and to provide disadvantaged students with more subsidies and lunch allowances, in order to safeguard the right of disadvantaged students to an education.
7.  To implement a lifelong learning system, promote family education, and make further education available to all senior citizens; to strengthen the innovation of services provided by libraries, and create quality reading environments and habits.
8.  To create friendly, healthy, and safe campus learning environments; to prevent campus bullying and drug abuse; and to provide gender equality, human rights, and character education.
9.  To enhance students’ e-learning abilities, and narrow the e-learning gap between urban and rural areas; to construct sustainable eco-friendly campuses, and increase teachers’ and students’ environmental literacy, and their ability to prevent and deal with disasters. 
10.  To strengthen international and cross-strait academic cooperation and exchange, to expand overseas Mandarin Chinese language education globally, to promote the export of Taiwan’s higher education industry, and to attract outstanding overseas students to study in Taiwan.
11. To cultivate our young people’s potential talents and abilities, and make them more employable by encouraging them to travel and to explore different careers, to engage in public affairs and volunteer work, and to take part in international events and overseas aid service-learning. 
12. To enhance physical education in schools, promote public sports events, and create a more sports-minded ‘island that enjoys being physically active’; to put more effort into training potentially outstanding athletes, and raise our competitive ability; and to enhance Taiwan’s international visibility by holding the Universiade Taipei 2017, and by bidding for the right to host more major international competitions.