Higher Education In Taiwan Research Articles

Smart Campus Innovative Learning Model for Social Practitioners of Universities’ Third Mission: To Promote Good Health and Well-Being

Currently, smart campuses represent the main development trend for higher education in Taiwan. The campus is transitioning toward digitization and dataization, which are key factors and important parameters for campus technology improvement. At the same time, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has pointed out that the third mission of higher education is university social responsibility (USR). It has also clearly stated that higher education should not ignore the major issues of sustainable development. The purpose of this study was to examine students’ understanding and attitudes toward the use of a “digital innovative health platform”, as well as a digital platform to lead participation in community “action plans”. Finally, it aimed to understand the connection between the “digital innovative health platform and action plan” in order to ensure the fulfilment of social responsibility and promote good health and well-being. This study sampled 400 students for a questionnaire survey and invited five student union representatives and one platform information center expert to conduct semi-structured in-depth interviewing. The results of this study indicated that the participants believed that digital platforms could highlight the importance of social responsibility and provide community service opportunities. Female students mainly focused on community “health services (health examinations and lectures)”, while male students mainly focused on “fitness activities”. This digital platform cultivates students’ knowledge and skills, and incorporates them into the community service system to allow students to participate in community activities independently. At the same time, students fulfill their social responsibility through actual services to promote good health and well-being.

A Study on The Factors Behind Bilingual Policy Promotion Within Higher Education in Taiwan

This paper aims to examine the ongoing bilingual policy promoted in higher education in Taiwan by exploring the important factors that might affect the promotion of the policy. After using literature review method to explore key factors affecting bilingual policy implementation in higher education, a group of 15 distinguished experts in the fields of language education, EMI promotion centers and in bilingual education policy implementation were assembled to form an expert panel. Leveraging the collective expertise and diverse perspectives of the panelists, the study conducted a questionnaire survey to collect the data. The results show five main categories of factors related to the implement of Bilingual Policy, namely “administrative support”, “school environment and resources”, “curriculum and instruction”, “student learning” and “local linkage”. Among the five categories, “administrative support” has the highest expert consensus of importance in terms of promoting Bilingual Policy, followed by “student learning”, “curriculum and instruction”, “school environment and resources” and “local linkage”. Experts’ comments and suggestions are also discussed.

A study on the influencing factors and response strategies for young teachers from Taiwan to teach in universities in China: a push-pull-mooring model perspective.

A growing number of Taiwanese teachers are choosing to teach at universities in mainland China, but their jobs are not always stable. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the factors infuencing young teachers from Taiwan to teach in universities in China. Twenty-seven young teachers from Taiwan with master's or doctoral degrees who were willing to apply to work at universities in China and who were already teaching in China were invited to conduct in-depth interviews to collect research data.The interview data were coded and analyzed according to the Push-Pull-Mooring (PPM) Model. The results showed that the understanding of mainland Chinese universities among young Taiwanese teachers is not entirely consistent. Taiwanese teachers who previously studied in mainland China have a more comprehensive understanding of mainland Chinese universities, and some teachers have gained a superfcial understanding through academic exchanges between the two sides and information shared by friends.However,still,7% of the teachers have no understanding at all. Most young Taiwanese teachers indicate that they do not understand the talent recruitment policies of mainland Chinese universities. The push factors that infuence young teachers from Taiwan to teach at mainland universities are: Oversupply of teachers in Taiwan, poor environment for higher education in Taiwan, poor articulation of the cross-strait academic system, and four aspects of teacher retirement and re-employment in Taiwan. The pull factors are: Benefcial policies, salary, living environment, educational advantages and cultural dissemination in 5 areas. Mooring factors are divided into 3 aspects: personal factors, environmental factors and social factors.

Exploring aural vocabulary knowledge for TOEIC as a language exit requirement in higher education in Taiwan

Abstract The Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) is a high-stakes test for students in higher education in Taiwan to fulfill the English-language graduation requirement. However, little is known regarding the vocabulary threshold for the test or the effects of the lexical coverage and profiles of test items on the adequate comprehension of the test. This study used a validated Listening Vocabulary Levels Test (LVLT) and the TOEIC listening subtest to estimate learners’ aural vocabulary knowledge required for an exit TOEIC listening score. The findings showed: (1) aural lexical knowledge accounted for more than half of the variance in comprehension performance; (2) a minimum level of 3,000 word families for a lexical coverage of 98 % considerably affected the comprehension of spoken texts; and (3) lexical profiles varied in the individual parts of the listening subtest, with a range of 3,000–5,000 word families required for achieving a lexical coverage of 98 %. The crucial role of lexical knowledge/coverage in comprehension performance on the exit test was discussed.

Developing quality culture in higher education in Taiwan: the changes within quality assurance mechanisms

ABSTRACT This paper presents an analysis of quality culture (QC) development in Taiwan which has recently undergone major reforms of quality assurance (QA) policies. The implementation of internal quality assurance (IQA) initiatives has been an indispensable condition to form a QC in higher education which contributes to a fundamental and comprehensive evolution of Taiwanese higher education. To explore the government’s policy strategies and transformation of QA approaches, this paper interviews policymakers, QA experts and academics. This paper identifies common features and distinct characteristics of QC in Taiwan’s higher education, and its relations to QA mechanisms. These perspectives offer a different way of conceptualising QC in QA policies. Furthermore, QC development has not only served the purpose of enhancing quality in higher education but has also acted as a driver for QA and higher education changes.

Internationalization of quality assurance and the international quality of higher education in Taiwan

PurposeThis study employs survey methods to statistically examine the internationalization of quality assurance (IQA) in Taiwanese higher education. The data collected were analyzed to assess the associations between administrators' opinions of the importance of IQA and their evaluations of its implementation, as well as the relationship between implementation and opinions on seven measures of international quality. The study also explores the mediating effect of implementation assessments on the relationship between opinions of the importance of IQA and opinions of international quality.Design/methodology/approachThis study targeted higher education administrators from universities in Taiwan, including presidents, vice presidents, deans, section chiefs, directors, and heads of schools in various departments. Using systematic sampling methods, 80 universities were selected from a population of 159 higher education institutions in Taiwan, with 17-40 potential participants each in 2015. A total of 2,377 questionnaires were distributed to all the administrators of those institutions, and ultimately, 65 institutions and 337 valid questionnaires were analyzed.FindingsThe importance of IQA directly and positively influenced implementation of it on higher education institutions. The implementation directly and positively influenced the level of international quality of the institutions and the importance of IQA had an indirect positive influence on international quality through implementation. The aggregated institution-level results were similar to but much stronger than the individual-level results.Originality/valueThis study examined the IQA of higher education in Taiwan, which is increasingly important to institutions' competitiveness in the global higher education market. The data were analyzed using multilevel structural equation modeling at the individual-level and the aggregate-level. The analysis revealed direct and indirect associations between opinions about IQA and institutional quality. This study makes a significant contribution to the literature because it clarifies the role of administrators (individually and collectively) regarding their institutions' educational quality, and it provides useful information that institutions could apply to improve their international competitiveness.

Evaluating the Mobile Learning Quality for Promoting the User Needs in Taiwanese Higher Education During COVID-19

This study explores the strategic issues related to the mobile learning quality in Taiwanese higher education during the COVID-19 pandemics. While much previous study determined the factors affecting mobile learning quality, seldom research works discussed the influence weights of the elements and their interrelations in the higher education through a comprehensive view. Hence, the purpose of this research is to explore the interrelationships and feedback between the factors affecting mobile learning quality via a combined multiple attribute decision-making (MADM) method, which will include decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL), and DEMATEL-based ANP (DANP) approaches. This recommended approach can offer guidance to prioritize the influence elements in the enhancement plans for mobile learning quality. This research uses the recommended approach in the higher education in Taiwan as an empirical study during COVID-19. These findings results state which service quality needs to be enhanced primarily, and learning ability is the most important factor influencing mobile learning quality during COVID-19. Furthermore, the results show that system quality perspective has the strongest impact on the relations and it also has an important effect on other perspectives. The results can provide guidance on assigning resources of limit to improve this mobile learning quality in Taiwanese higher education in the COVID-19 pandemics.

An Empirical Study on the Learning Experiences and Outcomes of College Student Club Committee Members Using a Linear Hierarchical Regression Model

This study explored college students’ learning experiences and outcomes as club committee members. Using a linear regression model, it investigated the relevance of personal background variables and club learning experiences to club learning outcomes. This study selected 15 universities and colleges’ student club committee members in TaiwanA total of 1850 questionnaires were distributed, and 1761 valid questionnaires were recovered, with a recovery rate of over 95%. The study findings are as follows: Regarding learning experiences and learning outcomes, the student club committee members was good. According to this study’s linear regression analysis: The personal background of student club committee members and their club learning experience had significant explanatory power on the learning outcomes, with R2 values ranging from 39.6% to 61.1% for each dimension. This indicates that learning from club activities can be an essential pathway to cultivating students’ learning outcomes and a valuable reference for promoting club education in colleges and universities in Taiwan. Higher education practitioners should plan activities or programs for student club leaders with learning outcomes in mind, and design learning programs to meet the needs of student club leaders in each school so that students can achieve higher quality learning outcomes. In addition, this study also found that the assessment indicators of learning outcomes of the CAS of the U.S. can be applied to check the learning outcomes of student clubs in higher education in Taiwan.

Higher Education in Taiwan: An Observation Through the Perspective of English Language Teaching

Higher Education in Taiwan: An Observation Through the Perspective of English Language Teaching

Investigating mental health outcomes of undergraduates and graduate students in Taiwan during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objective: This study is an exploration of the major stressors associated with the COVID-19 for students in higher education in Taiwan. Participants: The sample comprised 838 higher education students studying at various Taiwanese universities. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was administered at different postsecondary institutions during the semi-lockdown period of COVID-19, which mandated online instruction. Machine learning was employed to determine the variables that most highly predicted students’ mental health using R. Results: The findings revealed that COVID-19-related experiences, including social interactions, financial conditions, and educational experiences, were significantly associated with mental health outcomes. Particularly, loneliness are significantly related to social interactions and educational experiences. Conclusions: Findings revealed that Covid-19 impacted Taiwanese students’ financial conditions, educational experiences, and social interactions, which were significant predictors of their mental health outcomes such as anxiety, loneliness and depression. The current study contributes to the gap in knowledge about mental health issues among postsecondary students during the pandemic.

Economies of Scale in Taiwan Higher Education: An Application of Quantile-on-Quantile Regression Approach

Economies of Scale in Taiwan Higher Education: An Application of Quantile-on-Quantile Regression Approach

The Humanities and Their Educational Role: With Remarks on the Relationship between the Humanities and Higher Education in Taiwan

The Humanities and Their Educational Role: With Remarks on the Relationship between the Humanities and Higher Education in Taiwan

Online brand equity for higher education in Taiwan: conceptualization, scale development, and validation

ABSTRACT The brand equity of higher education institutions differs from that of a firm. In the field of education, a university is a brand chosen by students and parents, with graduates eventually becoming the products of that brand. The development of the Internet has led to considerable changes in higher education, and no scale exists to measure universities’ online brand equity. The present study develops a scale to measure higher education online brand equity (HEOBE). This exploratory study developed dimensions in five stages, and exploratory factor analyses were conducted to ensure that HEOBE scale items were comprehensible. Using an online survey, 769 usable responses were obtained, providing verification of 32 items in the following eight dimensions: institutional reputation, e-campus performance, brand identification, e-campus information, faculty competency, perceived value, brand loyalty, and campus perception. This framework provides a set of valuable measurement tools for higher education administrators.

Measuring College Campus Well-Being with Multidimensional Indices: Sustainability of Higher Education in Taiwan

Understanding students’ subjective perceptions of universities is one of the main issues that needs to be addressed in order to improve aspects such as student retention and achieve sustainable development. Considering subjective well-being as an alternative term for happiness and satisfaction in higher education for sustainability, this study is to develop a measure conceptually and operationally for college campus well-being (CWB) with multiple dimensions, including a psychological, physical, financial, and social dimension of well-being. Subjected to factorial validity and composite reliability, the CWB scale validated by 2793 undergraduate students in central Taiwan was administered. The research demonstrates the appropriate construct validity and suitable-fit indices of the CWB multidimensional scale when used for measuring university-oriented happiness and sustainability in this research context. Differential effects were found among the colleges and between genders. The implications and future research lines are discussed.

The Effects of College Student Experience on Degree Aspirations for Graduate Education

The expansion of higher education in Taiwan has significantly increased the number of college students, including substantial growth of those studying at the master’s degree level. While prior research indicates that the quality of institutions affects students’ achievements, there have been no empirical investigations of how college experiences shape students’ educational aspirations for pursuing graduate education. In this study, we applied hierarchical generalized linear model analytics to national student survey data to examine the factors that contribute to students’ aspirations for pursuing graduate and professional education. The results revealed that gender, admission types, minority status, financial support, SES, academic preparation, college choice, education expectations, college experience domain, and social integration were significantly related with institutional quality, which further affected progression to the next level of education. The findings highlighted the importance of collegiate experiences and suggested that institutions should provide supporting services for students in the profession of student affairs.

Research on Mongolian Students Studying in Taiwan

Due to the blows like internationalization and the declining birth rate, the higher education market in Taiwan has faced an escalation. Accordingly, the domestic universities and institutes have been focusing on international student enrollment policy to settle the issue of not achieving the target enrollment for new students. Thus, the internationalization of higher education encounters a challenge to identify whether the Taiwan universities and institutes can enroll international students by using various ways and provide the international students, who are interested in enrollment in Taiwan universities, with the comprehensive concept and understanding of Taiwan education system and the educational attributes. The internationalization of higher education in Taiwan has been expanding year by year, and the number of international students in Taiwan has reached 127 000, of which 1600 were Mongolian students as of 2018. In connection with the continuous increase in the number of international students, the researches on international students have also become significant. However, the research on Mongolian students studying in Taiwan is relatively few. We have studied the factors, which influence Mongolian students’ choice in studying in Taiwan, besides studying how they adjust to their new life when they first study abroad. In our research, we have used the qualitative research method as the main research method and the methods like a case study and focus group interview in a detailed manner. We have chosen 24 samples from the Mongolian students, who were attending undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate programs in Taiwan in 2019. We carried out the research in the scope of the below-mentioned four objectives: to identify the factors that influenced Mongolian students to choose Taiwan; to identify which channels and possibilities they have used in their enrollment in Taiwan universities; to learn how Mongolian students adapt to their new lives in Taiwan; to suggest substantial recommendations for universities and educational institutes that are interested in enrolling students from Mongolia as international students.

Examining English Ability-Grouping Practices by Aligning CEFR Levels with University-Level General English Courses in Taiwan

In higher education in Taiwan, mandatory general English courses like Freshman English adopt ability-grouping practices to assign students to classes of different proficiency levels. However, little research has explored the efficacy of ability-grouping criteria and standardized the language-proficiency description for general English courses of different proficiency levels. Thus, this study recruited 806 Taiwanese undergraduates from Freshman English classes of advanced, intermediate, and basic proficiency levels to take the Oxford Online Placement Test (OOPT), and compared their scores on the Joint College Entrance Examination English subject (namely the General Scholastic Ability Test, GSAT) with OOPT. The findings indicated that the ability-grouping criterion was effective to classify students into three groups of different proficiency levels. A positive relationship between the GSAT and OOPT scores was identified. A clear trend, but with some overlapping correspondence, was displayed between the class levels and Common European Framework of Reference levels derived from the OOPT scoring report. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for future studies are provided.

Impact of Emergency Remote Education in the 2021 COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case of Higher Education Students in the Department of Mechanical Engineering

The higher education in Taiwan was forced to begin an unprecedented large-scale distance teaching emergently due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2021. This research accordingly intended to realize what the students had been experienced and the mechanical engineering at a private university of technology was investigated. There are five aspects surveyed and quantitatively their satisfying order from high to low is the following: learning resources, synchronous distance teaching, final assessment, learning effectiveness, and school equipment. Next, the qualitative data shows that most students embraced freedom and liberation at the beginning of the sudden implementation of the six-week emergency distance education, and soon discovered that the pressure of learning had become greater. Reasons include easy distraction at home, increased assignments, and relatively difficult online communication, etc. In summary, the participants have the highest satisfaction with "learning resources", although there are still students who complained that they can only access the visual classroom by poor facilities, like mobile phones (6% of the participants who cannot access computers/laptops for learning), old-fashioned computers, or no internet at home. It shows the limitations of unfair resources to online learning. Furthermore, the learning effect is the second-worst, showing that although the students have mastered the skills for synchronous remote education in the six weeks, most of them still prefer to return to the familiar and reliable face-to-face classroom, owing to the difficulties in communication, hardware, and software conditions. Finally, some suggestions for the college students to prepare for the uncertain future are provided based on the study conclusions.

What Has Been the Impact of COVID-19 on Driving Digitalization, Innovation and Crisis Management of Higher Education and Quality Assurance?-A Taiwan Case Study in Alignment with the INQAAHE Virtual Review.

The impact of COVID-19 on higher education and quality assurance (QA) has already elicited global attention and discussion. QA agencies and networks quickly learned to adapt in order to carry out assessments, accreditations, recognitions, and reviews in a full virtual mode. These practices include using shared folders for virtual desk review, video conferencing platforms for interviews, and virtual site visits. In order to respond to the 2020 pandemic, The International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) swiftly adopted a virtual mode of the GGP review exercise for the GGP alignment applicants. The Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan (HEEACT) was the first case that underwent a thorough virtual review process of GGP alignment during the 2020 pandemic. Therefore, this study aims to outline the impact of the pandemic in Taiwan higher education as well as provide the meta-analysis of the virtual review process of the INQAAHE GGP alignment by using HEEACT as a case study.

Identifying struggles and challenges faced by Indonesian migrant workers pursuing higher education in Taiwan

People in social life often underestimated the presence of migrant workers caused by low skills and lack of education. The decision to continue higher education while working in the host country had tremendous challenges. This study aimed to develop a deeper understanding of the reasons, the problem encountered, and the learning strategies of migrant workers pursuing higher education at Indonesian Open Learning University of Taiwan (Universitas Terbuka Taiwan). There were 11 students participated in this study. This study was descriptive qualitative research, and the interactive model was applied in the analysis method. The data were gathered through in-depth interviews, participant observation, and documentation. The finding of this study revealed that: i) The migrant workers had the high motivation to pursue higher education because they wanted to change the stereotype that they were left behind and to seek a better life when they came back to Indonesia; ii) Inadequate time was the main problem to manage the study time due to the high workload; iii) The learning strategies of migrant workers were peer learning, group discussion, and note-taking. However, Indonesian Open Learning University of Taiwan was the excellent choice for the migrant workers in Taiwan to pursue higher education due to the flexibility of learning.