1 INQAAHE 2009 Conference and AGM International Accreditation in Taiwan Higher Education Presented by Dr. Roger C. Y. Chen President, Higher Education.

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INQAAHE 2009 Conference and AGM

International Accreditation in Taiwan Higher Education

Presented by

Dr. Roger C. Y. ChenPresident, Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Tai

wan

Dr. Angela Yung-chi HouResearch Fellow & Director of International Exchange,

Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan

March 31 to April 2 , 2009, Abu Dhabi

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Fact Sheet in Taiwan higher Education

1. Number of universities and colleges Increased by 120% in the past 10 years with more than 160

institutions

II. Student enrollment With a total number of 1.3 millions increased 65%

III. University Entrance Exam admission rateMore than 97% in 2008

IV. Net enrollment in higher education 55.3%

(total number of 18-22 year-old students studying at a university and a college / school-aged population between 18-21 years old)

V. Gross enrollment rate increased 78.6%

(total number of students studying at a university and a college / school-aged population between 18-21 years old)

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Total Number of New Born Babies in Taiwan from 1957 to 2007

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

400,000

450,000

1957 1967 1977 1987 1997 2007年度

人數

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Total Number of New Born Babies from 1990 to 2007

YearTotal No of new born babies /fertility rate

YearTotal No of new born babies / fertility rate

1990(2008大學 )

335,618 / 1.810 1999 283,661 / 1.555

1991 321,932 / 1.720 2000 305,312 / 1.680

1992 321,632 / 1.730 2001 260,354 / 1.400

1993 325,613 / 1.760 2002 247,530 / 1.340

1994 322,938 / 1.755 2003 227,070 / 1.235

1995 329,581 / 1.775 2004 216,419 / 1.118

1996 325,545 / 1.760 2005 205,854 / 1.115

1997 326,002 / 1.770 2006 204,459 / 1.115

1998 (2016大學 )

271,450 / 1.465 2007 204,414 / 1.100

2008 198733

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Total Student Enrollment in Taiwan Higher Education from 1975 to 2007

0

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

1,400,000

1957 1967 1977 1987 1997 2007年度

人數

專科大學碩士班博士班合計

Junior CollegeUniversityMaster Ph.DTotal

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Total Enrollment in Taiwan Higher Education from 1990 to 2007 by degree

year Associate Bachelor Master Ph.D. total

1990 315,169 239,082 17,935 4,437 576,623

1991 332,127 253,462 21,306 5,481 612,376

1992 348,803 273,088 24,711 6,560 653,162

1993 367,373 285,982 28,117 7,713 689,185

1994 378,860 302,093 30,832 8,395 720,180

1995 394,751 314,499 33,200 8,897 751,347

1996 412,837 337,837 35,508 9,365 795,547

1997 433,865 373,702 38,606 10,013 856,186

1998 452,346 409,705 43,025 10,845 915,921

1999 457,020 470,030 54,980 12,253 994,283

2000 444,182 564,059 70,039 13,822 1,092,102

2001 406,841 677,171 87,251 15,962 1,187,225

2002 347,247 770,915 103,425 18,705 1,240,292

2003 289,025 837,602 121,909 21,658 1,270,194

2004 230,938 894,528 135,992 24,409 1,285,867

2005 180,886 938,648 149,493 27,531 1,296,558

2006 153,978 966,591 163,585 29,839 1,313,993

2007 133,890 987,914 172,518 31,707 1,326,029

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Number of New born babies and College Students

0

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

1,400,000

1957 1967 1977 1987 1997 2007年度

人數

出生人口數

高等教育學生人數

No. of New born babiesNo. College Students

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Number of Colleges and Universities in Taiwan Higher Education from 1957 to 2007 by type

-

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

1957 1967 1977 1987 1997 2007年度

家數

專科學校

獨立學院

大學

合計

Junior CollegeCollegeUniversityTotal

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Number of Colleges and Universities in Taiwan Higher Education from 1957 to 2007 by type

year Junior college college Universities total

1990 75 25 21 121

1991 73 29 21 123

1992 74 29 21 124

1993 74 30 21 125

1994 72 35 23 130

1995 74 36 24 134

1996 70 43 24 137

1997 61 40 38 139

1998 53 45 39 137

1999 36 61 44 141

2000 23 74 53 150

2001 19 78 57 154

2002 15 78 61 154

2003 16 75 67 158

2004 14 70 75 159

2005 17 56 89 162

2006 16 53 94 163

2007 15 49 100 164

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Challenges for Taiwan Higher Education

• From Elite Education to Universal Education

• Quality Assurance

• International Academic Competitiveness

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National Quality Assurance Framework in Taiwan Higher Education

• From centralization to decentralization

– A decentralized system in higher education evaluation is being formed completely until the establishment of the HEEACT in 2005

• Duplication of national quality assurance in higher education

• Exemptions from HEEACT Accreditation

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Governmental role in Development of External Quality Assurance

• University Law of 2005 revised• government is entitled to commission

external evaluation agencies to assess the academic performance of an institution

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Three Major External Quality Assurance Agencies in Taiwan

• Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan (HEEACT)– 74 comprehensive universities and colleges

• Taiwan Assessment and Evaluation Association (TWAEA)– 38 science and technologies universities

• National Yunlin University of Science & Technology– 40 technical colleges

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HEEACT

• Endowed in 2005 with mutual funds of the government and 153 institutions in Taiwan

• 34 full-time staffs and more than 800 part-time reviewers

Board of Directors

President

Advisory Committee

Evaluation Affairs

Research & Development

General Affairs

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Two Major Tasks of HEEACT

• Program Evaluation: to help institutions and programs to enhance quality – Self-evaluation – Peer review

• Rankings of Academic Performance: to encourage colleges and universities in pursuit of academic excellence– Benchmarking – International competitiveness

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Statistics for Accreditation Outcomes in the Academic Year of 2007 and 2008

Review status Accredited

Accredited conditionally

Denial

Academic Year

Number of programs

Number % Number % Number %

2006 Fall Semester

362 279 77% 71 19.6% 11 3%

Spring Semester

242 159 65.7% 55 22.7% 27 11.6%

2007 Fall Semester 241 159 66% 55 22.8% 27 11.2%

Spring Semester 458 386 84.3% 65 14.2% 7 1.5%

Total 1303 983 75.45% 246 18.9% 72 5.5%

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Duplication of National Quality Assurance in Higher Education

• 4 Types of Accreditation– Institutional accreditation – Specialized accreditation – National accreditation – International accreditation

• An institution will likely be reviewed more than 2 times by the different types of accreditation within a whole year

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4 kinds of Exemptions from HEEACT Accreditation

• Accredited by Association to Advanced Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International )

• Accredited by Chemical Society in Taiwan • Accredited or remain in the process of application

by Institute of Engineering Education • Programs or fields of Taiwan literature and

Taiwan studies which have been accredited by National Taiwan Normal University

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Table 3: Exemption from HEEACT accreditation by Type and Number

IEET CST NTNU AACSB

Year starting accrediting

2004 2004 2006 2003

Type Specialized vs. national

Specialized vs. national

Specialized vs. national

Specialized vs. international

Program Engineering Chemistry Taiwan Culture and Humanity

Business

Number 249 25 28 67

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Internationalization and Taiwan Higher Education

• In 2002, the MOE launched the "Enhancing Global Competitiveness Plan“– Increase the number of foreign students studying in Taiwan – Encourage Taiwan students to study abroad – 5 year- 50 Billion Program for Developing First-class University

and Top Research Centers• In 2007, HEEACT was commissioned to develop a global ranking tit

led “Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities”

• International accreditation of programs and institutions didn’t draw much national attention until the HEEACT operated evaluation in 2006– Fu Jen Catholic University– National Sun Yat Shen University – National Chiao Tung University– National Chengchi University

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Internationalization and U.S. Accreditation

• U.S. is substantial exporter of quality assurance by recognizing postsecondary education in the developing nation

– 40 accrediting agencies were active in 52 countries in 2006-2007, accrediting 385 non-U.S. institutions and programs

– offers a “nongovernmental, mission-oriented model, with trained and impartial evaluators

• American accreditation, are sought by more and more institutions in South America, Asia, Eastern Europe, as higher education globalizes

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U.S. Accreditation in Taiwan Higher Education

• In the late 90s, American accrediting programmatic organizations started to approach Taiwan higher education institutions

• In 2002, AACSB, the programmatic accrediting agencies started to accredit Taiwan business programs. – 4 gained accreditation– 17 became a member of AACSB International

• In 2006, the Middle States commission on Higher education (MSCHE), an American institutional accreditor, has accepted the application of one Taiwan university

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Benefited by American Accreditation

• Attract students and faculty easier

• Develop joint degree programs with foreign institutions

• Compete with local institutions

• Help them to develop a continuous self-evaluation mechanism

• Implement the outcomes based on mission-oriented goal set internally

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Great Challenges for Taiwan institutions

• integrating international standards into local context including models of governance, qualification of faculty and staff, resource allocation, etc.

• speaking fluent English was another big challenge for all senior administrators, faculty, staff and students

• Translation of materials into English required for accreditation also causes problems and additional work for them in the process of application and maintenance work.

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International recognition of local accrediting organizations

• to establish partnerships with foreign accrediting organizations– Taiwan Medical Accreditation Council (TMAC) / the

National Committee on Foreign Medical Education and Accreditation (NCFMEA)

• to participate in international network of quality assurance in higher education– HEEACT / INQAAHE/ (APQN)

– IEET/ Washington Accord

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Some Problems

• Institution to be reviewed by different types of evaluations more than 5 times within a certain period of time– Redundancy of evaluation activities

• Increasing loads of an institution– Waste of educational resources

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Challenges for International Accreditation in Taiwan

• The decentralized frameworks for quality assurance or accreditation in Taiwan cannot apply to providers outside the national education system.

• Taiwan accrediting organizations do not have capacities to accredit programs or institutions abroad now– It is difficult to monitor them

• Culture imperialism v.s. national jurisdiction over higher education

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Integration or Acquisition of Various Evaluations

• Forum on the Collaborations among University Evaluation Agencies in 2008

• An idea to create a coordinating organization for serving as primary national voice for representing evaluation results to the pubic and assure quality of national and foreign accreditation agencies

• HEEACT will play an active role as a coordinator

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Conclusions

• Organize an independent institute in Taiwan such as CHEA or Germany Accreditation Council

• Define the basic requirements of the process of evaluation for accrediting agenices

• Take care that any national accreditation is carried out on the basis of reliable, transparent and internationally recognized criteria

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Thank you for your attention

Higher Education Evaluation & Accreditation Council of Taiwan

http://www.heeact.edu.tw/