Taiwan’s education ministry has come up with a new blueprint for universities in Taiwan. That’s the word from Education Minister Wu Se-hwa on Friday. He was speaking at the 10th international forum of the Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan.
Wu said Taiwan is facing a low birthrate, which coupled with the trends of globalization and digitization, has led to lower enrollment. He said that within the next five to ten years, local schools must find their own identity and unique selling points.
The ministry on Friday announced the enrollment statistics for the nation’s colleges and universities. As of the current school year, the ministry has begun conducting random checks on teaching quality at schools that have less than 30% enrollment. It’s also encouraging the schools to set up trusts for their assets and to seek out new opportunities.
“Our blueprint for Taiwan’s institutes of higher education should focus on top-notch education, consolidation, and transformation," said Wu.
"We need to work on all three of these at the same time," he said. "It’s a difficult mission, but there is no other way around the current environmental trends.”
Wu said the ministry also wants to divide Taiwan’s universities into those that focus on teaching and those that focus on research.