Education Minister Dr. Wu Ching-ji was the guest of honor invited to TNUA’s “AIM 2020” cultural forum, delivering a speech on Taiwan’s education policy on May 18.
Dr. Wu gave an in-depth analysis of how Taiwan’s government policy is supporting the development of creative talents and what challenges it is facing. He also revealed his vision on arts education and how it can be put into practice.
Universities and colleges nurturing more
talents for cultural innovation industries
President Ma Ying-jeou in a speech marking his second anniversary in office unveiled a six-point directive, with two of the points stressing the importance of culture and innovations for increasing Taiwan’s competitiveness, according to the education minister.
According to the statistics from the Ministry of Education, the number of arts and design departments in Taiwan’s colleges and universities grew to 182 in the academic year of 2008 from 149 in 2002. The number of students in related fields grew to 66,746 (7,290 of whom were in masters’ degree programs) in 2008 from about 18,000 (2,800 in masters’ degree programs) in 2001.
Over a period of eight years, the number of students related to the cultural innovation industries increased five-fold, Dr. Wu said. Taiwan is not big, but it has been actively working towards becoming a “nation of creativity.”
The education paradigm and reform
In 2002 the Ministry of Education unveiled its white paper on creativity education, adopting a comprehensive view aiming to incorporate the creativity education in all levels of education. Guidelines were also made to systematically promote creativity education in a comprehensive way.
Dr. Wu thinks that the education paradigm and reformed mechanisms are the foundation for developing cultural innovation talents.
He noted that university education is chiefly aimed at developing students’ talents. While university education is not aimed at training students to serve enterprises, ways must be found to bridge the gap between school education and market demand, he said.
Cross-field integration is key to competitiveness
The Ministry of Education runs various overseas training projects, encouraging participation in and organization of international arts and design competitions, sponsoring talents in special fields with important characteristics, and funding cross-field degree and credit programs and digital teaching for the liberal arts.
Dr. Wu said these programs are meant to create endless momentum of creativity and to widen students and teachers’ perspectives.