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An adequate supply of a high quality labor force is crucial for national economic and social well-being; consequently, nations worldwide have placed significant emphasis on university graduate employability. Nonetheless, in Taiwan, a mismatch between knowledge acquired in universities and competences required by the job market has dramatically encumbered the supply of a high quality labor force. Thus, this research endeavored to determine the major career services that should be offered in higher educational institutions to alleviate the aforementioned human resource problems. The analytic hierarchy process was adopted as the major instrument for calculating the relative importance of each career service task, and 169 university alumni working in four major career fields participated in this research. The results indicated that participants from different career fields and who graduated from different colleges at different times have very different opinions of job service requests; therefore, universities should seriously consider the differences among students and provide the necessary services for each student in line with his/her particular requests. Moreover, although almost all participants agreed that sharpening students' job-search and interview skills was crucial in assisting students to find their first jobs, this service was extremely insufficient in universities, and universities thus have to place particular emphasis on this task in the future.

The university graduate unemployment rate reached a record high of 6% in 2009 in Taiwan; paradoxically, business managers complained that they could not find enough qualified employees. The mismatch between knowledge taught in universities and the requests of the job market has been criticized as the main reason for the escalation of the university graduate unemployment rate. To alleviate the aforementioned crisis, this research endeavored to identify the major career services that should be provided by universities, calculate the relative importance of each career service, and determine which department should be responsible for what career services. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was adopted as the major research method, and a self-developed questionnaire was administered to 30 university faculty and 50 students. The results indicated that real work place practice and internships were rated as the most important career service that should be carried out by universities immediately. Moreover, the career center and academic department office are the most important offices in accomplishing the career services.

Taiwan's teacher training system currently faces a serious disorder. The excessive number of teacher education programs being set up in universities by the Ministry of Education has dramatically increased the number of teachers. The situation, coupled with the country of low birth rate and high retirement age, brings about fewer teaching vacancies than the number of available teachers. The over-expansion of universities has resulted in a situation that almost every secondary school graduate can access higher education institutions, which subsequently produce a great number of graduates, far exceeding the vacancies in the workplace. This plus with the recent economic recession intensifies competition among individuals hunting for jobs. Thus, it is imperative to identify the ideal jobs for graduates, and the first step is figuring out the main determinants for selecting jobs and the relative importance of these determinants. A self-developed questionnaire was administered to 200 education major graduates in Taiwan. The result indicated that high job stability was perceived to be the most important factor among participants. Also, the education students considered school teacher or administrator to be the ideal jobs.

The dramatic expansion of the number of higher educational institutions in Taiwan has contributed a great deal to the growing unemployment rate of university graduates. Given the accumulated number of students who graduated in previous years and failed to find a job, the pressure of finding a job is growing each year. On the other hand, however, many employers lamented that they are struggling to find qualified job candidates. The major reason for this mismatch is that the traditional university instruction that most graduates receive is no longer adequate for the changing demands of the new market, and employers are also failed to notice that the definition of a good job perceived by students is very different from decades ago. To address this mismatch, it is important to understand what employers want in graduates and what students are seeking in a job. By administering questionnaires to both employers and university students, we endeavor to identify the component of a good job perceived by students, and skills demanded by employers for work accomplishment. Questionnaires were administered to 250 students and 250 employers, and many differences between the two parties were identified. Suggestions were given for students, universities, and employers to narrow the talent gap between employers and university graduates.

International knowledge and skills are essential for success in today's highly competitive global marketplace. As one of the key providers of such knowledge and skills, universities have become a key focus of the internationalization strategies of governments throughout the world. While the internationalization of higher education clearly has certain benefits for students, schools, the national economy, and the international community, each country gives a different degree of importance to each of these various benefits. The purpose of this study was threefold: 1) to determine which benefits of the internationalization of education are deemed most important in Taiwan and Japan; 2) to determine which measures are most effective for realizing these benefits; and 3) to determine the extent to which these measures have actually been carried out. A questionnaire was used to obtain the views of 100 professors, 50 in Taiwan and 50 in Japan, as to the current situation in their respective countries. The results indicate that there are significant differences between the two country's reasons for promoting the internationalization of education, as well as in their respective internationalization strategies.

The ideal of public education is to provide each student with equal opportunity to effectively learn what he or she needs to learn. However, because students are born unequally, additional resources should be allocated for assisting students with learning disadvantages. In order to gain a more accurate understanding of the actual needs of different types of special education students, questionnaires were delivered to 840 students in 280 classes in various parts of Taiwan. The main difference between this research and previous studies in the world is that in this study the students themselves are taken as the sample population, each providing responses with assistance from their teachers, so that the data gained from each questionnaire represents an individual student's unique needs. The overall weighting calculated from this new method of research is 2.20, which is similar to the results of many studies that were using different approaches.

The higher educational institutions produce several times as many college graduates each year as there are jobs available recently in Taiwan. This coupled with the deep recession of economy in recent years have contributed to the intensified competition for jobs. The fierce unemployment among young people has revived the demand on the contribution of educational system to the employability of college graduates. Since exploring how students define an ideal job is a prerequisite for guiding them to get a job that better matches their skills and desires, this research is thus endeavored to identify the major determinants of career selection, to calculate the relative importance of each determinant, and to decide the major strengths of different careers. AHP was adopted as the major tool for calculating the relative importance of the determinants of career selection. Correspondence Analysis was used to create a perceptual map for identifying major strengths of different careers. The results showed that Career Security and Retirement Policy were the most important determinants of job selection; moreover, students majoring in education preferred careers in public sectors such as public school teacher and government official.

Internationalization is receiving increasing attention at academic institutions all over the world. Taiwan is no exception, where the government is promoting internationalization not only in higher education, but also at the primary education level. In this research we identified the key factors of the internationalization of primary education in Taiwan, calculated their relative importance, and determined their relationships with the various internationalization strategies being used in Taiwan. Questionnaires were administered to 300 school teachers, of which 246 were returned. AHP was adopted as the major instrument for determining the relative weight of each factor and strategy, and correspondence analysis was employed to investigate their respective relationships. Based on the findings, we provide suggestions for improving the internationalization of primary schools in Taiwan.

This research is based on qualitative approach and applies in-depth interview with three principals and administrators in three junior high schools located in the remote and rural areas of Taiwan. The aim of this paper was to explore the school feature development process in these three schools. The findings of this study were as follows: most of students' parents in these three remote and rural schools are labors and have relatively lower social and economic status in the Taiwanese society. School education becomes an important way for these students to develop their academic, cultural, and technical competences. Second, most of the students' learning motivation and academic performance were not well, but good at athletics or vocational skill. Besides, most of the features created by the schools would not last due to the un-stabilization and away of teachers, short of financial support, and lack of favor from community. Fourth, an important reason of developing school features of these three schools is out of the competition between the urban schools. The decline of the birth rate in the whole society of Taiwan also facilitates the motivation. Fifth, parents of these three schools do not support students' participation in local cultural or local career related curriculum. Parents would have a high expectation on school education's effects on their children's future competitiveness.

Textbooks were centrally selected in Taiwan until 1996 when the government commissioned its Textbook Liberalization Reform. Although this policy received complements from scholars and the general public, it encounters many unexpected problems in its implementation. The aims of this research are thus to identify the major criteria used by elementary school teachers for textbook selection, to calculate the relative weights of the criteria, and to map the relative market positions of the major textbook publishers. Survey questionnaires were administered to 504 elementary school teachers. AHP, ANOVA, and correspondence analysis were adopted for analyses. The results show that accuracy of content and instruction methodologies are the two most emphasized criteria. Moreover, teachers of different backgrounds rank the criteria differently. Suggestions are given to teachers and textbook publishers for improving the textbook selection process in Taiwan.

The current approach to solving educational problems in Taiwan is to adopt policies employed in Western countries. However, given the very different cultural and educational environment of Asia, not all policies effective in Western countries are necessarily applicable to schools in Taiwan. Therefore, an examination of the feasibility and applicability of these policies is essential. This study examines whether the school-based financial (SBF) management that is effective in Western countries is applicable to schools in Taiwan. Focus group interviews composed of government officials, scholars, principals, department directors, and teachers were conducted, and a questionnaire survey was administered to 1000 school personnel. The results indicate that the SBF model that is effective in the West is also applicable to schools in Taiwan, and that the Taiwanese government should adopt SBF, while adapting it to suit the local environment.

Students now-a-days have to develop international skills to be successful in this global environment, and choosing a sound destination country is a crucial issue to the success of their overseas study. On the other hand, since international students may contribute a great deal to the host country's educational quality and its economy, countries around the world are employing varieties of marketing strategies to compete for prospective international students. This research thus aims to identify the key factors that influence Taiwanese music majored students' choice of destination country, to calculate the relative importance of each factor, to construct a market positioning map for the main destination countries and to determine the relative market competitiveness of these countries. The results not only provide students with specific guidelines for choosing a destination country, but also provide the destination countries with an overall positioning map for revamping their marketing strategies.

The establishment of teacher education centers is one of the most important teacher education reforms in Taiwan, the purpose of which is to enhance the effectiveness of education by increasing teacher diversity. However, ever since teacher education centers have been established, teaching quality has not improved--or even declined. This study thus endeavors to identify the abilities which are most essential for secondary school teachers and to determine to what extent these abilities are actually learned by the pre-service teachers. The researchers suggest that teacher education centers place practical training at the center of the curriculum.

The rapid increase of tuition and the reduced financial support from government and families have forced many more students to take part-time jobs, however, different jobs might bear different benefits. The main purposes of this study were to identify the major benefits of part-time jobs or work-study experiences performed by college students, and to calculate the relative weight of each of the benefits perceived by students, and finally, to determine the most appropriate type of job for college students. A self-developed questionnaire is administered to 250 students from three universities.The results of this study not only help students to select the most appropriate types of job for a given purpose, but also provide school administrators with a guide to develop their student part-time job policies. (Contains 4 tables.)

The Taiwan Government launched the Hand-in-Hand After-School Care Program in 2006 with several goals: In addition to providing disadvantaged students with supplemental learning opportunities, this highly ambitious government program hopes to provide increased employment opportunities for substitute teachers and low-income college students, and also make good use of the abilities of retired teachers and private individuals. However, the results seem to be much lower than what was expected, which can mainly be attributed to the lofty but unrealistic ideals of its recruitment design. This research is thus aimed at analyzing the criteria that used for recruiting teachers, calculating the relative weight for each criterion, and determining the instructional strengths of each of the five teacher sources. Suggestions are given for improving the teacher recruitment process of the Hand-in-Hand Program.

The purpose of this study was to determine the services required by students in special education programs and to estimate the cost of adequately funding special education in Taiwan. Questionnaires were administered to 300 special education teachers at the elementary school level to identify the services required. Thereafter, two focus group interviews were organized to determine the service categories and their cost. The results show that the costs for special education programs vary significantly according to severity of disability, and the weighting for mildly, moderately, and severely disabled students was found to be 3.7, 4.5, and 5.2, respectively. The costs also vary significantly according to the category of disability, and the weighting was found to range from 3.6 for emotionally disabled students and to 5.9 for hearing impaired students. These findings suggest that the current special education funding formula in Taiwan, which ignores these cost differences, should be revamped.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how a graduate institute at National Chiayi University (NCYU), by using a model that integrates analytic hierarchy process, cluster analysis and correspondence analysis, can develop effective marketing strategies. Design/methodology/approach: This is primarily a quantitative study aimed at developing a marketing mix for a graduate institute at NCYU in Taiwan. A survey using stratified random sampling was conducted, with 14 universities from four different areas in Taiwan randomly selected for the study. Two questionnaires were conducted: a Likert's five-scale questionnaire regarding school images and an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) questionnaire regarding school selection factors were administered to 640 undergraduate students. Of the total number of questionnaires, 602 (94 percent) valid school image questionnaires and 570 (89 percent) valid school selection factors questionnaires were used. Findings: The results of AHP revealed that the five most important factors for students' school selection were: employability, curriculum, academic reputation, faculty, and research environment. The results of clustering analysis identified five student groups for market segmentation, and they are the Prominence group, the Less aware group, the Pragmatic group, the Austerity group, and the Fastidious group. Finally, the results of correspondence analysis suggested that students of the Pragmatic Group are more likely to be attracted by NCYU, and also, students perceived NCYU to be strongly associated with lower tuition, fewer entrance-exam subjects, lower entrance-exam pass rates, and easier graduation requirements. Research limitations/implications: It would be better to conduct a factor analysis before using AHP. Practical implications: Particularly, NCYU should establish new curricula relevant to internationalization, develop curricula in school finance and educational economics, and form study groups to enhance graduating student employment opportunities. Generally, higher educational institutions may adopt the research model developed in this study to develop their marketing mix for better results. Originality/value: This paper documents research that was the first to integrate AHP, cluster analysis, and correspondence analysis in developing a marketing mix for higher educational institutions. (Contains 2 tables and 6 figures.)