Aboriginal Education in Taiwan and Canada

A friend pointed me to this long and informative article on aboriginal higher education in Taiwan and Canada (link):

This study is an attempt to assess directions, goals, and achievements in higher education for Aboriginal people in Taiwan, with comparisons to Indian higher education in Canada. This study will highlight developing relationships between the College of Indigenous Studies (CIS) at National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan and the First Nations University of Canada (FNUC) in Canada. This relationship has emerged over the past several years through initiatives of the Councils of Aboriginal Affairs (CAA) in Taiwan and the SIFC, beginning in July, 1999 with the participation of representatives of SIFC at the Conference on Aboriginal Higher Education at the National Dong Hwa University followed in the same month by a visit of an investigation team from the CAA to SIFC, and an exchange of thirty Aboriginal students representing all nine tribes of Taiwan to SIFC in February, 2000. Through these exchanges it has been realized that many issues and experiences in education are shared between Taiwan's Aboriginal people and the Indian people of Canada, and that these may go towards promoting linkages and support further development of post-secondary education for both peoples.

While there are many features that distinguish Aboriginal people of Taiwan from Indian people of Canada, there are many similarities in their experiences including their minority status at about 2 percent of the total populations, a history of colonial influence over the past several hundred years, realities of exclusion from the mainstream of society, and close ties to the land as part of a holistic philosophy of life. Today another similarity is apparent between Indian people of Canada and Aboriginal people of Taiwan; the desire for greater opportunity and autonomy through education.

The article is long a covers Taiwan's aboriginal college, the history of aboriginal education, and aboriginal attitudes toward migration, education, and modernity.

[Taiwan]