Ministry of Education Objectives for 2014 (January-December)
Date:
- Implement the White Paper on Human Resource Development, focusing on the education and training of high-quality human resource in Taiwan and the recruiting of highly-professional people from overseas, to comprehensively boost national development, and enhance Taiwan’s international competitiveness.
- Establish world-class universities and cutting edge research centers, and encourage teaching excellence at the university level; implement evaluation and transformation mechanisms for improving research and teaching at universities; coordinate and align the training of highly-skilled people in the field of higher education with industry needs; increase cross-strait academic exchanges to improve universities’ research, teaching, and international competitiveness.
- Implement Phase 2 of the Technological and Vocational Education Reform plan, and train highly-skilled technology professionals; reduce the existing training-employment gap; align technological and vocational education and training to meet industry needs; establish exemplary universities of science and technology; assist universities develop their particular focus; redefine the core values of technological and vocational education; and enhance its international competitiveness.
- Promote teachers’ pre-service training and education, and in-service continuing professional development (CPD); enhance the quality of elementary and secondary school teachers; promote enacting legislation setting up an evaluation system for elementary school and junior high school teachers; establish professional development mechanisms for teachers; phase in equal pay and conditions for public and private school teachers; promote institutionalizing teachers’ pay and conditions in law and practice; make access to art and aesthetic education universally available, and maintain and nature the inherent qualities of Taiwan’s people.
- Implement the 12-year basic educational system; phase in tuition-free education, admission without entrance exam, and targeted enrollments in all vocational and senior high schools; improve the quality of vocational and senior high schools; strive for the balanced development of vocational and senior high schools in all regions.
- Reduce class sizes in elementary and junior high schools; increase the number of teachers in elementary schools; increase the number of teachers for smaller class-size teaching; eliminate the discrepancy between urban and rural areas regarding the teacher supply; construct quality environments in elementary and junior high schools; boost after-school care programs; accelerate the renovation and rebuilding of dilapidated elementary and junior high school buildings; put in place management of school-provided food and drinks; and enhance the quality of school dining services.
- Construct safe, high-quality learning environments for young pre-school children; promote pre-school education and care work; ensure the quality of pre-school education and care; and provide tuition-free pre-school education and care for 5-year-olds.
- Integrate measures assisting socially-economically disadvantaged students attend school to practically address social justice concerns; put in place further measures associated with the Education Safety Net; implement inclusive education for students with disabilities; safeguard disadvantaged students’ right to education; enhance indigenous peoples’ classroom competitiveness and develop their multi-faceted potential; safeguard aboriginal students’ right to education.
- Put in place a lifelong learning system, and vigorously promote lifelong learning and activity; integrate the resources of government and the general public, and widely promote family education services; in response to the rising percentage of elderly people in the population, make ongoing education locally available for all senior citizens; promote innovation of services provided by educational facilities for the public; provide a diverse multi-faceted range of lifelong learning resources; focus more strongly on innovative use of library spaces and facilities, and create quality reading environments and habits.
- Strengthen student affairs and counseling work; institute gender equality, life, human rights, and character education; prevent campus bullying and student drug abuse; increase the management of students’ health; create friendly, healthy, and safe high quality campus environments; increase the number of special education and counseling professionals; develop a more comprehensive administrative support network.
- Dramatically improve the backbone of the Taiwan Academic Network (TANet); strengthen security features protecting teaching institutions’ data; enhance students’ e-learning abilities; thoroughly address reducing the digital gap between city schools and schools in the countryside; promote information ethics and online safety; build environmentally sustainable campuses; increase teachers’ and students’ environmental literacy, and their ability to prevent disasters and deal with contingencies and change.
- Raise the teaching quality in overseas Taiwanese schools and schools in the Mainland area for the children of Taiwanese business people; strengthen international academic cooperation and exchange, and make courses in Taiwan Studies globally available; expand overseas Mandarin Chinese language education and the wider education industry globally; promote the export of Taiwan’s higher education industry; attract outstanding people to come and study in Taiwan; continue to create and maintain a friendly environment for international students.
- Assist young people to explore career options and develop their potential talents and abilities to make them more employable; build stronger links between schools and workplaces; encourage young people to engage in public affairs; promote youth volunteering, charity work, and service-learning; promote young people taking part in international events, travelling outside Taiwan, and expanding their international experience.
- Focus more strongly on physical education being taught in schools; upgrade students’ physical fitness; promote public participation in sports, and create an “island that enjoys being physically active”; train potentially outstanding athletes, and raise our athletic competitiveness.
- Enhance Taiwan’s international profile by assisting with preparations to hold the 2017 Taipei Summer Universiade, and by bidding for the right to host other major international competitions; create a quality environment for further development of the sports industry, and enhance the willingness of those in the sports industry to invest and participate in other ways here.