Transcript PowerPoint 簡報 - NCKU 國立成功大學

Challenges and Perspectives for the
Future of Higher Education in Taiwan
Michael M.C. Lai
President
National Cheng Kung University
November 3, 2009
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The Missions of a University
 To educate and nurture future leaders and
innovators of the society
 To do research to generate and promulgate
new knowledge and technology
 To serve the society and mankind to meet
global and local challenges
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The challenges facing Taiwan
higher education
 The declining birth rate (too many universities)
 The nature and quality of higher education: elitist
or populist education?
 The fallen international competitiveness,
including physical infrastructure and quality of
education
 The declining government support
 Students from mainland China
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Attempted classification of Higher Education
institutions: University of California as an example
 University of California (10 campuses) (12.5% of high
school graduates) (doctors degree)
 California State University (masters)
 City and Community Colleges (bachelors)
 Junior Colleges (two-year colleges)
 Easy transfers between the school systems
 Each system has its own educational goals
 Keys: parents and high school teachers
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Views from the top universities:
Strengths of general education in Taiwan
 Good solid foundations in elementary and high
school
 Fair and equal opportunity for every kid of diverse
background (unified college entrance exam)
 Well prepared in basic language and math skills
 Strong in analytical skills
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Views from the top universities:
Weaknesses of general education in Taiwan
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Fixed and uniform curriculum (low diversity)
Practice and drills of reflexive learning (or test) skills
Information acquisition and repetitive regurgitation
Inability to express verbally and in writing
Lack of creativity training
Lack of aggressiveness
Less emphasis on the synthesizing ability
Poor in international communication (English) skills
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The weaknesses of university
education in Taiwan
 The course requirements are too easy
 Does not emphasize interdisciplinary learning
 Too much emphasis on professional training, not
enough on humanistic education
 Not enough internationalization (global language
skills, intercultural awareness and international
competitiveness)
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Trends toward the mixing of professional and
humanistic education (I)
 C. P. Snow: “Science and technology” and
“humanities” are two different cultures
 But, today’s societal problems, e.g. gentrification of
societies, global warming, energy issues, etc. are
too complex to be solved by science and
technology alone.
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Trends toward the mixing of professional
and humanistic education (II)
 Neal Lane: “We abdicate our responsibilities as
citizens if we, as scientists and engineers, do not
understand our science and technology in the larger
context of humanity and its great unsolved problems”
 Future trends: Engineering, like medical and law
schools, will be taught in postgraduate schools.
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Our efforts and unfinished businesses
in education reforms
 Established Academy of Educators
 Curriculum reform: joint teaching from different
departments
 Reduced the number of courses offered
 Encourage students to take cross-departmental
courses
 Mentor new teachers
 Diversification of college entrance screening
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How to attract diversified high school
students?
 Problems:
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Regionalization of universities (NTU vs. the rest)
Disparity in the distribution of political and financial
resources (north vs. south)
Laissez-faire attitude of the southern Taiwanese
 Solutions:
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More active recruitment
Elevating NCKU name recognition
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Keys to successful build-up of
research capability in the university
 Attract leaders (“stars”) in a given discipline
 Cluster hiring
 Mentor young talents and give them time and space
 Build research teams and clusters
 Collaborate and integrate (blurring of the boundaries
between the traditional departments and institutes)
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The roles of university in fostering
research outputs
 Fund and support interdisciplinary researches (in
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contrast to individuals or individual department)
Support common facility and equipment
Provide administrative and research support
personnel
Reduce administrative red-tapes
Safeguard the regulatory, ethical, social and legal
issues.
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International competitiveness of
Taiwan universities for faculty
recruitment: Strengths
 Good pension systems albeit with low salaries
 Good personnel fringe benefits (e.g. health
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insurance coverage)
Relatively good job security
Good, hardworking students
Strong research and academic infrastructure
Big talent pool abroad
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International competitiveness of
Taiwan universities in faculty
recruitment: Weaknesses
 Low faculty salaries
 Government personnel and immigration rules are not
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friendly
Inflexible salary structure
Foreign students and scholars can not stay and work
after they finish
High teaching load
Lack of English-friendly environment
Relative lack of respect in recruiting
Shrinking talent pool abroad
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Talent Recruitment:
Why a researcher gives up job security in universities
to work in a research organization?
 Good working conditions
 Good research facilities
 Good research teams
 Better chance for career success
 Maybe, higher salary
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Threats from abroad in attracting and
retaining talents in Taiwan
 Higher faculty salary in neighboring countries
(China, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc.)
 Hong Kong changes its university system from
3-year to 4-year in year 2012 and will add 1000
new professors
Taiwan
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Enhancing the innovation and
university-industry collaboration
 Encourage joint projects between university and industry
 Encourage patent applications from university faculty
(Bayh-Dole Act, 1980)
 Give credit for studying applied science in faculty
promotion
 Encourage personnel mobility between industry and
university, e.g. flexible career paths and employment
contracts, mobile pension schemes and duel
employment in industry and university
 Encourage start-up companies from faculty
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Enhancing the Innovation and Universityindustry Collaboration: cautions
 University must keep its identity in its missions in
education and advancement of human knowledge
while working with industry
 Avoid conflicts of interest
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Trends toward more flexible and efficient
university governance and operation
 Autonomy (less interference from government or
interest groups)
 Governance structure (more flexibility for its
leader to execute educational missions)
 Accountability (to hold universities responsible for
the outcomes)
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Trends toward Changing University Governance
 Obliteration of distinction between public and private
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universities
Declining government budget support for public
universities
In the U.S., land grant universities almost becoming
private
In Taiwan, influence and regulation from the
government in setting tuition standard, student
admission and recruitment policy even for private
universities
Increasing government competitive grant funding for
public and private universities
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Impetuses for university reform
 More flexibility in budget
 University leadership can be held more accountable
for his (her) actions
 Oversight from an independent board
 Faculty is involved in oversight of academic affairs
 Reduced government block funding, with increased
competitive funding (in Japan)
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Lessons learnt from other countries
 Harvard
 MIT
 University of California system
 Japan
 Singapore
 Korea
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Evolving trends for higher education
 Higher education is a privilege, but not a born
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right, for each individual who wants to pursue it,
regardless of his or her financial or social status
Each student must work for it (Germany started
to charge university tuition)
University must be accountable for its own
actions
Must safeguard the faculty and staff’s rights and
university’s competitiveness
Offer incentives for faculty and staff and
university as well
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Our mission is to nurture, to
do research and to serve our
society and mankind.
Let’s work together for these
goals
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