The Ministry of Education aims to have 90 percent of doctoral degree courses, 70 percent of master’s degree courses and 50 percent of undergraduate courses at four universities taught in English within the next few years, a source said yesterday.
The ministry last week held a meeting with the heads of several universities, from which it plans to select four schools that would serve as a model for the policy, the source said.
The ministry had in the past attempted to increase the number of courses at public universities taught in English to attract international students, but hit a stumbling block as not enough lecturers were proficient in English, the source said, adding that later attempts to hire more foreign lecturers were met with resistance.
Photo: Rachel Lin, Taipei Times
The source said that less than 30 percent of graduate-level courses at the nation’s universities are taught in English.
“While it is a fact that students and teachers must improve their English, requiring locals whose mother language is Mandarin to study in English is too far removed from their culture,” National Tsing Hua University president Hocheng Hong (賀陳弘) said.
The situation in Taiwan could also not be compared with that in Hong Kong or Singapore, both of which have long histories of colonization under the British, he said.
He also outlined the challenges of increasing the number of courses taught in English over a short period, saying that only one-third of his university’s graduate courses are taught in English, and only 15 percent of its undergraduate classes are taught in English.
Internationalizing the school should involve a whole set of measures, he said, adding that increasing the use of English would necessitate first increasing the number of foreign teachers and foreign students.
“Whether universities can push strongly for bilingualism would depend on the students’ English-language foundation,” National Pingtung University president Guu Yuan-kuang (古源光) said. “The ministry would need to first improve English-language skills at the elementary and junior-high school levels,” he said.
Yuan Ze University president Wu Jyh-yang (吳志揚) said that his school had already been promoting English as the language of instruction for 10 years, and that it teaches one-quarter of its classes in English.
However, further increasing the number of courses taught in English without first improving students’ English-language ability could negatively affect their professional competency, he said.
In related news, National Sun Yat-sen University plans to start a 10-year program next year to transition to English as the language of instruction, starting with its electrical engineering; mechanical and electro-mechanical engineering; and chemistry programs, the university said on Friday.
It hopes to have all of its courses taught in English by 2030, it said, adding that 20 percent of its instructors are foreigners.
“National Sun Yat-sen University is actively working to meet the needs of Taiwan’s industry as it seeks to globalize,” university president Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said, adding that it also hopes to attract outstanding foreign students.
The 10-year program would be introduced in three stages, with the first beginning on Feb. 1 next year, when the school plans to have a minimum of six courses per program taught fully in English, university provost Lee Chih-peng (李志鵬) said.
It would then aim to have an additional four courses taught in English per department per year, he said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS