TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Universities are in a continuous battle to enhance their reputations and attract more students, with the number of published papers playing a pivotal role. Despite this effort, Taiwan trails in global academic rankings, attributed to low faculty salaries and inadequate resources.
"Taiwan's salary is on the low side compared to the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, and South Korea, and the resources invested in higher education are also insufficient, coupled with low tuition fees," said Chen Chen-kuei, Providence University’s supervisor.
The Highly Cited Researchers list by Clarivate annually spotlights scientists with significant global impact in their fields. In 2023, Beijing's Tsinghua University boasted 78 listed scholars, while the University of Hong Kong had 33, and the University of Tokyo had 11. In contrast, only six scholars from National Taiwan University made the list.
To bolster its academic standing, Taiwan is increasing salaries for new and middle-aged professors. "If Taiwan wants to be sustainable in academic research, then the new assistant professors, or even the professors and associate professors in their mid-careers, should be given a high starting salary," stated Mei Hsu, a Distinguished Professor at National Taiwan Normal University.
Chou Hung-wei, a senior executive officer at the Department of Higher Education, noted that NT$2.67 billion was allocated for flexible pay in 2022, benefiting 12,648 teachers. The Ministry of Education hopes initiatives like the Higher Education Sprout Project will significantly enhance research quality. The effectiveness of these measures remains to be seen.