With External Rigid Systems, NTU President Says It’s Like Engaging in Int’l Competition in Straitjacket

With External Rigid Systems, NTU President Says It’s Like Engaging in Int’l Competition in Straitjacket

Source: UDN

July 8, 2020

Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔), president of National Taiwan University (NTU), has been in office for one and a half years. In an exclusive interview with the United Daily News, he has indicated that facing global competition in higher learning, the greatest challenge for NTU is the rigidity of external systems, adding that NTU is like fighting an international battle in a straitjacket, making it difficult to strike back when attacked.

Kuan wants to promote internationalization, recruit and keep talents, and carry out the “Future University Project”. However, he has found that during the reform process, he is limited by many systems beyond the control of universities, such as the control of the Ministry of Education and various legal restrictions.

Kuan has stated that university autonomy in Taiwan is a huge joke, adding that if the government does not trust universities for autonomy in their affairs and does not discard the mentality of taking control of everything, Taiwan’s higher education will only be further left behind by other countries in the global competition.

Attachment : none