A new Taiwanese university system begins to take shape amid major societal shifts
The four inaugural institutions, all located within a 70-mile radius in northern Taiwan, include National Tsing Hua University, National Chiao Tung University, National Yang-Ming University, and National Central University.
What is the current environment within Taiwanese higher education?
Three or four decades ago, there were approximately 20 universities in Taiwan and a number of schools that trained technicians. A high school graduate taking the national entrance exam would have close to a 10% opportunity to enter university. Growth since then has been rapid and unabated.
The number of universities has risen significantly to more than 165. Today an eligible student’s opportunity to attend university is approaching 100%. At the same time there has been a precipitous drop in birth rate. Forty years ago 400,000 students took the national entrance exams. This year the number was 189,000, and it’s predicted to keep dropping and reach rock bottom in 2016 at 150,000.
Has this been a driver in the formation of the new university system?
Certainly, as the field tightens, competition becomes more fierce, and universities have to consider ways to become more competitive. Of the 160 universities in Taiwan, 12 are research intensive. And in the north, the elephant in our backyard is National Taiwan University, which is completely comprehensive in scope of programs and has more than 32,000 students. Most universities in Taiwan are not as large or comprehensive. The universities in our system range from 6,000 to 14,000 students and have varying strengths. For example, National Yang- Ming University is the only life-health-sciences member, while National Tsing Hua University is a comprehensive university but without a medical school. National Tsing Hua University and National Chiao Tung University are next door to the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Taiwan’s largest applied technology R&D institution. Geography is also important as the four universities are close to the major metropolis and political headquarters of Taipei, and historically there have been big differences between north and south. I should note that another university system has been proposed for three universities in southern Taiwan.
The Taiwan Ministry of Education (the ministry) initiated the “Five Year, Fifty Billion” program about six years ago, injecting money into Taiwanese research intensive universities. They renewed the program in 2010 with a change from 100% block funding to individual universities to setting aside substantial amounts for collaborations among universities. Thus there is a large financial incentive for universities to collaborate. How well this will work remains to be seen as we know universities tend to compete with each other rather ferociously.
People in Taiwan realized that merging the four universities would be virtually impossible because of the extremely competitive climate within Taiwanese higher education. Instead, another model was proposed to achieve some sort of commonality for competing not only nationally, but globally. Global ranking has become more of an issue with the dramatic increases in funding within the last six years. Educational decision makers are being pressed to explain why Taiwanese global rankings have not risen with the funding. At the same time, issues of accountability, autonomy and governance all began to emerge as major discussion points.
How is the new system shaping up?
We have an acting chancellor and four vice chancellors from each university, but no one would say it’s truly functioning yet. There’s an old saying in the US that vision without funding is hallucination. Now for the first time we have funding, approximately $2 million US, to run the system office. A task force is being set up to study in depth how other university systems, such as the University of California and the University of Texas, are structured. For example, the University of California Office of the President has real power to negotiate with the state government of California.
Within Taiwan, there are two profound difficulties in system formation. First, concern that any centralized office might want to equalize the four universities. That implies a university might have to drop in quality for the others to move up. People are beginning to realize that’s not necessarily the case. Second, university administration is asking, “If I change, am I going to make it better? Am I going to make it significantly better?” If not, then why do it? They’re beginning to realize in the last four years that if done well it can be significantly better. That is why there is a huge incentive to move forward.
What changes need to occur for Taiwan to stand out on a global stage?
To some extent, the mindset here will need to change. Within higher education in Taiwan, people are struggling with what globalization means. So many of my peers studied in the US that for them globalization means Americanization. We do want to create those linkages with American universities as they’re some of the best in the world, but we must also be mindful of how we deal with our Asia-Pacific neighbors that are closer at hand.
This year for the first time the Taiwanese government opened its top research universities to 2,000 students from Mainland China. China has more than 30 million students wanting to get into university each year, but only 3 million spots available. If the gates to these institutions are really thrown open, the impact on Taiwanese universities and society will be unimaginable.
The ministry is facing a huge challenge. With limited staff they are expected to oversee not only higher education but also elementary and high schools. The subdivision of the ministry that handles research universities consists of a few dozen people. They simply don’t have the manpower or the knowledge to maintain the current system, let alone oversee a rise in world rankings. A strong, self-governed university system could be the solution to the current unsustainable framework.
Da Hsuan Feng
Da Hsuan Feng is the Vice President of Global Strategy, Development and Evaluation at National Tsing Hua University. He obtained a B.A. in physics from Drew University in 1968, and a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of Minnesota in 1972. From 2001–2007, he served as Vice President for Research and Economic Development of the University of Texas at Dallas, where he initiated a consortium of seven universities in Texas known as Strategic Partnership for Research in Nanotechnology (SPRING). From 1990–2000, he held the M. Russell Wehr Chair Professor of Physics at Drexel University. Other notable positions include technical advisor to the Vice Chairperson of the United States Congressional Armed Services Committee (1995–1998) and Vice President of Science Applications International Corporation (1998–2000).
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