
A glimpse of the campus of Taiwan University. (Data photo)
In recent years, the wave of birth reduction has swept across Taiwan’s island, and the reduction in student sources has made the problem of under-enrollment of colleges and universities increasingly prominent. According to Taiwan's United Daily News, data released by Taiwan's education authorities recently showed that the number of students enrolled on the island in the 2022 school year decreased by 11,000 compared with previous years, but the school did not adjust the allocation of enrollment quotas in time, which eventually led to more than 14,000 vacancies and the admission rate was as high as 98.94%, both hitting record highs.
With such a high admission rate, the vacancies for colleges and universities on the island still hit a new high, which just reflects the impact of the wave of low birth rate on college recruitment. Compared with previous years, the admission vacancies have appeared in private schools with weaker competitiveness, more public schools have also begun to recruit students this year. Data shows that among the 51 universities with enrollment vacancies, 22 are public institutions, among which , Taiwan's Tsinghua University, and other famous universities on the island were not spared. In this regard, some people in the education sector on the island analyzed that on the one hand, some universities themselves have problems in running schools, which has decreased their attractiveness to candidates; on the other hand, the reduction in births is becoming more and more serious, especially the number of students participating in the recruitment this year has dropped sharply compared with previous years, resulting in a situation where the degree and students are "more porridge and less monks".
In response to the continuous decrease in the number of students under the wave of birth reduction, many universities on the island believe that "slimming development" is imminent. In April this year, the "Private School Exit Regulations" was officially implemented, and seven private colleges and universities were listed as special project tutoring schools, but they had no choice but to embark on the road to transformation. In the view of the head of the Chinese University of Culture in Taiwan, reducing the school's scale and stabilizing "slimming" are inevitable countermeasures, and at the same time, it is also necessary to continuously improve the teaching quality and optimize the learning environment. The head of Jingyi University in Taiwan also said that the education authorities' decision to prevent public schools from reducing recruitment is a wrong decision. For the overall development of higher education, it is also necessary for public schools to formulate a "slimming plan".
As one of the famous schools on the island, Taiwan University has changed its enrollment model to deal with the impact of less birth. According to a relevant person in charge of NTU, compared with ordinary universities on the island, NTU currently places the main enrollment force in the individual application channel, and the relevant enrollment account for 50% of the total enrollment quota, and the proportion will be further increased in the future; the "Star Recommendation" selected enrollment quota for outstanding students accounts for 10.5% of the total enrollment, and is expected to be increased to 15% in the next two years; and the quota and proportion of participating in unified enrollment will be further reduced.
However, some experts in the island's academic tutoring point out that changing the enrollment method will not fundamentally alleviate the impact of less birth on colleges and universities. According to statistics from the island's recruitment authorities, the overall performance of students participating in individual applications and early enrollment this year has declined severely. Many students are not qualified to participate in the selection mechanisms such as "Star Recommendation", which has led to many selected enrollment quotas returning to the unified enrollment enrollment channel, which still causes a large number of enrollment vacancies.
"By 2029, if university enrollment does not change, the amount of vacancies will only increase." You Ronghui, chairman of Taiwan's private school trade union, believes that under the trend of less birth, this year is just the beginning of an "avacancies", and schools without vacancies must respond as soon as possible. The island’s universities should reconcile the enrollment quotas, both public and private, especially public schools should have a sense of crisis and actively run schools, otherwise they will face more severe enrollment difficulties in the wave of less births. Private schools should find ways to increase their investment in education and attract students from the perspective of running schools, rather than investing all their money in admissions advertisements.
Taiwan Chenggong University President Su Huizhen said that from student recruitment to overall development, Taiwanese universities will face more challenges in the next few years. It is recommended that colleges and universities explore school resources and optimize professional settings to achieve sustainable development. (Jin Chen)
Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition