Adopting neoliberal values in Taiwan’s higher education governance: a hybridisation process

ABSTRACT

This article considers the adoption of Western neoliberalism in Taiwan’s higher education (HE) governance as a hybridisation process in which the influences of political democratisation, social liberalisation and Chinese cultural traditions intersect with contemporary Western norms and values. The paper draws on data from interviews with senior university administrators and education ministry officials to delineate the resistance to the competitive ethos embedded in neoliberalism and the retention of state presence and intervention in university governance, highlighting Taiwan’s historical, socio-political and cultural contexts. This account exemplifies how various historical, socio-political and cultural factors influence Taiwan’s HE governance and how Western norms and values are absorbed, questioned and resisted during the hybridisation process.

KEYWORDS:

• Hybridisation
• neoliberalism
• westernisation
• university governance
• Taiwan

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The post-secondary colleges established during the Japanese colonial era served specific purposes and thus specialised in particular subject areas. For example, there were Taipei First Teacher School, Taipei Second Teacher School, Tainan Teacher School, Taichung Agriculture College and Tainan Engineering College, which evolved into the present-day University of Taipei, National Taipei University of Education, National Tainan University, National Chung Hsin University and National Cheng Kung University, respectively.

2 For example, National Hsing-Hua University, National Sun Yat-Sen University and National Chiao-Tung University in Taiwan were relocated from the mainland. Thus, they share the same origins as Tsinghua University, Zhongshan University and Shanghai and Xi’an Jiaotong Universities in mainland China, respectively.

3 According to interviewees, approximately 70% of the incomes of private universities is from tuition fees, 20% is from government subsidies and 10% is self-funding (including donations and government project-based competitive grants); at public universities, the proportion of self-funding reaches 50%, whereas those from government subsidies and tuition fees are 30% and 20%, respectively.

Additional information

Funding

Work on the paper was partially supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council (Project No. 18606017) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.