Taiwanese higher education in a cultural perspective: a preliminary study of two premier universities

ABSTRACT

Imposing the policy lessons from higher-performing countries may involve the complex interplays of socio-cultural and institutional contexts. This article attempts to observe Taiwan’s progress in higher education from an explicit cultural perspective. It locates Taiwan among the rising group of higher education systems in East Asia. The study interrogates a wide-held understanding of higher education development and critically reflects on the “high performances” at systemic and institutional levels. It re-examines a capacity of the Western-influenced system in preserving indigenous cultural traditions while pursuing the quest for world-class status. Adopting a case study research, data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with executives and academics at two premier universities in Taiwan. The findings have shown that, due to fundamental differences, integrating traditional values with imported Western-structured institutions remains an arduous task for Taiwanese higher education. This study critiques conventional presumptions concerning the primacy of an Anglo-Saxon model in Taiwan and offers insights into the society’s efforts to bring back its own cultural values.     

Massification of higher education,graduate employment and social mobility in the Greater China region

Globalisation and the evolution of the knowledge-based economy have caused dramatic worldwide changes in the character and functions of education, particularly higher education. In the search for global competitiveness, many emerging economies have begun to expand their higher education systems, which has significantly affected the relationship between higher education and graduate employment. Recently, international comparative studies have suggested that increasing enrolment in higher education does not always promote upward social mobility, and can intensify inequality in education. This article critically examines the impact of the expansion of higher education in East Asia on graduate employment and social mobility in the context of an increasingly globalising economy and changing labour market needs. The article discusses emerging trends in the Greater China region, with a particular focus on Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Taipei, and argues that the massification of higher education has not necessarily led to more occupational opportunities for youth or opportunities for upward social movement, particularly since the significant changes in the global labour market after the 2008 global financial crisis. On the contrary, the intensification of ‘positional competition’ among college graduates seems to reflect growing social inequality.     

女性主义视角下的中国女子高等教育

在历史长河中,女性处于受歧视的地位,她们的知识与经验未受到尊重,现有的中国高等教育史方面的著作也未能客观地反映女子所受高等教育的情况。事实上,中国古代确有女子高等教育存在,并且有其独特的施教体系和课程内容。近代以来,随着社会的发展和女性的觉醒,中国女子高等教育开始了其新的发展阶段。     

Using university rankings as a potential indicator of student experiences in American higher education

Students at America’s most renowned private universities face different acceptance rates, college wealth, class sizes, and potential graduate earnings even in comparison with students at the nation’s highest-ranking public institutions. The analyses that led to these findings frequently focused on national or state-wide comparisons of public versus private universities. This paper contrasts these studies by analysing a fixed group of colleges, those regularly listed in the global top 50 of research and reputation rankings. It argues that even within this small subset of colleges, the highest-ranking public universities have more in common with their similarly positioned private counterparts than with lower ranking public institutions; a finding reflected in assessments of private colleges. Subsequently, the paper finds that student experiences are more likely defined by a college’s reputational rank than by an institution’s public or private status, endowment, or acceptance rates, however, the same was found not to be true of potential graduate earnings.     

大学城:我国发达地区高等教育发展的新探索

近几年来我国部分发达地区出现的大学城现象 ,是政府、高校、社会等多种力量积极参与和共同努力的产物。大学城对我国高等教育改革和发展具有多重意义 ,但其发展过程中存在的规划、投入、管理等问题也不容忽视。为此 ,大学城的建设应当遵循协调发展、规划先行、体制创新、科学管理等原则     

Flexibility in higher education: an Irish perspective

Irish public policy strongly promotes greater flexibility in higher education. This review paper examines Irish policy conceptualisations of flexible learning. The review finds that the promotion of flexible learning is positioned within strongly economistic discourses of lifelong learning, and primarily in human capital terms of meeting the skills needs of the workforce. Irish policy largely presents flexible learning approaches unproblematically as positive and beneficial. This paper demonstrates that flexible learning is not an unproblematic concept and reveals some problems and tensions relating to Irish flexible learning policy.     

Reflections on a Decade of Global Rankings: what we've learned and outstanding issues

Ten years after the first global rankings appeared, it is clear that they have had an extraordinary impact on higher education. While there are fundamental questions about whether rankings measure either quality or what's meaningful, they have succeeded in exposing higher education to international comparison. More so, because of the important role higher education plays as a driver of economic development, rankings have exposed both an information deficit and national competitiveness. Accordingly, both nations and institutions have sought to maximise their position vis-á-vis global rankings with positive and perverse effects. Their legacy is evident in the way rankings have become an implicit — and often explicit – reference point for policymaking and higher education decision-making, and have reinforced an evaluative state's over-reliance on quantitative indicators to measure quality. They are embedded in popular discourse, and have informed the behaviour of many stakeholders, within and outside the academy. This paper reflects on three inter-related issues; i) considers the way rankings have heightened policy and investment interest in higher education, ii) discusses whether the modifications to rankings have resolved some of the questions about what they measure, and iii) looks at how rankings have influenced stakeholder behaviour. Finally, the paper reflects on what we have learned and some outstanding issues.     

2006年中国高等教育盘点

2006年我国高等教育领域发生了一系列具有“里程碑意义”和“预警作用”的大事。这些事件传递着一条重要的信息:2006年是中国高等教育进行重大调整的一年,其核心和焦点是提高教育质量。对高等教育质量的强调,既是高等教育自身发展的内在要求,也是高等教育适应社会发展的客观需要。同时,这也表明我国对高等教育大众化的认识正在由“目标理论”向“预警理论”回归,高等教育大众化实践则开始走向理性和相对成熟,规模、质量、结构和效益协调发展日益成为高等教育改革和治理的目标。     

Macau higher education expansion in flux: a critical spatial perspective

In the former Portuguese colony, Macau, higher education is gaining more importance in the post-1999 era in local talent-building and regional integration to safeguard its socioeconomic sustainability. This paper is based on a recent and ‘innovative’ development in the arena of higher education in the territory, a creation of new space in mainland China for a local public university. By adopting a critical spatial perspective, we examine this idiosyncratic Macau model in three aspects: (1) What kind of power/knowledge production occurs in this new creation of space? (2) How does this new space (re)configure Macau higher education development in both local and global contexts? (3) In what ways does this emergent space re-order the relations between the state, society and school? In employing this spatial stance, we aim to open up understanding of how spatiality affects diverse possibilities in the case of Macau, in global higher education movement more broadly.     

The problem of student attrition in higher education: An alternative perspective

Student attrition continues to be a significant and costly challenge for higher education institutions across the globe. In Australia, universities cite the importance of addressing student attrition through strategic statements and policy documents, and expend time and resources on the problem. Despite vast expenditures, they have made little impact on student attrition, which continues to negatively impact reputation and revenue. Using a regional Australian university as a case study, this paper analyses a student exit survey to identify the complex and inter-related array of factors that contribute to student attrition. It was found that attrition would be better conceptualised as a wicked problem, which is one that cannot be strategically addressed using traditional approaches to problem-solving. The practical implications of these findings reinforce that current approaches to attrition are likely to fail. Therefore, the wicked nature of the attrition problem needs to be taken into account when developing strategies or policies within higher education.     

海峡两岸旅游专业本科教育比较研究——以台湾实践大学与安徽黄山学院为例

通过对实践大学和黄山学院的旅游本科教育比较发现,两校的共同点在于均以职业为导向、以"应用型"为专业培养目标。黄山学院旅游学院采取了创新的"校企零距离对接式"的实践教学模式,值得台湾旅游专业本科教育学习;实践大学观光管理系注重学生道德培养,专业课程科目丰富,重视"赏识教育",考评方式多样,学生补助注重培养学生的工作适应性,值得大陆旅游专业本科教育借鉴。     

China’s higher education reform 1998–2003: A summary

Profoundly important and unprecedented changes have taken place in China’s higher education since 1998, when Zhu Rongji Administration (1998–2003) decided to carry out a new round of educational reform. These changes include some breakthroughs in macro administrative system reform, growth in the total amount of educational expenditure, the enlargement of the recruitment scale of higher education, and positive changes in personnel, reward distribution and rear service reforms. The purpose of this paper is to offer a summary of these reforms. It discusses (1) the internal reasons for the reforms, (2) the main events and measures, (3) the main contents and achievements, (4) and the main problems of these reforms.     

Globalisation and internationalisation of teacher education: a comparative case study of Canada and Greater China

This article begins with a brief overview of the relationship between globalisation and the internationalisation of higher education. This serves as a backdrop for the focus of the article, which is the internationalisation of teacher education. In order to see the diverse ways that teacher education programmes have been internationalised over the past 15 years, a case study comparing internationalisation initiatives in Greater China and Canada is presented. This comparative case study demonstrates how different globalising processes influence various forms of internationalisation. Comparison also sheds light on the importance of attending not only to broader, global processes, but specific, local contextual factors. Rather than consider internationalisation as one set of practices that have been taken up globally, this article suggests that there are many different forms of internationalisation in teacher education that are influenced by both global and local contexts. In this respect, the study moves us towards a more nuanced and complex understanding of how teacher education institutions across diverse settings are being internationalised in the twenty-first century.     

When China opens to the world: A study of transnational higher education in Zhejiang, China

The economic transition in China since the late 1970s has led to not only drastic social transformations but also rapid advancements in science and technology, as well as the revolution in information and communications technology. In order to enhance the global competence of the Chinese population in coping with the challenges of a knowledge-based economy, the higher education sector has been going through restructuring along the lines of marketization, privatization and decentralization. Responding to the the challenges of globalization, the Chinese government has opened up the education market by allowing overseas universities to offer programmes on the mainland. This article sets out in this wider policy context to examine the current developments of transnational higher education in China, with particular reference to how students in Zhejiang province enrolling in these overseas programmes, especially those offered by Australian providers, evaluate their learning experiences. This article will also discuss the major concerns raised by the respondents in our study regarding the newly emerging transnational higher education programmes, with particular reference to examining how far these new programmes would affect the regulatory framework in Chinese higher education.     

Framing attrition in higher education: a complex problem

This study situates student attrition within the strategic framework of Australian public universities. It draws on organisational theory to describe higher education within a bureaucratic framework. The study uses a quantitative approach to undertake a content analysis of attrition and retention policy statements from all Australian universities. This reveals that Australian universities, and the higher education sector as a whole, are attempting to address attrition within their existing bureaucracies. Attrition however is a wicked problem that includes many variables outside the influence of universities, which limits the potential of strategic approaches to problem solving. The practical implications of these findings are that current approaches to attrition are likely to fail. The wicked nature of the attrition problem needs to be taken into account when developing strategies or policies within higher education.     

另一种大学竞争力:中国台湾高校通识教育的两次评鉴

近20年来,中国台湾的大学通识教育经历了几个发展阶段:从意识到通识教育的重要性,掌握其理念精神;到学校开始建立推动通识教育的制度;再到透过制度付诸行动来实现理念及至检讨反省,发现问题从而再修正改革做法。目前各校通识教育的进展不一。中国台湾教育主管当局对通识教育的政策也从鼓励大学开设课程、颁布通识教育的七大学术领城,到组织对高校通识教育的评鉴、评鉴结果向社会公布等等,以期积极改善通识教育,提高高等教育水平。中国台湾通识教育评鉴的具体做法对我们推行高校素质教育有许多值得借鉴学习之处。     

高等教育质量研究——管理的视角

质量是评价高等教育水平的尺度,管理是维持和改进高等教育质量的方法,质量管理代表了人们通过管理提升高等教育质量的努力。作为一个介于主观与客观、抽象与具体之间的特殊范畴,高等教育质量不同于企业领域的产品质量或服务质量,高等教育质量管理也不同于企业领域的全面质量管理。在普遍重视质量的新时代,质量管理绝不只是高等教育管理的时尚,而是高等教育发展的新希望,高等教育领域必须加强对于质量管理的研究,并积极付诸实践。     

找寻大学精神 --对新中国高等教育的一种历史考索

现代大学从其产生之日起，就以自治和学术自由为精神追求。反观我国50年的高教历程，改革开放前是政治挂帅，大学成为意识形态的斗争工具；改革开放后是经济优先，大学成为推动经济发展的重要手段。50年高教的最大失误是大学精神的丧失。新世纪 业已来临，有必在采取得力措施重建大学精神。     

中国大学排名的缘起、特色及发展态势

中国大学排名缘起于大学的理论研究与高等教育实践的需要。科学计量学作为学科理论研究在中国的兴起,为大学排名奠定了理论基础;中国当代高等教育发展的实践需要,为大学排名提供了崭新课题和原生动力。同时,一批勇于研究与实践的敢于担当的学者涌现,使大学排名破土而出,从而呈现了异彩纷呈、特色各见的中国大学排名榜——校友会榜、武书连榜、软科榜和中评榜等。中国大学排名从产生到成熟表现出与时俱进的峥嵘历程、评价指标的相融相鉴以及各领风骚的独特定位等发展态势。