Written by Hsu Tsu-Yueh. Image credit to News Center.
National Cheng Kung University performs extraordinarily in the 2022 Global Views Best Universities in Taiwan Rankings, flourishing in terms of sustainability and academia-industry collaboration, securing the runner-up in general rankings. The result of the rankings was revealed on June 29. This is the highest ranking NCKU has achieved in the past three years.
NCKU has begun pushing for USR and SDGs courses many years ago and facilitated the academia-industry collaboration with high-tech industry in southern Taiwan. The university is a leading force in the right direction, the Global Views pointed out.
According to Global Views, the reshoring of Taiwanese semiconductor companies in 2020 and the Climate Change Response Act passed in April this year indicate that talent needs will be most prominent in semiconductor industry and net-zero plans.
The Global Views analysis finds that this year’s Best Universities in Taiwan Rankings shows an M-shaped developmental trend where the competitive ones stay competitive and the inadequate ones remain inadequate. Due to low birth rate, universities will find it gradually more difficult to sustain its continuous operation with the decrease of freshmen admission in Taiwan each year. Top schools recruit top students and become more competitive; mid-range schools focus on their strong suits and transform into specialized teaching environments; schools at the bottom will face difficulties and gradually fade out.
Surveys with presidents and executive vice presidents of each university found that industrial connections, interdisciplinary integration, and international collaboration are the three focal points of the universities’ development plans.
The Global Views rankings take into account only universities with over 3,000 students and over 150 associate professors, which is seen as an indicator whether the university could continue its operations. Among the 133 higher education institutions in Taiwan, less than 90—only 89—institutions meet the criteria this year, which is a worrisome situation.
The Global Views Best Universities in Taiwan Rankings revises its indicators each year to precisely reflect the trends of talent development in Taiwan and the world, incorporating issues such as sustainability, carbon reduction, bilingual nation, technology talents. This year, the report integrates public opinion polls, open government data, world largest academic database Elsevier Scopus, and the research analysis tool SciVal. With a total of 44 rating indicators from six aspects, the rankings are determined by five fields, revealing up to the top 30 contenders (top 6 revealed in medical fields). The universities could see where they land compared with fellow competitors.
The Global Views analysis indicates that as talents in sustainability are in trend, ESG issues reshape university rankings; in the era of labor shortage, practical education are strong suits for private schools and vocational schools; following policies for balanced development in northern and southern Taiwan, universities in southern Taiwan are receiving more nation-level programs and resources. Universities that understand how to seize the opportunities and thrive against the plight of decreased admission due to low birth rate will come out victors in the M-shaped development of higher education.