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78 Taiwan Development Perspectives 2009
c. People from 45 to 65 years old in Taiwan who have
received secondary education were slightly fewer
than their counterparts in the advanced countries. But
those in the 25-44 age group in Taiwan outnumbered
their opposite numbers. This is a popular phenomenon
in education in developing countries.
d. Illiteracy stood at 2.4 percent in Taiwan. There were
447,000 illiterates aged 15 and above. The rate was
2.2 percent and 6.7 percent in China. The problem of
illiteracy is not serious in Taiwan.
2. Preschool Education
Taiwan had 3,283 kindergartens in 2007, with a
combined enrollment of 191,773 children, an impressive
10.2-fold increase from 1950. As preschool education
in Taiwan is placed under the jurisdiction of two
different government agencies, enrollment tabulation is
complicated. An estimate has to be made often. Low
gross and net enrollment rates were observed in Taiwan
and China. Efforts have to be redoubled to promote
preschool education in both countries.
3. Elementary Education:
The gross and net enrollment rates for elementary
education are high – near 100 percent or over – in Taiwan
and all other industrialized countries surveyed.
The 100 percent mark was surpassed because some
underage children or older ones were enrolled and tallied.
All these countries, including Taiwan, may face
the problem of school dropouts.
4. Secondary Education
Taiwan is not behind industrialized countries in the
gross and net enrollment for secondary education.
Taiwan is on a par with South Korea and far ahead of
China.
5. Higher Education
a. South Korea leads in the gross enrollment for higher
education. Taiwan is on a par with the United States,
followed by Australia, Britain, France, and Japan.
China lags far behind at 22 percent.
b. Again, South Korea leads in matriculation, followed
by Australia, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. Japan,
France, and Germany are closely behind.
c. Most students choose social sciences, business, and
law as well as arts and humanities as their majors.
Undergraduate students in Taiwan and the United
Kingdom prefer medical sciences, while their opposite
numbers in China and South Korea opt for engineering.
d. Graduate students in Taiwan choose engineering and
social sciences, business, and law, while their counterparts
in other countries evenly spread their majors.
e. A high plurality of college graduates in Taiwan
earned degrees in social sciences, business and law.
A similar phenomenon was observed in other countries
as well.
f. South Korea has the ratio of students to the total population
at 6.57 percent. Others in descending order
are: Taiwan at 5.96 percent, the United States at 5.86
percent, Australia at 5.13 percent, the United Kingdom
at 3.85 percent, France at 3.48 percent, Japan at
3.20 percent, Germany at 2.71 percent and China at
1.78 percent.
6. Budgets for Education
Taiwan’s budgets for education in proportion to
GDP were low at 4.05 percent in 2007, though slightly
higher than the similar ratio of Japan’s. Taiwan
lagged behind South Korea (4.6%), the United States
(5.3%), the United Kingdom (5.3%), France (5.8%),
Germany (4.6%), and Australia (4.8%). Taiwan has to
do whatever it can to catch up
7. International Student Exchanges
There were a record 5,259 foreign students in
Taiwan in 2007. Close to 44 percent of them majored in
social sciences. Another 36.34 percent chose technologies
and natural sciences. The remaining 19.72 percent