A university in central Taipei is now offering financial incentives to encourage teachers to offer courses in a range of Taiwanese languages.
National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) says it will raise hourly teaching fees by 50% for courses taught in Taiwanese Hokkien, Hakka, Mindong or indigenous Taiwanese languages. In addition, newly-opened courses are eligible to receive a subsidy of up to NT$20,000 (US$720) to go towards teaching materials.
However, the incentives only apply to elective courses. Required courses will continue to be taught in Mandarin. In addition, language study courses are not included in the scheme.
The number of Taiwanese people who speak Taiwan’s minority languages has fallen dramatically in recent decades. NTNU says it hopes to help reverse that trend by promoting the use of those languages in academia.
NTNU is also at the center of Taiwan’s Bilingual Nation 2030 policy, which aims to drastically raise English language ability across the country. The university offers a similar compensation scheme to promote teaching in English.