Taiwan Today

Taiwan's "economic miracle" is known around the world. Less publicized but equally impressive is the huge explosion in higher education. In 1945, when the Japanese occupation ended, the island had a university and preparatory school and three colleges. Enrollment was 3,277, three-fourths of it Japanese. Today there are 79 institutions of higher learning: 9 universities, 13 colleges and 57 junior colleges. Enrollment was nearly 139,000 in the 1967-68 school year. Figures exclude those attending 13 military schools and a police academy. Private institutions outnumber those of government by 51 to 28. Men students outnumber women 2 to 1. Campuses are new and buildings attractive and well-equipped. Tamkang College of Arts and Sciences (Taipei campus, top) was established only in 1950 but is oldest of private schools. National Chengchi University's Center for Public and Business Administration is in Taipei (bottom).

Fu Jen Catholic University has the largest number of foreign professors and excels in languages and philosophy. (top)
Stage and screen students are trained at the National Taiwan Academy of Arts, the only institution of its kind. (center)
Tamsui Institute of Business Administration has a new department devoted to the fast-growing tourism industry. (bottom, left)
Tatung Institute of Technology is affiliated with the Tatung Engineering Co., Taiwan's largest appliance maker. (bottom, right)

Curricula have wide scope - from home economics to nuclear science. Social sciences draw more than a third of the college enrollment. Then (in order) come engineering, humanities, medical science, education, agriculture, natural science, arts and law. Graduate work is being upgraded and doctoral programs instituted. In 1967-68, candidates for master's degrees totaled nearly 1,300 and those for doctorates 50. The campuses shown on these two pages are (from the top): Soochow University, noted for comparative law. College of Chinese Culture, the only private school conferring doctorates. Shihchien College of Home Economics, sometimes called the "brides' university". Mucha main campus of Chengchi University, a principal source of journalists and diplomats. (Bottom right) Medical College of National Taiwan University. The Taipei hospital operated by this university is one of the largest and most modern in East Asia. In Japanese times, National Taiwan U. was called Taihoku Imperial University and had only 85 Taiwanese students in an enrollment of 357. Today's native-born students make up more than three-fifths of enrollment at all institutions of higher learning.

National Taiwan Normal University is the principal supplier of teachers. It cannot meet the demands of the new nine-year program of free education starting this fall. (top)

National Taiwan University was established in 1928 and is the island's oldest. Many of Japan's colonial officials were graduates. The campus is at Taipei's southern edge. (bottom) 

Main campus of the private Tamkang College of Arts and Sciences is at Tamsui near Taiwan's northwestern tip. (top)
College of Law and Commerce of Provincial Chung Hsing University is in Taipei. Rest of campus is in Taichung. (center)
Many of those who have led Taiwan into industrial take-off are graduates of Taipei Institute of Technology. (bottom)

Separate colleges teach a number of specialties. Provincial Junior College of Nursing in Taipei (top) has an enrollment of 1,000 and its graduates are licensed as midwives as well as nurses. The World College of Journalism is the only institution exclusively devoted to that subject. It has its own radio station and trains radio and television newscasters and commentators as well as newspapermen. In Japanese times most Taiwanese went into medicine. Many fields were closed to them.