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### Viewing cable 05TAIPEI3282, Taiwan Education: Lee Yuan-tseh's Perspective

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
05TAIPEI3282 | 2005-08-08 08:22 | 2011-08-23 00:00 | UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY | American Institute Taiwan, Taipei

`

    This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

    080822Z Aug 05

` `

    UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 TAIPEI 003282

    SIPDIS

    DEPT FOR EAP/TC, EAP/PD
    PLEASE PASS AIT/W

    SENSITIVE

    E.O. 12958: N/A
    TAGS: ECON KPAO SCUL SOCI TW
    SUBJECT: Taiwan Education: Lee Yuan-tseh's Perspective

    REF: TAIPEI 2768

    ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In an interview with AIT, Nobel Prize
    winner and education reform leader Lee Yuan-tseh gave his
    perspective on issues in Taiwan higher education.  Lee
    expressed concern that colleges continue to upgrade to
    university status, leading to more mediocre institutions and
    students.  He supports the US$1.5 billion budget to get a
    Taiwan research university into the international top 100.
    Lee criticized the Ministry of Education for bowing to
    political pressures to freeze tuition, and said Taiwan needs
    to adopt a more American-style university admissions system.
    End summary.

    ¶2. (SBU) Lee Yuan-tseh is an influential public figure in
    Taiwan academia and politics.  A Nobel Prize winner in
    chemistry, Lee has served as president of Academia Sinica
    since 1994 and is one of the architects of education reform
    in Taiwan (described reftel).  He headed the initial reform
    commission in 1994 that recommended the expansion of higher
    education and changes to curricula to emphasize Taiwan
    history and culture.  Since then, Lee has been a focus of
    criticism of education reform.  Students and parents have
    blamed Lee for initiating reforms that increased the
    academic burden on students, led to frequent and confusing
    changes to curricula, and encouraged rapid growth in the
    number of universities that left the system over-expanded
    and under-funded.  In the past several years, Lee has
    participated less frequently in public debates over
    education reform, but has remained deeply involved in higher
    education issues.  In an interview with AIT, Lee gave his
    perspective on current issues in Taiwan higher education.

    -------------------------------------------
    Too Many Mediocre Universities and Students
    -------------------------------------------
    ¶3. (SBU) Lee echoed the most common criticism of education
    reform, stating that Taiwan has too many mediocre
    universities and colleges.  He noted that although the
    Ministry of Education (MOE) had pledged to stop the flow of
    new institutions, it recently approved several colleges to
    upgrade their status to universities.  Just this week,
    President Chen Shuibian called for establishment of a new
    technical college on a visit to the Pescadore Islands.  Lee
    predicts that despite widespread criticism, the number of
    colleges becoming universities will continue to rise, and
    stated that the trend is worrisome.  As a result of the glut
    of universities and colleges, Lee said a university
    education is becoming the equivalent of a high school degree
    - it is increasingly required to do even very low-level
    jobs.  He noted that people in Taiwan see university as a
    "rung on the social ladder to white-collar jobs," which they
    think will be easy and high-paying.

    ¶4. (SBU) Discussing Taiwan students' often-cited "lack of
    international perspective," Lee finds the general
    perspective in Taiwan to be fairly narrow and domestically
    oriented, and criticized Taiwan news media for its lack of
    international coverage.  However, he noted that there are
    many young people in Taiwan who have attended school in
    North America, giving them international experience and good
    English skills.  Lee stated that he's not concerned about
    the caliber of top students -- it's the level of the average
    student that needs work.

    ---------------------------------------------
    US$1.5 Billion Will Get Taiwan in the Top 100
    ---------------------------------------------
    ¶5. (SBU) In a bid to raise Taiwan universities'
    international profile, the government has launched the World-
    Class University Initiative, with a special budget of US$1.5
    billion over five years.  The budget will most likely be
    given entirely to one or two universities, with the goal of
    getting a Taiwan research institution into the international
    top 100 in the next ten years.  Lee has been a major
    proponent of the initiative.  He said that while it would be
    difficult to quickly raise a Taiwan university to the level
    of Harvard or MIT, he is confident that they can reach a
    high level of international recognition.  There has been
    criticism of the decision to focus the funding on only one
    or two universities rather than spreading it over a larger
    group, but Lee defended it as the most effective use of the
    money.  He said that Taiwan is experiencing the tendency of
    a democratic society to spread its money too thin, but that
    he would even be satisfied with spending half of the budget
    on one university and dividing the other half among a larger
    group.

    --------------------------------------------- -----
    University Merger Inevitable, With or Without Vote
    --------------------------------------------- -----
    ¶6. (SBU) Two top Taiwan institutions, Tsinghua and Chiaotong
    Universities, had planned a merger that would make them the
    top candidate for the special budget, but in late June the
    Chiaotong faculty voted down the merger proposal.  Lee, who
    participated in planning for the merger proposal, expressed
    disappointment at the vote, but said Tsinghua and Chiaotong
    will continue to collaborate, and a de facto merger would
    happen eventually.  He noted that the two universities have
    neighboring campuses and are very similar in their emphasis
    on science and technology.  In discussions with the faculty
    of both universities, Lee found that they have the same
    ambitions, so it makes sense that they should collaborate
    more closely.  While there is some opposition to change,
    especially among alumni, the majority of stakeholders were
    in favor of the merger.  The vote was 3 to 2 in favor at
    Chiaotong, and 10 to 1 in favor at Tsinghua, but since
    Chiaotong required a two-thirds majority to pass the
    proposal, it failed.  Lee hopes the MOE will encourage them
    to establish communal dorms, a college of medical science,
    and hospital, but says the two should keep the undergraduate
    colleges separate to maintain their identities.  While
    further mergers have been suggested as a solution to the
    oversupply of universities, Lee argued that mergers require
    careful planning, and that they work best if campuses are in
    close proximity.

    --------------------------------
    MOE Waffles on Tuition Increases
    --------------------------------
    ¶7. (SBU) In late July, the MOE announced that, after a
    series of protests by student groups and Taiwan Solidarity
    Union (TSU) legislators, it would reduce the final number of
    universities permitted to increase tuition next year from
    eighteen to ten.  (The MOE had originally proposed 63
    institutions, but reduced it to 18 after an earlier round of
    protests.)  Lee said the MOE's most serious problem is that
    education issues have become too politicized, and the MOE
    doesn't have the political will to make unpopular decisions
    like raising tuition.  He argued that Taiwan has only been a
    democracy for about ten years, and that people don't yet
    understand the consensus-building process.  Lee said the
    MOE's tendency is to listen to the loudest dissenting
    voices, and choose the option in which nothing changes.

    -------------------------------------------
    Taiwan Needs US-Style University Admissions
    -------------------------------------------
    ¶8. (SBU) Lee raised the issue of university admissions,
    which is primarily based on entrance exam scores.  Since
    2002, some university departments have had the option of
    admitting students through a "special channel," which is
    similar to the American admissions system.  Lee noted that
    the students admitted through the special channel are the
    most motivated and best-performing, because they have a true
    interest in the subjects they are studying.  Under the
    entrance exam system, students do not necessarily study the
    subjects which most interest them, but end up in the most
    prestigious departments their scores will permit. Lee argued
    that to get more motivated students, Taiwan needs to further
    change university admissions to rely less on entrance exam
    scores.  He said that in order to make these changes,
    universities will need a higher degree of autonomy from the
    MOE.

    -------
    Comment
    -------
    ¶9. (SBU) A highly educated workforce has been the driving
    force behind Taiwan's economic development, and remains its
    best hope for continued growth.  For this reason,
    expectations for the education system are extremely high,
    and criticism of its quality is common.  While Lee Yuan-tseh
    has in the past often been the focus of this criticism, he
    is not as directly involved in policymaking as he was in the
    1990s.  For an ally of the Chen administration and leader of
    Taiwan academia, Lee has been fairly critical of the MOE's
    current leadership, and of the results of the reforms he
    initiated.  End comment.  (Cable prepared by AIT Econ intern
    Anne Bilby.)

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