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The literature suggests that recent years have witnessed a fundamental shift in higher education internationalisation. This paper argues that a reorientation of policy, which is upheld through an initiative known as the Higher Education Sprout Project, indicates the fundamental shift in higher education internationalisation in Taiwan. The paper begins with an explanation of how the notion of world-class university induced elitism in East Asian higher education. Next, it reviews the last two decades of Taiwan's efforts on developing world-class universities. In particular, the paper explains how perceived domestic problems in higher education, such as an overemphasis on certain performance indicators and the resulting effects of homogenisation, and the phenomenon of emphasising research but neglecting teaching, are considered the consequences of emphasising global competition and the associated quest for building world-class universities. The paper argues that the recent policy change reveals an intention to uphold egalitarianism, thereby reaching a balance between fulfilling global ambition and addressing local needs in higher education. This intention highlights the political essence of internationalisation policy for higher education. It also reaffirms the significance of the global–local dynamics in higher education policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 has imposed a rippling effect on educational institutions globally, substantially impacting nearly 1.6 billion learners in more than 190 countries. Recognizing Taiwan as an atypicality during this crisis for suffering from a relatively moderate mortality/morbidity compared with the rest of the world, the present paper qualitatively explores the pedagogical, technological and social impact of COVID-19 on higher education students in Taiwan. Employing the focus group discussion methodology, we recruited a cohort of 23 students, comprising of 15 local and 8 international students. Findings show diverse pedagogical experiences in students' instructional modalities. Trending by either discipline of study, students from Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics disciplines expressed a greater preference for face-to-face instruction compared to their humanities counterparts. Distance learners reported a decrease in study efficacy and a lack of sense of belongingness to their university. All students demonstrated a high sense of perceived safety and reported minimal changes in their socializing norms during the pandemic. In terms of career planning, local students expressed minimal concerns about potential changes in their careers, versus international students who expressed high degrees of uncertainty, fear and pessimism in the same regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the possible framework for encouraging the presence of local dimensions in an internationalised and globally competitive system by using Taiwan’s higher education system as a case. It begins by discussing the notion of internationalisation and its implications for higher education. It then turns to look at Taiwan’s responses to these global developments. It also reviews different opinions on the position and importance of local dimensions in the world of globalised higher education. Based on these perspectives, the paper advocates promoting the concept of state-building in Taiwan’s as well as in other higher education systems for preserving or even strengthening the local dimensions of individual academic systems operating in the international knowledge network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expansion of higher education in Taiwan starting from the late 1980s has successfully raised the average level of education. Using the concept of the education Gini, we find that the educational inequality declined as average schooling rose during the period of 1976–2003. The impacts of a rising average schooling and a declining educational inequality are also tested empirically in this paper. The evidence supports that a higher level of average schooling will generate a lower income inequality. On the other hand, a lower educational inequality, as measured by education Gini coefficient, will also cause a lower income inequality. Skill-biased technological change that shifts the labor demand from unskilled workers toward skilled workers is the most likely cause for the rising income inequality in Taiwan. However, the trend of rising income inequality could be reversed due to possible future over-education and unemployment in the labor market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition from an elitist higher education system to mass education has created a number of concerns in this sector. Among these are fears for the quality of the provision; the rise in the unemployment rate of graduate university leavers; and the increased financial burden on the government. This paper examines the transition period over the last fifty years in Taiwan, in order to promote an understanding of the problems currently being faced, and to give an insight into the political and cultural background in which they have arisen. The USA and Japan are compared, as these countries are seen to be advanced in the provision of mass education. The paper has three main objectives. Firstly to determine whether or not Taiwan can be said to have developed a mass higher education system by international comparison. Secondly, to determine which factors have influenced government policy to achieve mass higher education, and thirdly to identify the problems which remains as barriers to the success of this system. Conclusions are drawn relating to the above objectives and it is noted that similar problems to those experiences by Western countries can be identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at appraising the cost efficiency and technology of institutions of higher technological and vocational education. Differing from conventional literature, it considers the potential influence of inherent discrepancies in output quality and characteristics of school systems for institutes of technology (ITs) and universities of technology (UTs). Moreover, to meet the purpose, this study conducted a seemingly unrelated regression-metafrontier cost-function model framework, which is extended from the classical metafrontier production function model and tailor-made for the theme. The econometric analysis utilizes a set of micro-level panel data that spans 6 years inclusive of 60 ITs and 29 UTs in Taiwan. The empirical results clearly reveal that the UTs own a superior cost-exploiting and -controlling capability for the operation of educational institutions to ITs', given the quality dimension. Further, the estimated results of public and private schools for the UTs indeed do not vary by a wide margin, but this is not the case for the ITs. The statistical figures imply that the UTs are significantly more efficient than the ITs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to help students make well-informed choices, reliable college ranking systems with comparable information about higher education institutions worldwide have been welcomed by many students. Because traditional college rankings had many methodological problems, a new type of user-based ranking, called 'personalized college ranking' started to develop in many nations in the late 1990s. In 2008, Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan (HEEACT), launched a ranking project called 'College Navigator in Taiwan' which developed the first Asian student-based college search engine to provide local and international students with transparent information on Taiwan's higher education institutions. The main objective of this paper, therefore, is to compare the rational, strategies and pathways for establishing personalized college rankings. In order to analyze the gap between students' preferences and university presidents' concerns over ranking indicators, HEEACT's 'College Navigator in Taiwan' is adopted as a case study at the end of paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic dishonesty has been an important issue. However, only few researches had been done in Asian countries, especially a nationwide study. A sample of 2,068 college students throughout Taiwan was selected and surveyed on four domains of academic dishonesty, including: cheating on test, cheating on assignment, plagiarism, and falsifying documents. The major findings of this study were: (1) the prevalence rate for all types of dishonesty behaviors among college students in Taiwan was 61.72%; (2) the top five most practiced academic dishonesty behaviors in Taiwan are provided paper or assignment for another student, gave prohibited help to others on their assignment, copied others’ assignments, passed answers to other students, and copied from other students; (3) students’ attitudes correlated with behaviors in all four domains of academic dishonesty; (4) females reported less acceptable to and behaved less academic dishonesty behaviors than males; and (5) freshmen had more dishonest practices than other class ranks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the evolving landscape of higher education, challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic have underscored the necessity for innovative teaching methodologies. These challenges have catalyzed the integration of technology into education, particularly in blended learning environments, to bolster self-regulated learning (SRL) and higher-order thinking skills (HOTS). However, increased autonomy in blended learning can lead to learning disruptions if issues are not promptly addressed. In this context, OpenAI's ChatGPT, known for its extensive knowledge base and immediate feedback capability, emerges as a significant educational resource. Nonetheless, there are concerns that students might become excessively dependent on such tools, potentially hindering their development of HOTS. To address these concerns, this study introduces the Guidance-based ChatGPT-assisted Learning Aid (GCLA). This approach modifies the use of ChatGPT in educational settings by encouraging students to attempt problem-solving independently before seeking ChatGPT assistance. When engaged, the GCLA provides guidance through hints rather than direct answers, fostering an environment conducive to the development of SRL and HOTS. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) was employed to examine the impact of the GCLA compared to traditional ChatGPT use in a foundational chemistry course within a blended learning setting. This study involved 61 undergraduate students from a university in Taiwan. The findings reveal that the GCLA enhances SRL, HOTS, and knowledge construction compared to traditional ChatGPT use. These results directly align with the research objective to improve learning outcomes through providing guidance rather than answers by ChatGPT. In conclusion, the introduction of the GCLA has not only facilitated more effective learning experiences in blended learning environments but also ensured that students engage more actively in their educational journey. The implications of this study highlight the potential of ChatGPT-based tools in enhancing the quality of higher education, particularly in fostering essential skills such as self-regulation and HOTS. Furthermore, this research offers insights regarding the more effective use of ChatGPT in education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the utilization of design thinking by a university instructor in the development and delivery of an interdisciplinary curriculum. It examines the challenges encountered and the coping strategies employed during the process. The research, conducted as a case study of an interdisciplinary program course at a university in southern Taiwan from September to December 2022, involved data collection through field observations, in-depth interviews, and document analysis. All data were transcribed verbatim, coded, and triangulated to enhance research validity. The findings suggest that design thinking serves as an effective methodology for interdisciplinary curriculum design and teaching. It emphasizes the integration of practice and application to facilitate students' interdisciplinary collaboration and co-creation. Additionally, the study evaluates teaching strategies, with a focus on the role of visual tools, communication, and on-site observation. The insights gained from this research provide valuable perspectives on challenges in interdisciplinary teaching, particularly in a post-pandemic context. They guided the development of effective practices in Taiwan and beyond, addressing crucial aspects such as the roles of instructors, resource allocation, and the cultivation of interdisciplinary talent. The study emphasizes the continuous need for adaptation and the prioritization of depth in learning outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design ethics has been offered as a course in undergraduate design programs in Taiwan for over a decade, but research on teaching design ethics and the results of teaching these courses is scant. We conducted two tests to examine (1) the effect of an ethics course, and (2) the differences among the effects of design department, gender, and study year on student opinions regarding ethical design standards (EDSs) at the National Yunlin University of Science and Technology (YunTech) in Taiwan. The participants comprised 934 undergraduates (660 women and 274 men) from the five design departments at YunTech's College of Design from Years 1-4. The results confirmed the effect of an ethics course on student EDS opinions. In addition, we observed significant variations among students according to design departments, suggesting that the characteristics of the design departments also affected students' EDS opinions. The results indicated that gender did not significantly affect design students' EDS opinions; however, students in their early years of study produced higher scores than those in their advanced years of study did, based on the six EDS opinions. The implications of these results for teaching design ethics and future research are discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

English as a medium of instruction and internationalisation projects have drawn increasing attention and participation among international higher education faculty, creating meso-level policies which directly affect the micro-level practices and respective learning experiences for undergraduates in these faculty's classrooms. This research explores undergraduates' perceptions of international faculty-led EMI courses, comparing Taiwan and Thailand and their private and public universities. A total of 436 Taiwanese and 306 Thai undergraduate students provided feedback on their learning experiences regarding classmate, faculty, and student traits. The primary research question provides a comparison between Taiwan and Thailand, and between public and private universities. Private university students in Taiwan and Thailand reported significantly stronger perceptions of peer support, teacher support, teacher approachability, and class participation compared to public university students; perceived learning comprehension was significantly stronger in Taiwanese universities. The discussion highlights key implications for Taiwan and Thailand's meso-level policy of international recruitment which affect the micro-level practices of international faculty and their students' respective learning experiences in the EMI classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role that studying overseas or domestically plays in Taiwanese students obtaining a doctoral degree and, in particular, whether doctorates can be completed faster overseas than domestically. This feature is quite different from the literature in the sense that previous studies focus mainly on students with different countries of origin earning their doctoral degrees in a host program/institution/country and could provide a professional reference for main source countries with a great number of students studying abroad. By taking advantage of a large data set compiled by the National Profiles of Human Resources in Science and Technology in Taiwan, we find that Taiwanese students studying in foreign schools (and who will come back to Taiwan) on average take 9.61 months (reflecting approximately a $60,000 opportunity cost) less than those earning PhD degrees domestically after netting out other controls. Other factors such as males, starting a PhD when older, younger cohorts, holding a master's degree, school types matching, and studying in non-top tier universities, are associated with a shorter elapsed time to a doctoral degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to scrutinize the antecedents that force the evolution of Taiwanese higher education from an elite to a universal system in the past two decades. From policy perspective, this study looks at how Taiwanese government encouraged educational reform in a way that has led to the massive expansion of both the numbers of colleges and universities and the increasing enrollment rate in higher education. This study also discusses the governmental policies that emphasized the quality enhancement and identified the lack of mechanism of quality assurance in Taiwan's early educational reformation and how government reacted to the concerns associate with quality assurance that has been brought by the public after the educational reform. Taiwan's case illustrated in this paper reveals a possible dilemma and lesson that developing countries may encounter when seeking to expand higher education for human capital by imposing incongruous policies that on the one hand promote the growth of higher education institutions, especially the private ones, and on the other depress their existence for the sake of quality assurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although content-area courses adopting English-medium (EM) instruction have become more widespread in university-level settings in response to the internationalization of higher education (de Wit, 2002), many operate on the unspoken and inaccurate assumptions that all the students and teachers are capable of learning or teaching content in English (Erling & Hilgendorf, 2006a, 2006b). This paper aims to provide an in-depth understanding of how students, teachers, and administrators perceive the design, implementation, and effectiveness of EM curriculum through a qualitative case study on a university campus in Taiwan. Interviews with three administrators, four teachers, and twenty-four students were conducted. Data were reconstructed and analyzed based on Carspecken's (1996) reconstructive analysis. The findings showed great satisfaction with the socio-cultural aspects of content learning and enhanced English abilities but unanimous concerns over the discipline-specific knowledge and English abilities, rendering unsatisfactory feelings toward the proportional design of the immersion program with the implementation of the English-only policy. The paper, thus, calls for additional attention to EM curriculum design and implementation involving the joint efforts of language and content teachers. Pedagogical implications and directions for future research are also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the global competitiveness in higher education, the government, in recent years, has encouraged Taiwan colleges and universities to seek international accreditation, which raises several questions, such as jurisdiction over national accreditation, a single set of standards for local and global quality assurance, demand for the mutual recognition of review outcomes, etc. With the looming pressures for change that international accreditation will likely pose on a Taiwan national framework of quality assurance, multiple impacts on institutions and national accrediting agencies in Taiwan are now beginning to be increasingly felt. Hence, this paper examines current academic international accreditation programs and institutions, recognizes Taiwan's accrediting organizations, and analyzes the challenges that institutions and national accrediting agencies are facing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article details a mixed methods study conducted during the 2007–2008 academic year at the National Chengchi University (NCCU) in Taipei Taiwan. It contributes to discourse examining the opportunities and challenges of international student enrollments in institutions of higher learning around the globe. In scope it details an empirical study exploring the dispositions of NCCU international students in terms of their academic and social spheres. Trends in Taiwan reflect traditional East Asian patterns; substantial numbers of university students from Taiwan studied in the United States and Britain while very few incoming international students chose the island nation as a host destination. In recent years the influx of international students to Taiwan has increased significantly, rising from 6,380 in 2001 to 21,005 in 2007 (Ko, , 2008). The use of both quantitative and qualitative methods provided clarity and extended critical interpretations of the issues and dilemmas surrounding the international student experience in Taiwan. Results indicate that the capability of the NCCU as a host institution to sustain and attract increasing numbers of incoming international students is linked to factors such as the unique opportunity to study traditional as opposed to simplified Chinese characters, the availability and accessibility of Taiwan government sponsored scholarships, and the high standard of the NCCU Mandarin Studies program. Implications suggest that universities committed to internationalization are called to address the realities—both positive and negative—of operating as globally competitive institutions. As such, attracting the right kind of international students at the NCCU and determining standards for their contribution to campus life are more important goals than the total number of international students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two major educational expansions in Taiwan have resulted in a remarkable improvement of human capital accumulation for the last three decades, which is consistent with the long-run goal of education in improving individual well-being and international competitiveness. This study focuses on the expansion of higher education starting from the late 1980s. As the number of higher-educated workers entering the labor market each year has increased rapidly, this higher education expansion policy has encountered some critiques from the public. Evidence shows that the incidence of over-educated workers in the labor market has been continuously increasing after the expansion, which is considered to be a short-run problem from the policy. We also find that the overall educational inequality drops sharply, which is mainly contributed by the within age group component after decomposing educational inequality using the decomposable Theil index. Along with a larger increase in average schooling for women, a larger reduction in educational inequality for women than for men implies women have benefited more than men from the policy and the educational inequality between men and women is narrowing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores gender parity on the basis of distinctive expansion stages in the higher education system of Taiwan. Gender parity is one of the key components used to determine equal opportunities for accessing higher education. Therefore, this study evaluated gender parity and explored the potential gaps at the undergraduate, master and doctoral levels by using a quantitative longitudinal method to determine the effects of the system expansion. Student enrollment data from 1950 to 2014 were collected from the Ministry of Education in Taiwan and transformed by Becker’s coefficient of discrimination (D) to interpret the significance of the gender parity at various development stages in the system. In addition, this study applied an ARIMA (Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average) model to predict the D for the next decade. Reviewing the D trend from 1950 to 2014, this study found that higher education expansion has played a crucial role in promoting gender parity. The results of the ARIMA model reveal that the numbers of male and female students studying in undergraduate programs will become more equal in the next decade. Although male students are still favored for enrollment at the master and doctoral levels, the disparity is declining according to the results of this study. The findings in this study can be used to justify a higher education expansion policy based on the function of gender parity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities worldwide, in placing a greater emphasis on global mobility, have recently seen a growing number of in- and outbound students. Parallel to this development has been the need to internationalize individual campuses, an important aspect of which is to have a common language (or languages) used for communication. The language policies in Asian universities have been complicated by the growing presence of international students who may only understand one of the languages used as the medium of instruction, typically English. Drawing on Tinto's integration (Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1987) and Spolsky's language policy (Language management, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2009) frameworks, this exploratory, perceptual study solicits the views from 38 international students on the implementation of a bilingual education policy, especially with respect to whether the policy facilitated these sojourners' academic and social integration at a Taiwanese university that is actively advocating internationalization. The findings suggest that Mandarin Chinese continues to be the mainstream medium of instruction and social activities, while English is used rather sparingly and on an as-needed basis. The recognition of the growing economic power of China and importance of Chinese as well as the scholarships provided may have overridden these sojourners' integration concerns and challenges arising from the underuse of English as a lingua franca. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education in Taiwan has expanded dramatically in the previous three decades. The number of students enrolled in higher education institutions has nearly quadrupled from 348,290 (1984) to 1,345,000 (2013). In 2012, the gross entrance rate of higher education reached 84.43 %, which is higher than most higher education systems in Asia. Higher education that transforms from a mass system to a universal system raises public concern regarding its quality. This study explored situations arising from a change to right-based higher education, particularly in pursuing a balance between quality and quantity in the process of establishing research universities. We selected two top public universities to illustrate how institutional arrangements play crucial roles in balancing quality and quantity. The findings reveal strong pressure for a world-class university within both universities, whereas student opinions reflect a neglect of instruction. In this case, faculty focused less attention on teaching compared to their research. These two universities should focus more efforts on teaching to balance quality and quantity toward a world-class research university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curriculum reform has frequently focused on the curriculum-development stage, overlooking considerations regarding curriculum implementation, which has led to reform failure. In this study, consideration was placed primarily on the curriculum implementation stage. The gaps between teachers' and students' perceptions of content, learning activities, and teaching methods in Taiwan's technology curriculum were analyzed. Based on the results of the questionnaires, the major results are as follows. (1) Both teachers and students perceive a gap between education reform policy and curriculum implementation in the technology curriculum within Taiwan's 9-year articulated technology curriculum. (2) When implementing the ideas of the curriculum reform plan, technology teachers continued to encounter practical problems with the curriculum content, learning activities, and teaching methods. (3) In terms of suggestions for future curriculum development, science and living technology can be regarded as separate areas of learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this study was to explore English instructors' application of accommodation strategies under English-Mediated Instruction (EMI) in English as a lingua franca context of higher education in Taiwan. English instructors' verbal discourses with regard to various types of strategies during instruction were documented and examined. The presented results were triangulated in terms of quantitative and qualitative analyses. Data were gathered from a university in southern Taiwan, which included approximately 627 min of audio-recordings of five courses by five non-native teachers in its IMBA program. The collected data were analyzed through the use of frequency, pragmatic functions, display of lexicon and syntax, and the most common clusters. Corpora and interviews were chosen to be the primary analytic tools. Six effective accommodation strategies were identified via quantitative analysis, including introducing, defining, listing, eliciting, giving examples, and emphasizing. The selection of the accommodation strategies was influenced by the following situations: (1) level of content difficulty, (2) students' language proficiency, (3) student feedback, and (4) finding appropriate language. Finally, top-ten language clusters frequently produced by the EMI instructors were found to serve the purposes of eliciting and defining concepts. Possible pedagogical implications are also discussed in the last section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effects of economic status and the educational expectations of significant others on early university aspirations and actual university attainment. The study analyzed two-wave longitudinal data collected from 1,595 Taiwanese students in their 9th grade in middle school and in their freshman year at universities. The results revealed that economic status affected neither university aspirations nor university attainment. Among the significant others studied, parental expectations fundamentally affected university aspirations and teacher expectations consistently affected university aspirations and attainment. After considering economic status and educational expectations, early university aspirations remained strongly related to actual university attainment. Future research directions and practical educational approaches are recommended based on the aforementioned results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to understand predictors of different learning outcomes among various student background characteristics, types of learning motivation and engagement behaviors. 178 junior students were surveyed at a 4-year research university in Taiwan. The scales of motivation, engagement and perceived learning outcomes were adapted from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire and the National Survey of Student Engagement College Student Report. Multiple hierarchical regression analysis was used in data analysis. Findings confirm that different student background characteristics and learning motivation can predict different learning outcomes. However, student engagement behaviors cannot significantly predict different types of learning outcomes when student background and learning motivation variables are included. This study also finds that student's majors play an important role in explaining learning outcomes. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of learning motivation and suggest that instructors can provide students with more successful learning experiences to ensure more confidence in their learning abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates university students' perceptions of classroom experience in foreign-faculty and local-faculty classes and their relations to the type of institution in which they studied. The sample included 714 undergraduate students from 14 universities in Taiwan. The instrument consisted of seven dimensions: peer supportiveness, peer pressure, teacher supportiveness, teacher approachability, study preparedness, class participation, and learning comprehensiveness. The results indicate that students in both types of universities are reluctant to participate, feel pressure, and experience difficulty comprehending course content in the foreign teacher's class. However, they feel that foreign teachers are more supportive and approachable than local teachers, especially in private universities. Compared with local-faculty classes, private university students prepare more and obtain more peer support in foreign-faculty classes. They also participate more and feel more peer support; however, they comprehend less course content than their public university counterparts in foreign-faculty classes. Detailed discussions regarding the university classroom experience of Taiwanese students in local-faculty classes and foreign-faculty classes are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated university students' perceptions of their institutions' learning environments, and related those perceptions to students' academic aspirations and satisfaction with their universities. A sample of 12,423 juniors at 42 universities in Taiwan was used to confirm the validity and reliability of the instrument: CUEI-S. The study revealed diversity of students' perceptions among specific aspects of the learning environment. Students responded more positively for student cohesion, library resources and administrative support, but less positively for student-faculty relations, student services, enhancement of their language abilities and emotional development. The majority of students had low academic aspirations but felt satisfied with their universities. The learning environment on campus was shown to play an important role both in students' academic aspirations and in their general satisfaction, whether the individual student or the university was used as the unit of analysis. The relationship between faculty and students is the aspect that was most strongly associated with students' academic aspirations. On the other hand, both adequate library resources and university support for student services were the key correlates of students' general satisfaction at the individual student level. By identifying important relationships among variables, this study suggests initiatives for improving the learning environment at higher education institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is known that the overall competitive advantages enjoyed by the Taiwanese higher education system have been decreasing in recent years relative to the educational systems of other countries. In light of aiming to become a kingdom of innovation, how to regain its competitive advantages over the very short term has become a critical issue requiring immediate attention. Based on previous research indicating that improving innovation is among the primary ways of enhancing an education system's competitive advantages, that creativity is the foundation of innovation, that organizations that truly understand human creativity and are committed to nurturing it and living with the consequences of doing so are those that are most likely to succeed, and that students are a major group to be regarded as the backbone of a nation's future development, the aim of this study is to explore critical criteria for creativity, which could significantly improve the creativity of college students. Although related studies can be found today, these studies seem to ignore the different effects of different dimensions of creativity evaluation, leading to results that are irrational and not completely suitable for real practice. In this regard, a perception of interrelationships among these dimensions is thus taken into account while calculating weights of evaluation creativity dimensions and criteria. In accordance with the result, the top six explored critical creativity criteria are shown to help enhance today's college students' creativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the major developing locations that are playing a critical role in determining the national competitive advantage to accomplish the Taiwanese national goal of becoming a Republic of Creativity (ROC) and a kingdom of innovation, Taipei County has started to become a highlighted issue by both researchers and practitioners. Because a higher education system is at the core of generating innovation in a nation, how to prompt the creativity of higher education system in Taipei County has been one of the top concerns for the Taipei County government. Therefore, the aim of this study is to select critical creativity strategies that were developed by the Taipei County government for the higher education system to implement creativity improvement and enhancement. Based on the results, the most effective creativity strategy is Creative Intelligence. The higher education system in Taipei County is encouraged to improve and enhance creativity in accordance with the results so as to enhance the Taiwanese innovation level and fulfill the Taiwanese national goal of efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to examine the combined effect of self-efficacy and academic integration on higher education students studying IT (Information Technology) majors in Taiwan. We introduced self-efficacy, which is a psychological factor that affects students' academic outcomes, as a new factor in Tinto' theory, a well-known framework in student retention research. Academic integration is the main proposition of Tinto's theory affecting students' decision to dropout. Students from different populations have various reasons from dropping out of their studies. An examination of the relationship between self-efficacy and academic integration is useful to understand the effect of self-efficacy on academic outcomes on the IT student population in Taiwan. Data from a Taiwanese national survey database conducted in 2005 was used to achieve the research objective. A total of 2,895 records were extracted from 75,084 students in public and private institutions studying in two IT-related Majors, namely Information Management (IM) and Computer Science (CS). MANOVA was used to analyze the interaction effects between academic integration and self-efficacy. The independent variables were institution types and students' majors. The results showed that students from public institutions have higher levels of self-efficacy than students from private ones. Another finding is that IM students seem to have better study strategies and habits than CS students. However, CS students were found to have better collaboration and satisfaction with their institutions than IM students. Team projects, counselling services, and flexible teaching and learning strategy are suggested to enhance students' academic integration and self-efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of an undergraduate core online course entitled "Women: Self and Society," which was taught in the fall of 2004 in a university in the U.S. for a 10-week term. The study aimed to assess the teaching perspectives of the instructor, and analyze the student learning experiences to expose any discrepancies between their experiences. The article addresses the need for teachers to adjust their teaching style from that of a classroom setting to an online course environment.

This study investigates the influence of college tuition and fees (CTF) on fertility behavior as a mechanism to induce population growth. Using a fixed-effect regression model with various specifications of the fertility equation on contiguous panel data for the period 1990–2001, this study has determined of that CTF has a significantly negative influence on regional GFR (general fertility rate) in Taiwan. In addition, unemployment rates also have a negative impact on fertility though the male rate plays a greater role in the fertility decision than the female rate. Finally, this study calculates the cost in terms of CTF to the Central Government to induce population growth. For a 1% decrease in real CTF, the cost to the government and taxpayers at large, the cost of each additional child will range from US$90.31 to US$252.23 depending on the years considered and the model specifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of peer assessment (PA) as an alternative form of evaluation method is reported to be helpful in learning and is increasingly being adopted in higher education settings. Through collecting data from 280 university students in Taiwan, a 20-item instrument was developed to investigate university students’ attitudes toward and perceptions of PA and online PA. Four subscales, Positive Attitudes, Online Attitudes, Understanding-and-Action, and Negative Attitudes, were extracted and reliabilities were calculated. Results revealed that participating students held positive attitudes toward the use of PA activities, but they viewed online PA as a technical tool to facilitate assessment processes, rather than as a learning aid. Male students had more positive attitudes toward PA than females did, and students with previous PA experiences had less negative attitudes toward PA. A majority of these students suggested that the PA score should be counted as a small part of the total course grade, and there was an effect of the perceived importance of PA score on students’ attitudes toward these four subscales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The prevalence of job stress, distributions of major job stressors, and the associations of job stress with multiple self-reported health complaints were examined in a national survey conducted in 1994 in Taiwan. Methods: A total of 9,746 men and 5,599 women who were employed at the time of the survey and aged between 25 and 65-years were studied. Information on employment status, perceived level of job stress, major job stressors, and health complaints were obtained by a self-administered questionnaire. Results: Overall, 7.6% of men and 6.5% of women reported often or always feeling very stressed at work. Higher levels of perceived job stress were found among subjects who were younger, with higher education level, working in a larger firm, working for longer hours per week, and who were administrators or managers. Problems with individual job content were ranked as the most important job stressor in men across all employment categories and in most women. Other major job stressors included problems with monetary rewards and lack of career prospects. The patterns of major job stressors appear to vary by employment grade and by gender. After adjustment for age and education, employees who perceived higher levels of job stress had significantly increased risks of multiple health problems, including strained eyes, ringing ears, chronic cough with phlegm, chest tightness, stomach problems, headache, and musculoskeletal discomfort. Conclusions: These results suggest that psychosocial stress in the workplace has profound impacts on health. This study identified high-risk groups and major types of job stressors for further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]