Taiwan's Undergraduates in Decline?

Survey says:

In response to a survey released yesterday saying the quality of undergraduates is declining, educators of higher education argue the phenomenon.

The survey, conducted by CommonWealth Magazine, asked university and graduate students whether they think the quality of university students is declining, and more than 80 percent of the respondents agree. The survey also found that 33.7 percent of parents think that the Ministry of Education has to be responsible for the declining quality of university students, while 42.5 percent of students who responded think university students have themselves to blame. Moreover, 82.6 percent of the university respondents worry about losing competitiveness in the international community by studying in Taiwan.

Soochow University President Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), said yesterday that he does not find the figure to be strange due to the fact that the quantity of universities has increased to 162 nationwide in the past 12 years. However, Liu argued "it is 'the level' of university students that declines, not 'the quality,'" adding "the declining average quality of university students does not mean the declining of an individual quality."

Liu suggested in order to counter the booming rate of undergraduates leading to the lower quality of students, schools have to put more effort into teaching, and to figure out ways to increase the motives of learning for students.

Whoa! The university has massively expanded in recent years, due to increases in government subsidies -- many construction companies have opened universities to farm the government subsidy programs. One wonders at what point infinite demand and finite budget will at last collide. Let's see...subsidized water, subsidized universities, subsidized health care....no wonder we have a fiscal crisis in Taiwan.

[Taiwan]