Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) on Thursday promised to begin a trial run next year of a university program for people in their “third chapter of life” to encourage middle-aged and older people to return to school.
Planning for the trial is expected to be completed by the end of this year and would be made public next year, Cheng said.
Cheng was responding to Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Wu Chun-cheng (吳春城) during a legislative session.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The median age in Taiwan was 19.3 years in the 1970s, but it is estimated that it would reach 52.4 by the 2040s, Wu said.
However, most universities only accept 18-year-old students, which means that the strategic planning for university admissions has not changed since the 1970s, he said.
The “strong generation” — referring to those aged 45, 55 or 60 and above, according to different definitions — controls as much as two-thirds of Taiwan’s wealth, but most of them regret not going to college, Wu added.
The education ministry should make use of the rich resources of universities, through different methods, to encourage the strong generation to return to school, the lawmaker said.
“Instead of nursing homes, let retired people enter universities,” he added.
Wu collected opinions from all sectors of society through public hearings and compiled information about special classes for bachelor degree programs and multi-specialty degree programs, he said.
Many schools have expressed willingness to promote them, he added
The Ministry of Education told Wu that, in the short term, it would entrust a professional team to develop core curriculum modules.
In the medium term, it would identify some schools to pilot a “third chapter of life university” program, while in the longer term, it plans to allow those schools to offer degrees, the ministry said.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
RSS