※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※
※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※
【大學危機1 高等教育退場潮啟動 我的大學不見了！】
「大學生了沒」，不再是流行語，取而代之的，將是「你的大學還在嗎」？我的大學不見了，會不會變成大學教育不見了？台灣每年比日本多一倍的博士，將何去何從？高等教育退場潮啟動，將產生什麼問題？
專輯精采重點：
facebook 討論》「大學生了沒」可能變成「大學沒了」！你的大學還在嗎？
三月十六日見到小從（化名）的時候，他剛剛到台北地方法院，為已經拖了一年的勞資糾紛出庭。已經二十八歲，住在每月三千塊租金的房子，偶爾得靠典當周轉。他蒼白、瘦弱的身形，就像是個高中生。
台南立德大學日文系畢業四年多，小從最長的一份工，是在監察院打工六個月。從大考中心、公關公司、公車評鑑處、教育部到監察院。「我發現，當工讀生才找得到工作，」這是小從的經驗法則。
「你知道立德被併了嗎？」當記者問他，他睜大眼睛猛搖頭。靠著低收入戶補助念完大學的小從，畢業後，再也沒有回過學校。
今年一月，嘉南藥理科技大學的董事會與立德大學合併，成為台灣私立大學整併退場的首樁案例。一位教育界人士透露，立德未來將改名。立德大學將走入歷史。
「部長還問我，要不要把附近另一所大學順便也接下來，」嘉藥董事長王昭雄，轉述與教育部長吳清基會面的過程。位於台南工業區，學生數三八六○人的立德，隔著一條馬路，就是學生人數只剩一七一五人的興國管理學院。
「沒人要」的大學與大學生
曾幾何時，大學與大學生成了燙手山芋。大學畢業生找不到工作，私立大學連捐給國家，國家都不要。今年起，由立德點火，「我的大學不見了」將成為百萬大專生，及家庭得面對的新議題。
生存壓力，加上畢業生愈來愈難找到工作的窘境，許多學者憂心，「我的大學不見了」將進一步演變為台灣「大學教育不見了」的嚴重扭曲。
參與許多學校評鑑的台大社會系教授林萬億，就看到一些後段大學，為了讓學生就業，把大學變成「職業訓練所」，過度強調短期技藝的教學。台大社會系特聘教授陳東升更擔心，台灣十年成長三倍的博士班畢業生，未來因缺乏固定的教職，變成「流浪教授」。因為教職缺乏保障，大學教授動輒被逼退、取代，根本失去探索學問的自由度，「大學這樣玩，就玩完了。」
台灣現有博士生三．三七萬人。假設博士平均六年畢業，一年台灣就會畢業五六二五名博士。台灣專任教授總計約五萬，以任教二十五年退休估算，每年釋出約二千八百個缺。換言之，就算大學不倒，每年將有二千八百位（約五成）博士畢業生找不到教職。（見表一）
累積十多年的多項錯誤高教政策，讓台灣高等教育處於量與質同時扭曲的隱憂。
車子下了麻豆交流道，開了約莫五分鐘，才看到真理大學麻豆校區的路牌。真理招牌旁，掛的是另一家聯招招生不佳的學校。轉進只能容納兩部車錯身的羊腸小徑，又約莫開了十五分鐘，在寬闊的田中央，出現真理校區。
沒有福利社的大學
時間是中午，偌大的校園空蕩蕩，零落的學生紛紛往校外覓食。校園很靜，唯一的聲音是教堂的大鍵琴。「我們本來有餐廳、福利社，去年莫拉克颱風來了淹了，就倒了，」受訪的年輕教授坦言。
大前年，真理大學三十四個系所接受評鑑，十二個系通過，十二個系有條件通過，十個系評鑑未通過，前年新任校長吳銘達到任後大幅改善，去年十四個系所評鑑過關，八個系有條件過關。但九八學年度麻豆校區卻面臨窘境，因少子化及教育部五％門檻限制，招生欠佳，只剩一千九百多位學生。某科系，甚至出現專任教授七人，大一新生只有一人報到的奇特狀況。
真理大學不是最慘的學校，由於淡水校本部招生非常好，招生數比前學年度成長增加三．五％，目前兩校區總計仍有一萬多學生。新校長很看重麻豆校區發展，每週都特別南下一趟，派出二十多位資深教授南下開課，加開交通車。也鼓勵校本部學生社團南下開分社。更是教育部評鑑優等的社區大學（曾文社大），誓言不能讓校區跌破一千五百人。至於餐廳問題，則派出白宮會館（實習旅館）及透過餐旅系專業教授指導學生當作實習於中午賣便當。另外計劃將學生宿舍集中校園內，並降低住宿費，解決學生過度分散的問題。
私校協進會理事長、東海大學校長程海東表示，私立學校學生數損益兩平的點約為四千人以上。九八年學生數不到四千人的大專院校，總計有三十五所，佔總數二一％。（見表二）
資源分散錯置，受影響的不只是賺不到錢的出資者，更大的受害者是學生。一位在台南教法律的老師坦言，擔心學校倒，這類學校的教師流動率很高。以他自己的科系為例，成立才七年，七位專任教師已換過一輪，最長資歷也才三年。
學生少，彼此刺激不夠，與外界互動少，所以很容易變得沒有危機意識。沒有社團動手實作，培養解決問題能力的機會也較缺乏。多數後段班大學學生，家境不好，許多是家裡第一個念大學的小孩，「念大學現在變成一種懲罰，考好念國立，爸爸罰三萬；考不好念私立，爸爸罰五萬。念到後段班，畢業找不到工作繼續罰，」他質疑。
資源分散，為求生存，教育品質很難堅持，傳統師生關係正遭到嚴重挑戰。一位台大畢業的法律系教授指出，他原想效法老師，每學期當掉三分之一學生，讓學生好好讀書，但學校卻出面阻止。原因是教育部對招生總額控管，如果當太多，重修生佔名額。而新生繳全額學費，重修生只繳學分費。
台灣大學的二○一五大限
法律系是畢業生失業率最高的科系之一。為了幫學生考司法官與律師，東吳大學十年前開始幫學生辦模擬考。一間北部私立綜合大學法律系也討論，為了協助學生考試，要不要像補習班一樣，幫學生蒐集考古題。「我們的畢業生一定考不上律師、司法官，所以我都很鼓勵學生去考高普考。我學期中、末考試就從裡面出題，」這位助理教授說。
這種扭曲的高教生態，在可預見的未來，隨著少子化只會愈來愈扭曲。九十八學年度，大學缺額共計六萬九千人，缺額率一六．二％（見表三）。大學校長間流傳著「二○一五大限」，那一年學生就會少五萬五千人，約等於三分之一科系要關門。東海大學校長程海東強調：「大學未來的議題就是轉型與退場。不該分公立或私立，不是績效或辦學不好的問題，而是供需根本不平衡。」
不論公立或私立，從資源配置的角度，為了教學品質與國家財政，政府應要求未達經濟規模的學校合併。九八年學校總人數少於四千人的大專院校裡，有十五所是國立大專。「關鍵是校務會議不通過，」教育部次長林聰明不諱言，大學自治後，最高決策機關是校務會議，教育部無法強制主導。
至於私立大學整併，私校法通過董事會可以自主合併，但教育部無法源強制進行。林聰明表示，之前教育部曾接管六所大專院校，把學校經營上正軌後，許多董事想把學校拿回來，教育部官員紛紛吃上官司，造成困擾。現在教育部不再接管，而是派輔導小組介入。
至於大學退場，教育部公權力只能靠評鑑，技職大專連續三次不過，一系縮減五十個名額；大學連續三年學生報到率低於七成，員額縮減一到三成，目前有二十個科系會「慢慢」縮減。
問林聰明，教育部會不會覺得自己是抱著炸彈在懷中？他不語，強調已開了門招收國際學生，也有法源可以轉辦養老院。
「包括陸生在內，外籍生來台，絕不是用這個來解決大學生不足的困境，」程海東批評。全世界大學教育能輸出只有澳洲與英國，台灣高教沒有英語化，台灣有什麼能吸引別人來？來了之後，能不能留下來？他建議：「教育政策應該要與經建、移民、兩岸關係政策合併考量，否則又是片面，否則又是與現實脫鉤，又是短視處理。」
程海東直言，台灣的大學無可迴避，一定要有人關門。日本去年就關了五所。公立學校應要帶頭整併，也應面對私校整併的癥結。台灣的學校都是財團法人，財產、股權無法買賣，「這些創辦人在意的是自己可以拿回什麼，」他說，是否該有一個合理合法的機制。
已成為主流的大學生失業問題，凸顯了台灣高等教育扭曲的現實。緩慢而牛步的退場機制，會不會讓高等教育慢性自殺，繼續遺害未來的年輕人，台灣已無可迴避。
台大社會系特聘教授陳東升：不要再創造失落十年
三月十日晚上六點，該是下課時分。台大社會系館四二二室，卻正上演一場震撼教育。現任台灣社會學會會長、台大社會系特聘教授陳東升，向台下三十多位社會所碩、博士生，報告近期學會研究成果：二○一七年，保守估計，台灣光社會系將有一八○位博士生找不到教職。
一百八十人有多少？陳東升說，現行台灣社會系加上中研院相關教授只有四百人，換言之，未來八年，台灣的漂流社會學博士人數將近是有教職人口的半數。
「你覺得我們可以做什麼呢？」兩個小時，他對著滿場被震攝到沉默的學生，鼓勵性地提問。學生回問，老師是否不鼓勵我們念博士班？他語氣保守說：「我只是讓大家知道，事實就是這個樣子。」
但是，陳東升在《天下》專訪中沉痛呼籲，政府應重視這個現象。否則，許多新生代博士，投入金錢與青春歲月，畢業卻發現社會與他的想像完全不同，這將是另一種失落的十年。他以下為專訪紀要：
台灣博士班的問題，恐怕比大學生更嚴重。從數字看，台灣博士班這十五年人數成長了三倍，現在在學人數有三萬人。如果以博士班平均得念六年來計算，台灣每年會有五千位博士畢業生，在未來會進入職場。
以日本來比較，日本總人口數約為台灣五倍，但一年博士畢業生也只有兩千五百人。
大學變少，教授缺更少
博士生很多，好處是台灣水準很高，因此IMD評比裡，台灣人力素質很高。但壞的一面是浪費，台灣的教授一個人指導的學生多，很難充分的指導。以往，念博士班成本比較低，因為學費低，又有獎助學金。現在博士班學費也不低，很多博士生得花時間打工，怎麼把書念好？
當然，學生都是成年人了，念博士「應該」是深思後的決定，也可能跟國外一樣，念的時候，就清楚未來可能會找不到工作。但捫心自問，台灣各大學廣招博士生，真的是為了學生嗎？還是根本是為了爭取教育部經費，碩博士生點數比較多，老師為了讓自己開課與評鑑時，有足夠的點數而已。大學教授是否已經變成既得利益者？講好聽一點是造育英才；講難聽一點，我們以後可能會被罵，是踩在學生身上，在享受資源。
庫存博士要消化二十年
我們研究了台灣社會學系博士的供給與需求，截至二○一七年，台灣將有一八○個博士生找不到教職。如果以每一年釋出職缺十一個來計算，這些庫存博士要消化二十年，這還是最保守的估計，因為我們沒有把在歐洲念書的人計入。而且未來每一年還會有新的博士畢業生。
但我要強調，社會系的問題不是最嚴重的。全台社會系只有四個有博士班，每年招生一一○人。但教育博士每年有一千人，是社會系九倍；政治學一年有三二 ○人，是社會系三倍；中文系約五百人。政府應該算一算，光人文社會科學將有多少人的工作不穩定？
我再過三年就可以退休了，但這個問題，將影響大學與年輕人好幾代。現在科學園區都在用派遣人力了，未來，如果有這麼多漂流的博士，大學難保不會用派遣教師。台灣的大學這樣玩，就被玩完了。
嘉南藥理科技大學董事長王昭雄：兩個學校資源互補才有救
我跟立德大學王董事長是老朋友，他的背景是生意人，原本創辦立德也只是想做金主，沒想到陰錯陽差變成董事長，他不是專門在辦教育的。
去年私校修法，一個董事會可以有兩個學校，嘉南及立德才能合併。嘉藥走技職體系，立德走大學體系，資源可以撥補，加起來就有救。立德的學生結構是倒金字塔，今年畢業生離開，學費收入會降低，所以今年首要目標就是要站起來，新生要比畢業生人數多。
要做更多硬體投資
教育部同意後，我會再做一些硬體投資，讓學生感覺學校有進步。今年立德要單獨招生，用小學院的方式經營，只要照顧得好，家境不錯但是考得不好的學生就願意來。
【Taiwanese Higher Education in Crisis - My University Has Disappeared!】+02
By Yi-Shan Chen From CommonWealth Magazine Published: April 15, 2010 (No.444)
In January 2010, the boards of Chia Nan University of Pharmacy & Science and Leader University signed an agreement to merge, the first merger of private universities in Taiwan since the Private School Law was revised last June, providing a legal foundation for such mergers. According to one education professional, Leader University will change its name and eventually vanish into history.
"The minister even asked me if we wanted to take another nearby university under our control," says Chia Nan University president Wang Chao-hsiung, recalling a conversation he had with Minister of Education Wu Ching-ji. Located in the Tainan Science Park, just across the street from Leader University, which has a student body of 3,860, is Hsing Kuo University of Management, which is down to 1,715 students.
Unwanted Universities, Unwanted Students
Over a period of several years, universities and university students have gradually become hot potatoes. Newly graduated university students cannot find a job, and even when private universities want to donate their institutions to the state, the state does not want them. At the beginning of this year, Leader University ignited a potential trend toward disappearing universities, a trend 1 million college and university students and their families must confront.
With universities fighting for their survival, and university graduates finding it increasingly difficult to land a job, many academics worry that the mantra "my university has disappeared" could evolve further into the more serious refrain "university education has disappeared."
Lin Wan-I, a professor in National Taiwan University's Department of Social Work who often participates in school evaluations, has seen some less prestigious universities turn themselves into "professional training institutes" and overemphasize the teaching of short-term skills to help students get jobs.
Dung-sheng Chen, a distinguished professor in NTU's Department and Graduate Institute of Sociology, is even more worried about the 300 percent growth in the number of students who graduated with doctoral degrees over the past 10 years. He fears that a potential shortage of stable teaching positions will spawn a class of "vagabond professors."
As professors get laid off or replaced by other "vagabonds" with increasing frequency, leading to declining job security, teachers will lose their independence in the search for knowledge. "When universities play that game, they're finished," Chen says.
Taiwan currently has 33,700 doctoral candidates. Assuming it takes an average of six years for students to get a doctorate, Taiwan will produce an average of 5,625 new PhDs a year in the near future. Many face bleak career prospects if they want a university teaching job. There are now 50,000 full-time professors in the country, and if they retire after teaching for an average of 25 years, that will open up approximately 2,000 jobs per year. Even if none of Taiwan's universities fold, nearly two-thirds of all new PhDs will not be able to find work as university professors.
Over 10 years of flawed higher education policies have led to distortions in the accessibility and quality of the country's higher education system.
Five minutes after getting off the Madou exit on Taiwan's No. 1 North-South Freeway, one sees a sign pointing the way to the Madou campus of Aletheia University. After turning onto a tiny road that can barely accommodate a car in each direction, one has to drive for about 15 minutes before the campus appears, in the center of a big open field.
Three years ago, when the government evaluated Aletheia University's 34 departments and institutes, it approved 12, conditionally approved another 12, and did not pass 10. The situation improved dramatically after the university's current president Wu Ming-yuan arrived on the scene two years ago. In an evaluation conducted last year, 14 departments passed muster, and another eight were conditionally approved.
But the Madou campus continues to face a major quandary that grew worse in the 2009-2010 academic year. Total enrollment is only just over 1,900 students, the result of the declining number of university-age students in Taiwan and the Ministry of Education's tightening of the threshold students have to meet to gain admission to a university. Recruiting new students has been a nightmare, to the point where in one department with seven full-time professors, only one freshman registered for the program.
Despite's Aletheia University's difficult predicament in Madou, it is not in the worst shape of higher education institutions because of the success of its main campus in Danshui. Enrollment in the school's two branches, which totals more than 10,000 students, rose a combined 3.5 percent this year from a year earlier. Tunghai University president Haydn H.D. Chen, who has also been the chairman of the Association of Private Universities & Colleges since September 2009, says private universities need over 4,000 students to break even, a target 35 universities and colleges, or 21 percent of the total, failed to meet in the 2009-2010 academic year.
Investors in the private schools who cannot make money are not the only ones affected by this dispersion and disjointed allocation of resources. Students are even bigger victims. One professor of law in Tainan admitted to anxiety over whether his school would fold. Schools like that are plagued by high turnover rates, as the concerned professor can testify. His department has lost seven full-time professors in its seven years of existence, and no teacher has been in the department for more than three years.
In an environment of flawed resource distribution, schools must cut corners to survive, making it difficult to maintain pedagogical quality and posing a serious challenge to traditional teacher-student relationships. Another law department professor, who graduated from National Taiwan University, said he originally wanted to emulate a former teacher of his and fail about one-third of his students to force them to work hard. The school, however, blocked the initiative because of the Ministry of Education's quota system for total enrollment. If too many students are flunked, then a bigger share of the fixed student body will be repeat students, and unlike new students who pay full tuition, repeat students only pay a fee based on credit hours.
The Looming '2015 Armageddon'
This already distorted higher education environment is likely to grow worse in the foreseeable future, as the student population continues to dwindle. In the 2009-2010 academic year, Taiwan's universities had 69,000 unfilled openings for students, 16.2 percent of the total. University presidents, however, are focused on what is being referred to as the "2015 Armageddon." In 2015, Taiwan will have 55,000 fewer university students, a number that equates to about one-third of all departments being forced to shut down.
"The future agenda for universities will be re-engineering themselves or going out of business. It won't be a question of public vs. private schools or performance. The problem is that supply and demand are fundamentally out of whack," stresses Tunghai University's Chen.
From the perspective of resource allocation, the government should require public and private schools with student body sizes that are not economically viable to merge, a move that would both improve the quality of education and the country's finances.
Of Taiwan's higher education institutions that fell short of the 4,000-student threshold in the 2009-2010 year, 15 are public schools.
"The problem is that the universities' executive committees never approve the idea," says Deputy Minister of Education Lin Tsong-ming. Since universities have become self-administrating, the highest policy-making body at a school is its executive committee. The Education Ministry cannot force schools to accept its direction.
As for private universities merging, the Private School Law authorizes the boards of two schools to merge of their own accord, but the Education Ministry is not legally empowered to force the issue. Lin says that in the past, the ministry took control of six problematic universities and colleges. But once the schools' operations were restored to normal, many of the school's board members wanted to take their institutions back, and they sued ministry officials, making their lives difficult. Today, the ministry refuses to take over institutions in trouble, preferring instead to send advisory task forces to deal with problems.
The Ministry of Education also lacks the authority to close schools down. It can only rely on its power of evaluation. Technical and vocational colleges that fail to pass muster three times in a row lose 50 student openings from their quota, while universities that see their enrollment fall to 70 percent of their capacity for three consecutive years will have their student quota lowered by 10-30 percent. At present, 20 different university departments are slowly being diminished in scope.
Tunghai University's Chen says without mincing words that Taiwan's higher education community cannot avoid the reality that some universities will have to close. Japan shut down five universities last year. Public universities should take the lead in merging their operations, but the thorny issue of private school amalgamation also cannot be ignored. By law, all of Taiwan's universities are "incorporated foundations," meaning that their assets and shares cannot be bought or sold.
"The founders of these schools worry about what they can take back," says Chen, who wonders if there needs to be a reasonable and legal mechanism to deal with the situation.
The unemployment problem among Taiwan's university graduates is another indication of the distortions in the country's higher education system.
As the challenges mount, Taiwan can no longer afford to proceed at a snail's pace in consolidating its higher education institutions. Otherwise, many fear that the drawn-out process will lead the country's higher education system on the road to a slow suicide that will continue to hurt young people well into the future.
Translated from the Chinese by Luke Sabatier
※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※
沒有留言:
張貼留言