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In late 2021, Taiwan’s National Development Fund helped establish four semiconductor academies at four different universities. At a time when the industry suffers a talent shortage, it’s time to check their report card.
School education should prepare children for life, yet Taiwan students are anxious and wary. The quality of education has not improved, and more students are left behind. One-third of school kids lack a purpose for learning, are unhappy, and lack confidence. What is the problem?
Estonia has surpassed Finland and achieved the highest PISA scores in Europe. The front-end class is more advanced, while the back-end class is not lagging. It has been praised by the OECD as a model of a country with high performance and a strong sense of well-being. How did this "education reformation" transform Estonia into a new educational powerhouse?
In Taiwan's rural or non-urban schools, you can always hear teachers complaining about the lack of resources. But in Estonia's rural schools, everything from teachers' qualifications and hardware to student welfare is the same as in urban schools, and learning outcomes are not as different as they are in the countryside.
National Taiwan University President Kuan Chung-ming has been a strong proponent of a “Future NTU” concept to reinvigorate the nearly century-old school. But with Kuan deciding against a second term, where will NTU be headed in the future?
Now beautiful and confident on the skating rink, Ella Wilkins was once a kid who had a hard time adapting to the school system and cried every time she did homework. After deciding to be homeschooled, she regained her confidence. Now, she is getting ready to enroll in an American university’s online program.
Taiwan’s Covid generation, entering the employment market in the midst of a serious pandemic, has not become a lost generation. Instead, they are getting a step ahead, and rather than no longer dreaming they are moving into the future with pragmatism and flexibility.
The government is seeking to greatly increase the level of English fluency in the Taiwan population by 2030 through a variety of programs, mainly focusing on improving the effectiveness of English teaching in the schools. The goal is to raise Taiwan’s international competitiveness. But classroom learning will need to be supplemented through the creation of more “bilingual environments” throughout the society.
English language study in Taiwan is at an all-time high, whether for use professionally or to get into a university like Harvard. However, the process of how to do that is largely lost on a population inundated with too many options and not great guidance...
Taiwanese singer-songwriter “9m88” became known to a wider audience with the release of her debut album last year, clinching three nominations for the Golden Melody Awards.
Students in humanities classes these days no longer just study books on theory, gazing instead at computer screens while pondering how to write the next line of code. Around 2013 top US universities started introducing Big Data to their social science institutes, and several humanities departments at National Taiwan University followed along with that trend. How has it impacted education in the humanities?
The number of Taiwanese students studying abroad has exceeded 40,000 in recent years, with increasing diversity in choice of countries. Nevertheless, despite repeated efforts at educational reform in Taiwan, cram schools continue to proliferate, and the number of students who have interrupted their studies or dropped out due to a disconnect with their interests is also quite high. In light of this, do the new national curriculum guidelines present an opportunity for change?
How can we encourage students to take charge of their own education and acquire interdisciplinary skills? As citizens of a nation surrounded by water, the Affiliated Senior High School of National Taiwan Normal University chose “oceans” for its central theme. Starting with the faculty, the entire school is embarking on a journey of diversified exploration and interdisciplinary learning.
High school is the stage of life when children mature into adults. How do we help them cultivate civic literacy so they have the awareness and the tools to participate in public affairs? At National Chia-Yi Girls' Senior High School, “urban exploration” is the central theme in an ongoing discussion. The “topic-centric” mandatory course provides students with a viewpoint different from any other school.
If you want to train a high school student in the fields of “general skills” and “diversified vocational experiences”, Lo-Tung Commercial Vocational High School, a comprehensive high school in Yilan, is undoubtedly the best testing ground where students can turn theory into practice.
Starting in the academic year of 2019, the new curriculum focuses on students and places greater emphasis on situated cognition, integration, inquiry, and practice.
Driven by a lack of access to educational resources, Arnold Chiang co-founded the online learning platform Hahow, which now caters to 220,000 students. What has led to the learning website’s growing popularity?
Singapore’s education reforms have gone through many phases, focusing first on survival and efficiency and later on ability and values. The new emphasis this year is lifelong learning. What can Singapore’s experience teach Taiwan?
Recently, collapsing enrollment rates in Taiwanese universities have given rise to a disturbing new development. Taiwanese academics are not being seduced to go west by high-paying jobs or golden tickets. The new Taiwanese academic diaspora may be an act of desperation.
The results of the inaugural CommonWealth University Citizen (USR) Rankings are out, with National Cheng Kung University, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, and Feng Chia University taking the top spots in the three categories of public, technical and private universities.
The 2019 curriculum guidelines for Taiwanese elementary schools have been expanded to include seven Southeast Asian languages, the mother tongues of many recent migrants to Taiwan, on the list of required courses. The initiative, a world first, has come under fire from some parents.
There are 271 Golden Age universities; the US, UK and India all have a heavy presence in the table, but Japan is the most-represented nation with 46 institutions. Australia takes three of the top slots in the top 10; two go to the US; while China, Germany, Hong Kong, South Korea and the UK have one each.
US universities holding the top spot for virtually all subjects. Outside of the top slots, Asian universities also get a good showing, in particular Nanyang Technological University Singapore and the National University of Singapore.
Students in Sri Lanka signed up for a work/study program in Taiwan that promised to give them tech skills they could not acquire at home. But when one group of students arrived in Taiwan, they were immediately put to work in a food processing factory. Their ordeal was only just beginning.
Several cases of abuse of “work/study” programs have surfaced in Taiwan since October 2018, with universities recruiting students from South and Southeast Asia and turning them into cheap labor for local factories. CommonWealth takes a look behind the scenes at what is going on.
While more than 16,000 students from ASEAN were studying in Taiwan in 2014, their number had risen to over 30,000 students by 2018, posting an increase of 85 percent in just five years. As every year brings new records in Southeast Asian student enrollment, Taiwanese companies are taking note of this rapidly expanding talent pool and beginning to scout campuses for talent. What makes these young graduates so appealing to Taiwanese employers?
Childcare costs make up a significant proportion of many working parents’ outgoings. But how much you pay can vary considerably depending on where you live.
The largest population of international students in Taiwan is not concentrated, surprisingly, in the popular “top four” universities: NTU, NCKU, NTHU, and NCTU. Why is this University so successful at attracting elite students from around the world?
Featuring a bold spatial design that encourages students to run around, Guanpu Elementary School is only the second school to be built under Hsinchu City’s “new school movement.” Before its completion, the school had already built a reputation for both its architectural design and its curriculum. When admission applications skyrocketed, the building design had to be altered to accommodate more classes.
A new study by the Varkey Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that aims to improve education for underprivileged children, gauges how respected teachers are in 35 economies around the world.
There are people who are drawn into a chat while buying an ice cream abroad, instantly overcoming their fear of speaking in a foreign language. Others are like travelers on a quest, successfully reviving dormant language skills in just seven days. Taiwanese polyglot Terry Hsieh, who speaks 25 languages, is living proof that “immersive learning” is more effective than attending formal classes in language schools.
The island nation is changing its educational focus to encourage school children to develop the life skills they will need when they enter the world of work.
In the Spring of 2017, Where There Be Dragons and Avenues: The World School partnered to bring 15 teenagers from New York City to Taiwan to study sustainability and the environment.
Much has been written about the dangers of screen time for children. Meanwhile, emerging research is starting to look at the role that parents’ screen usage has on a child’s development, and the news isn’t good.
In the US, parents spend an average of $58,000 – less than half of what parents in Hong Kong are spending. Taiwan ranked 5th on the list with an average of $56424, right behind the US.
Yellow banners and ribbons fluttering along the scenic Royal Palm Boulevard at National Taiwan University (NTU), night and day recently indicate unrest on the renowned campus. Congregating at the school’s landmark Fu Bell Tower near the boulevard, faculty and students are sounding the alarm for Taiwan’s higher education.
“In China, rather than seeking truth, academia serves the party and the state,” says one Taiwanese academician with experience across the strait. Realizing that he was not a good fit, he returned to Taiwan after just one semester of teaching, yet since returning to Taiwan, he has still been unable to find a suitable position.
Though these countries share four key traits in their education system, business landscape, working environment and government policies that are worth learning, none of these countries is said to have completely cracked the problems of people management. Why?
While the acceptance rate at Taiwanese universities stands above 100 percent, only 1 percent of applicants are accepted at École 42, a private computer programming school in Paris. What makes this institution even more difficult to get into than a prestigious, top-ranked university like Harvard?
"Find that little girl back to your heart," a gentle yet rippling reminder from Asia's first and foremost actress-director. "As our world keeps getting more complicated, it's even more important for us to live our lives to the bravest, the purest, and the simplest."
Many teachers ask their students to put their phones down. But is that the only thing educators should do to keep up with the 21st century? Meet Ms. Marcie Craig Post, Executive Director of International Literacy Association, in an interview after her speech in the 2017 International Reading Education Forum.
Taiwan’s legislature is currently reviewing three laws pertaining to experimental education. Tim Chen, father of three home-schooled children and a longtime activist for non-traditional avenues to education, cautions that the label “experimental” alone does not make schooling different.
Though Switzerland has consistently held the top spot in the Global Competitiveness Rankings by the World Economic Forum, the landlocked nation has slipped to rank 47 for enrollment in higher education. The country boasts the most internationalized universities, yet it says internationalization is not the goal.
Who would have thought that a vocational high school in the small city of Miaoli could attract high schools from Japan and Korea to engage in exchanges in Taiwan? Miao-Li A&I develops students’ critical thinking capacities on top of honing their hands-on skills, sparking a revolution in their minds.
Taiwan’s government has proposed a “Yushan Project” to stem the brain drain it says is plaguing academia. But in a commentary done for Crossing, writer Chen Kuan-ting takes issue with the program’s focus.
They’ve been derided as the “strawberry” generation, but Taiwan’s 30-somethings defy stereotypes. Born into an era when freedom began taking root in the country but economic growth slowed, what motivates them and how do they see their futures?
With its low salaries and lack of stages on which to shine, Taiwan is no longer seen by young people as a land of opportunity, and they are leaving in droves. Are companies and the government ready for the massive talent deficit down the road?
Taiwan’s universities compete with other Asian universities for students from Southeast Asia. Some use scholarships; others their reputation. Meiho University possesses neither money nor fame, yet its cooperation program with a Vietnamese university is successfully attracting students.
The female farmers group “Land Dyke” has established a new model of communal living and farming, using environmentally friendly farming methods, while also engaging in exchanges with local farms to share good food and good ideas with a greater audience.
A first in Taiwan, the curriculum in elementary schools in Tainan, one of the island’s major agricultural regions, includes “food education”. By growing their own food, students gain greater self-confidence and develop a stronger bond to the land.
As the late management guru Peter Drucker once said, the tools we rely on for survival today could get in the way of growth tomorrow. Constantly enhancing one’s skills and taking on all kinds of roles, “hybrid talents” are the new stars of the workplace.
What is creativity? Where does it come from? How do you teach it? Asia University has designed creative spaces and distinct study programs to steer students towards their passions.
Pursuing a “boutique” educational esthetic, the CTCB Financial Management College’s assurance of employment after graduation has helped yield impressive recruitment numbers.
When it seems that almost superhuman powers and magic skills are needed to live up to the fickle media industry and its fragmented audiences, the practical courses at Ming Chuan University’s new media department prepare its students to navigate between the old and new media worlds
Taiwan Tech not only wants its students to know how to create, but that they also understand cross-domain integration, using Industry 4.0 thinking to advance traditional automation talent.
Dwindling student numbers, insufficient resources and global competition are forcing Taiwan’s colleges and universities to reinvent themselves or become obsolete. A unique niche with precise positioning may be the answer.
Stanford University is renowned for its innovate approach to learning. One of its top educators insists that liberal arts and the humanities are key to higher education, even in this digital age, but admits to still figuring out how to best get the message across.
As a community high school in a fairly remote part of Taiwan, Mailiao High School should be struggling to survive. Instead, it is thriving by helping meeting the diverse needs of all of its students rather than focusing solely on getting them into college.
Developing apps, wearable devices or electric vehicles - what sounds like Silicon Valley startup preoccupations is everyday school life at China’s Tsinghua University High School, where high schoolers have access to the top-notch facilities and faculty of the prestigious Tsinghua University.
Remember the Hogwarts School featured in the Harry Potter fantasy novel and movie series? Beijing University Affiliated Senior High School is the only high school in China to follow an institute and house structure, giving students full autonomy to arrange their own classes and schedules.
Several schools around Taiwan tailor courses to local traits, none more so than Luchu Senior High School in Kaohsiung. It has shaped part of its curriculum to reflect the area's natural environment and preserve the school's tenuous existence.
Handling everything from raising chickens and growing vegetables to harvesting coffee beans and stuffing sausages, the school is developing Taiwan’s new generation of farmers with professional skills and an entrepreneurial spirit.
What kind of future awaits millions of students when they enter a completely different senior high school system in the wake of Taiwan’s most dramatic education reform in a century? How are schools and faculty preparing for this unprecedented challenge?
For 72 straight hours, teams of intrepid but isolated Taiwanese high school students battle through a real-life video game, forcing them to come up with creative solutions to problems. For many of them, it’s a life-changing experience.
After coming to Taiwan with high expectations and studying for four years, students from across the strait find themselves asking each other, "Is it worth it?
Taiwan's rigid education system produces plenty of "good students," but here are three stories about a group of Taiwanese who found out at Stanford University that what it means to be "good" in this new era is changing.
The pain inflicted by Taiwan's new high school entrance system is rooted in its failure to eliminate the hierarchy in which parents and students place schools. What is the path forward for Taiwanese education reform?
How competitive are Taiwanese professionals on the international stage? CommonWealth Magazine's latest survey discovered three key factors determining the direction of Taiwanese talent: a stage to perform on, salaries, and ambition.
Passionate about teaching, Yeh Ping-cheng has turned classes on their head and developed entertaining games to teach boring subjects, showing his Taiwanese peers how to engage students in the 21st century.
Taiwan's 12-year national education system formally goes into effect in 2014. At this juncture, CommonWealth has undertaken a survey that takes us into the classroom in search of a new direction for Taiwanese education.
The new generation of Taiwanese and Chinese youngsters born in the 1990s differs from any other that preceded it. How will they change the future on both sides of the Strait?
A chain link-style "vocational high school-technical university-corporate" collaborative model and the legacy of Swiss apprenticeship system is putting specialized technical certification in the hands of 18 year-old students.
Taiwan's universities have slid into a quagmire of diminished performance. CommonWealth Magazine's first poll of university educators seeks to find a way out for higher education.
When other schools are promoting just one veggie day a week, this grade school in rural Yunlin County has already made it four, and inspired the whole community to focus on healthy living.
CommonWealth Magazine's civic education survey found that Taiwan's Internet-savvy teens strongly support equal rights but have confused core values that could complicate a push toward "digital citizenship."
For many indigenous elementary schoolchildren, science is inaccessible. But one dedicated teacher stresses the subject's fun side. It's a philosophy that's catching on.
Electronic whiteboards have made classes at Kaohsiung's Ying-Ming Junior High more lively and interactive, transporting students back in history, over mountains and across seas, as if stepping through Doraemon's "Anywhere Door."
Taiwan's oldest public high school also scores the greatest scientific accomplishments. Yet it is dedication to the liberal arts and commitment to service that give the students a balanced introduction to their world.
Nearly 70 percent of Taiwan's secondary students say they like science, but 80 percent do not want to become scientists. CommonWealth Magazine's 2010 Education Survey reveals they are being turned off by the way science is taught.
In Taipei's Xingya Junior High School, ten different waypoints conceal a total of 280 math problems, and its "Mathematics Corridor" sparkles with secret code. What is this wizardry that's giving math an allure worthy of Harry Potter?
Having already engaged in a major talent grab, China is planning a significant transformation of its human resources, one that will affect labor markets around the world.
In January 2010, the boards of Chia Nan University of Pharmacy & Science and Leader University signed an agreement to merge, the first merger of private universities in Taiwan since the Private School Law was revised last June, providing a legal foundation for such mergers. According to one education professional, Leader University will change its name and eventually vanish into history.
The Bliss and Wisdom Educational Foundation has taken the pressure off teachers for the past 12 years by feeding them innovative life education strategies.
What does the new generation of Taiwanese expect out of life, and what difficulties do they encounter? Lacking role models to inspire them, the island's young urgently need to find their way in the world.
At Taipei Municipal Song Shan Senior High School, weekly class meetings and school celebrations are different. Instead of empty rituals, students contemplate the meaning of life.
Starting next year, life education will be a required subject at Taiwan's 330 senior high schools. In preparation for the new subject, a fresh crop of teachers has been taking courses themselves. Often, it has proven to be a life-altering experience.
Beginning with required public service courses, a new wave of service-oriented learning is rising on Taiwan's college campuses, waking youngsters to the notion that this world is worth changing after all.
From the faculty to the student body, from research to academics, China's universities are shelling out big bucks on a range of "out-of-the-ordinary" reforms. Is Taiwan prepared for this all-out global battle for academic talent and brand prestige?
Two prestigious engineering universities with the same name, one in Taiwan and one in China, are embarking on an ambitious joint project that may place Taiwanese technology at the center of international R&D.
Chinese diplomas are not yet recognized in Taiwan, but that hasn't stopped Chinese schools from aggressively recruiting Taiwan's best students. What are the challenges posed by cross-strait education links?
All parents believe they are doing what's best for their child. But through shared mentoring, one group of parents has elected to pull back, allow others to take the lead, and challenge their kids to become more independent.
In the small village of Sin Sing, 70 percent of the local children are raised in single-parent families or by grandparents. Yet they feel loved, because the villagers view themselves as a big family and regard everyone's children as their own.
Two educators sent their son abroad under Rotary International's Youth Exchange Program to live with families they did not know. Why were they willing to send him far away, to the point of missing a key year of school at home?
After just six years and without holding any illustrious degrees, Dawson Luo has become Taiwan's top nail art designer, breaking ground in a new industry that many people felt held no future for men.
In this exclusive interview, Taiwan's education minister discusses the present shortfalls and future challenges of Taiwanese education, and the ultimate importance of true learning.
As Taiwan's students vie for spots in the best universities and technical schools scramble to advance in status, the focus of academia is drifting away from practical knowledge. Why are these institutions so out of step with the needs of society?
With more and more people holding higher degrees, and university educations holding less value in the marketplace, new college grads face a harsh labor environment. Are they prepared for the challenges?
Taiwanese education is known for its obsession with teaching students how to test into a handful of elite schools. What can these "star" schools do to make the system more diverse?
After a decade of reforms, Taiwan's education system is reeling with more problems than ever before. Here is a shortlist of the most important undertakings awaiting the new administration.
Community volunteers are giving children from broken families the support they need to regain a sense of belonging, and the confidence to succeed in life.
A growing number of Taiwanese parents are choosing to teach their children on their own at home, designing learning environments specifically suited for each kid's unique needs.
Education in Taiwan has become an all-out struggle, locking kids into competition at increasingly early ages. Why is it that the more the education system is reformed, the more it stresses exams?
Former director-general of the Finnish National Board of Education Erkki Aho discusses the commitment to quality that has driven his country’s achievements in education.
Education has become Finland’s most successful export commodity. With just a quarter of Taiwan’s population, how has it claimed the crown as the world’s leader in educational reform?
How are we to cultivate the talent that will be needed in an unpredictable future? Around the world, societies are considering new ways to foster initiative and creativity in the next generation.
With a Southeast Asian economic boom fueling demand for business professionals, Taiwan's universities are recruiting large numbers of Southeast Asian students in what has become a new, lucrative trend.
Taiwan’s six million "Helicopter parents" are hovering, their noses in everything involving their kids. And while their influence is expanding, their impact may not be for the better.