The Cabinet has approved a program to cultivate talent, retain professionals in Taiwan and recruit specialists from abroad, Government Information Office Minister Philip Yang said Aug. 15 in response to a warning from Academia Sinica on the country’s brain drain.
The program will develop quality workers in sufficient numbers, train personnel for emerging and priority industries, globalize the country’s workforce, enhance the capabilities of public servants and strengthen alliances between the academic and industrial sectors, Yang said.
A budget of NT$60 billion (US$2.07 billion) will be set aside for the plan before 2013, he added.
Academia Sinica, the nation’s highest research institute, released a statement Aug. 14 saying that Taiwan is faced with a brain drain crisis and should revise current laws and regulations immediately to prevent more talented individuals from leaving the nation.
Yang pointed out that 31 relevant laws and regulations will be amended or expanded in support of the program, and that the government had studied the policies and approaches of other countries when formulating the plan.
Endorsed by 18 leaders from the academic, business and arts sectors, the Academia Sinica statement said factors such as stiff regulations and institutional inflexibility have resulted in “a net exodus of Taiwanese talents.”
“In the past decade, legal foreign immigrants totaled about 490,000. Among these, only 20,000 were expert researchers and technicians,” Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey said.
“During the same period, the majority of the 30,000 people emigrating each year to other nations are white collar professionals, severely impacting the nation’s competitiveness, ” he added.
To retain talented individuals, Wong called on government officials to abolish the current wage system, according to which educators and researchers are treated in the same way as blue-collar workers.
Taiwan’s pay scale for academics and specialists, already far below international standards, discourages talented researchers from working here, he said.
To make matters worse, Wong added, Taiwan law stipulates that foreigners are not allowed to receive a pension after retirement unless they renounce their original nationality in advance.
Another law says that foreign graduates are allowed to work in Taiwan only if they have been offered a salary of NT$47,971 or above. As a result many of them must leave Taiwan after graduation, the statement read.
To address these problems, Academia Sinica recommended the government set up a commission to devise a flexible salary system where recognized experts can be rewarded according to their achievements.
The minimum wage regulation on non-ROC college graduates should be revised, it added.
“Should Taiwan fail to address the crisis, the country can expect to lose its competitive edge in the coming years,” the statement said.
In addition to changing laws and regulations, Taiwan should rethink its immigration policy and work to create a comprehensive knowledge economy “that will help support the long-term development of talents and education.” (HZW)
Write to Aaron Hsu at pj1210meister@mail.gio.gov.tw