University dropouts hit historic highBy Rachel Lin, Wu Po-hsuan and Dennis Xie / Staff reporters, with staff writerDropouts in the last academic year constituted a record-high 13.38 percent of all university students in Taiwan, the Ministry of Education said. Of the nation’s 1.24 million university students in the last academic year, 166,562 decided to stop pursuing a university degree temporarily or permanently, ministry data showed. While Taiwan has seen a steady number of university dropouts over the past several years, the annual dropout rate has been increasing due to a declining number of total students caused by the nation’s falling birthrate, Department of Higher Education Director-General Chu Chun-chang (朱俊彰) said on Monday. The rates differ between universities, but generally private universities have higher dropout rates than public schools, while night schools have higher rates than day schools, Chu said. National Chung Hsing University professor Wu Tung-hsing (武東星) called on universities to draft more flexible course regulations for first-year students.

Source: Taipei Times May 01, 2020 16:00 UTC