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Taiwan’s college tuition ranks No 14 in the world: Taiwan Higher Education Union

Research shows Taiwan’s university tuition is higher than what the public would expect.

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(downloaded from Taiwan Higher Education Union website)

(downloaded from Taiwan Higher Education Union website)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Taiwan Higher Education Union said on Monday (June 3) that Taiwan’s university tuition fees rank 14th in the world according to the latest research done by its youth action committee.

Committee chairman, Su Tzu-hsuan (蘇子軒) told reporters at a press conference that after adjusting for purchasing power parity (PPP), Taiwan’s average university tuition ranks number 14 among the world’s richest 100 countries according to GDP.

Su said the committee found that Taiwan’s university tuition averaged US$6,218, higher than the global mean of US$3,055 and median of US$1,774.

In response, Chu Chun-chang (朱俊彰), head of the Department of Higher Education at the Ministry of Education (MOE), told the Central News Agency on Monday that it was not entirely accurate to compare numbers when talking about tuition. “We must also take the evolution of higher education and taxation into consideration,” said Chu.

Nevertheless, the youth action committee pointed out that according to the MOE’s statistics, the government budget for higher education in Taiwan accounts for only 0.68% of its GDP, much lower than the average of 1.32% among OECD countries.

As the MOE is about to conduct a yearly review of university tuition hikes, the youth action committee suggested the ministry think twice before allowing universities to raise tuition yet again. “The key to enhancing the quality of education lies not in higher tuition, but in a higher budget from the government,” added Su.