Abstract
This chapter is concerned with how university rankings have influenced stakeholders in the higher education sector of Taiwan at policy, institutional and individual levels respectively. In regard to policy responses, the chapter delineates that financial resources are concentrated on twelve universities through the launch of the “five-year-fifty-billion” program. The Taiwanese government clearly states its goal of building a world-class university through promoting research excellence and internationalisation in the selected universities. It aims that at least one Taiwanese university would become the world’s top 100 through the program. From the government perspective, this policy of building skyscrapers is an effective way of enhancing the national prestige as well as the overall quality of the higher education system. Nevertheless, the policy has also resulted in a steep stratification and differentiation in Taiwan’s higher education system. As revealed by field evidences, the prevalence of a ranking movement in Taiwan has bred a research-oriented culture that has substantially intensified competition among universities. This zero-sum-game causes unhealthy competition and inequality in higher education. In the climate of competition, some respondents report that their teaching duties have been significantly affected. This academic drift is considered as an unintended but harmful impact of rankings.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Yuan Ze University had been deregistered from the second phase of the program, but has been granted NT$ 90 million by the Program for Subsidising Key Areas with Characteristics. There are three other institutions (National Taiwan Ocean University, Kaohsiung Medical University and Chung Yuan Christian University) being funded by this program.
- 2.
The Control Yuan, the auditing branch of the ROC government, launched a report in March 2010 criticising that several universities funded by the “five-year-fifty-billion” program had spent NT$ 117 million on buying printer ink and laser toner (Control Yuan 2010).
- 3.
NYMU had actually been granted a subsidy of NT$ 50 million in the Program for Aiming for Top University.
- 4.
In University E, faculty performance appraisal mainly takes teaching and services into account. Faculty can decide whether research performance will be included as a criterion in their performance appraisal or not. In other words, research duties are optional.
- 5.
The zhong group (zhongzibei) roughly refers to four national universities, namely Central University (中央大學), Chung Hsing University (中興大學), Sun Yat-sen University (中山大學) and Chung Cheng University (中正大學), as their names start with the Chinese character “中” (zhong). Zhong also means middle in Chinese.
- 6.
Research is optional for faculty in University E.
References
Adams, J., & Gurney, K. (2010). Funding selectivity, concentration and excellence—how good is the UK’s research? Oxford: Higher Education Policy Institute.
Altbach, P. G. (2007). Empires of knowledge and development. In P. G. Altbach & J. Balán (Eds.), World class worldwide: Transforming research universities in Asia and Latin America (pp. 1-30). Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Cantwell, B., & Maldonado-Maldonado, A. (2009). Four stories: Confronting contemporary ideas about globalisation and internationalisation in higher education. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 7(3), 289–306.
Chen, D., & Lo, W. (2007). Critical reflections of the approaches to quality in Taiwan’s higher education. The Journal of Comparative Asian Development, 6(1), 165–186.
Control, Y. (2010). Investigation on the programme for aiming for top university. www.cy.gov.tw/db2.asp?edoc_no=1&intyear=&page=9. Accessed 31 July 2010.
Department of Higher Education. (2008). Explanation on the approval of the phase two of the programme for aiming for top university. http://www.edu.tw/high/itemize.aspx?itemize_sn=3520&pages=0&site_content_sn=1234&classify_sn=228. Accessed 31 July 2010.
Dill, D. D., & Soo, M. (2005). Academic quality, league tables, and public policy: A cross-national analysis of university ranking systems. Higher Education, 49(4), 495–533.
Ewell, P. T. (2008). U.S. accreditation and the future of quality assurance: A tenth anniversary report from the council for higher education accreditation. Washington, DC: Council for Higher Education Accreditation.
Ghosh, R. (2012). Diversity and excellence in higher education: Is there a conflict?. Comparative Education Review, 56(3), 349–365.
Harvey, L. (2008). Rankings of higher education institutions: A critical review. Quality in Higher Education, 14(3), 187–207.
Hou, Y.-C. A. (2012). Impact of excellence programs on Taiwan higher education in terms of quality assurance and academic excellence, examining the conflicting role of Taiwan’s accrediting agencies. Asia Pacific Education Review, 13(1), 77–88.
Hou, Y.-C. A., & Morse, R. (2009). Quality assurance and excellence in Taiwan higher education—an analysis of three Taiwan major college rankings. Evaluation in Higher Education, 3(2), 45–41.
Hou, Y.-C. A., Morse, R., & Chiang, C.-L. (2011). The effective use of global rankings in making institutional strategic plans. [In Chinese.] Evaluation Bimonthly, 30, 43–49.
Ku, C.-H. (2005). On openess and publicness in the social sciences. [In Chinese.] Taiwanese Journal of Sociology, 35, 1–21.
Lawson, C. (2008). Taiwan’s aim for the top university program: Innovation, internationalisation and opportunity. Canberra: Australian Education International.
Lewis, H. R. (2006). Excellence without a soul: How a great university forgot education. New York: PublicAffairs.
Lo, W. Y. W. (2009). Reflections on internationalisation of higher education in Taiwan: Perspectives and prospects. Higher Education, 58(6), 733–745.
Lo, W. Y. W. (2010). Decentralization of higher education and its implications for educational autonomy in Taiwan. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 30(2), 127–139.
Lu, Y. A., & Chou, C. P. (2013). Do book chapters and monographs undergo peer-review? How they are different from refereed journals. [In Chinese.]Taiwan Educational Review Monthly, 2(5), 33–36.
Lynch, K. (2006). Neo-liberalism and marketisation: The implications for higher education. European Educational Research Journal, 5(1), 1–17.
Marginson, S. (2007). Global university rankings: Implications in general and for Australia. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 29(2), 131–142.
Ministry of Education [MOE], Taiwan. (2010a) Programme for aiming for top university. http://www.edu.tw/userfiles/url/20120920144654/附件-1發展國際一流大學及頂尖研究中.pdf. Accessed 31 July 2010.
Ministry of Education [MOE], Taiwan. (2010b) Programme for encouraging teaching excellence in universities. http://www.edu.tw/userfiles/url/20120920144735/附件-2第二期獎勵大學教學卓越計畫980312-.pdf. Accessed 31 July 2010.
Russell Group. The concentration of research funding in the UK: Driving excellence and competing globally. http://www.russellgroup.ac.uk/uploads/Concentration-of-research-funding.pdf. Accessed 31 July 2010.
Salmi, J., & Saroyan, A. (2007). League tables as policy instruments: Uses and misuses. Higher Education Management and Policy, 19(2), 24–62.
Stella, A., & Woodhouse, D. (2006). Ranking of higher education institutions. Melbourne: Australian Universities Quality Agency.
Vaira, M. (2009). Towards unified and stratified systems of higher education? System convergence and organizational stratified. In B. M. Kehm & B. Stensaker (Eds.), University rankings, diversity, and the new landscape of higher education (pp. 135–154). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Wang, R. J. (2009). Myths and opportunities in the development of higher education in Taiwan. [In Chinese.] Taiwan Education Review, 659, 35–38.
Yen, K.-L., & Cho, W.-C. (2010). From global university ranking systems to explore the indicators of internationalization of higher education. [In Chinese.] School Administration, 68, 128.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lo, W. (2014). Dimension 1: Influences of University Rankings: Changes in Policy, University Governance and Individual Behaviours. In: University Rankings. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4560-35-1_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4560-35-1_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-4560-34-4
Online ISBN: 978-981-4560-35-1
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)