Commentary

Ambitious Effort of Republic of China (Taiwan) to Establish "International First Rate Universities" in the 21st Century

Da Hsuan Feng
Vice President for Research and Economic Development
The University of Texas at Dallas

In the past decade, research universities in Asia Pacific as well as South Asia regions have undergone significant transformation. From India to the eastern shore of the Pacific Rim, some research universities are moving forward with dizzying speed. This report is a story of a recent development in the Republic of China (Taiwan).

In October of 2005, the Ministry of Education (MOE) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) launched an ambitious with a 5-year 50 Billion New Taiwan Dollars (NTD) program “March Towards First Rate Universities,” (For simplicity, I shall use an approximate exchange rate of 1 US dollar to 30 NTD. This means that MOE will cough-up $1.6 Billion dollars of NEW MONEY for research universities.)

In its announcement, with a interim review after 2 years (around October of 2007), 12 universities were selected and the allocation of NTD per year for the next five years are as follows:

• National Taiwan University 3 Billion NTD $100 Million USD
• National Cheng Kung U 1.7 Billion NTD $57 Million USD
• National Tsing Hua U 1 Billion NTD $33.3 Million USD
• National Chiao Tung U 0,8 Billion NTD $27 Million USD
• National Central U 0.6 Billion NTD $20 Million USD
• National Sun Yat San U 0.6 Billion NTD $20 Million USD
• National Yang Ming U 0.5 Billion NTD $17 Million USD
• National Chung Hsing U 0.4 Billion NTD $13.3 Million USD
• National Cheng Chi U 0.3 Billion NTD $10 Million USD
• National Taiwan U of ST 0.3 Billion NTD $10 Million USD
• Chang Gunn U 0.3 Billion NTD $10 Million USD
• Yuan Chi U 0.3 Billion NTD $10 Million USD)

Unfortunately, I cannot find from the websites of these universities links to discuss their strategies in achieving this lofty goal. While the one from NTU is very comprehensive, it is stand-alone, and is in Chinese. However, it is a worthwhile reading because it outlines how NTU intends to leverage this infusion of funds to transform it in the coming years.

More Details about This Program

Understandably, with so much infusion of public funds into these universities, there is an obvious discussion/debate as to what is the metric for “first rate,” namely how would you know when you have “arrived?” One such criterion I heard throughout in Taiwan is to be “ranked” as one of the top one hundred research universities in the world. This of course prompted the discussion/argument of who is to do the ranking and how one can believe such rankings. There are currently two highly visible Global rankings: One is by Shanghai Jiaotong University and the other is by London Times education section. While there may be some argument as to which ranking is more preferred, and there certainly exist some inconsistencies among the two (see the article in http://www.utdallas.edu/research/fyi/050701/commentary.html), it appears that all in Taiwan agreed that MOE will utilize one of the two, or both, international ranking as the “goal post of excellence.”

I understand that after TWO years, that means in October of 2007, MOE will review this program. If the institution survives the review, then MOE will provide another 3 years of funding. So, for example, after 5 years, the two universities which receive the highest amount of funding, NTU and NCKU, will receive 15 Billion NTD (or $500 Million US) and NCKU will receive 8.5 Billion NTD (or $285 Million US) respectively.

There is no doubt that the leaderships of all twelve universities have already defined their own 2-year “strategic goals of excellence” and mobilize the university, faculty, students, its powerful alumni, and the communities in surrounding their universities to buy into it and set the colossal motion in that direction.

Beyond FIVE Years?

There is of course the interesting question as to what happens after the FIFTH year? After all, “excellence development” should/must be on-going and therefore how to sustain its growth is a profound question.

In many outstanding institutions in the United States, especially the private ones and now more and more public ones as well, one part of the formula to accomplish this is by developing significant “endowments.” Indeed, there is a growing importance of the “Office of Development” in universities, even the public ones. For example, the extreme case is Harvard University, which has an endowment of over $20 Billion US! For public universities, there is more and more a perception (and probably mixed in with quite a bit of reality) that great universities such as the University of Michigan is more “private” than “public”.

In Taiwan, the situation is a little murky. My understanding is that at the end of the FIFTH year, there will be another big review for both universities. If universities survive the 5th year review, they will receive from MOE another 5 years of funding. This is where there is some divergence of opinions. Some said that because Taiwan’s politics has so much “up and down,” they have difficulty convincing themselves that MOE will provide/honor the 2nd 5 years of funding. On the other hand, some said that MOE will, no matter who is in power in the government.

The common perception about Asian communities is that there is reluctance from the private sector to provide funds for higher education. However, while I was in NCKU last week, I saw a number of lecture halls named after its alumni. Presumably that the well-to-do alumni are now giving generously to their alma mater. I am not sure how prevalent this is, and how sophisticated the fund raising process is within the administration of the university, but the fact that it is obviously happening is a good thing, if not in the short run, for sure in the long run.

There is no question in my mind that Asian universities are undergoing major changes, and I am quite confident to predict that in a decade or two, their positions in the Global landscape will be far greater in significance than they are today.