The development and progress of higher education research in Taiwan: Massification matters

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the evolution and characteristics of the higher education research community in Taiwan. In echoing the development of the East Asian region, Taiwan has made substantial progress during the past two decades. The massification of higher education itself has played a major role in promoting the academic differentiation or division of labour, including higher education research area. With the momentum gathered since the 1990s, we have seen the appearance of a professional society and its official journal. A national quality assurance agency and its research arms also promote the deepening of higher education research in Taiwan. Despite more emphases initially on instrumental or management-oriented purposes, higher education research in Taiwan today is moving in diverse and balanced directions, with a variety of themes and methods. However, the lack of a university-level degree program due to constrained graduate employment prospects is inconsistent with the development of massification in higher education. In addition, the incoming large-scale higher education restructuring due to the rapidly declining birth rate has become an unstable factor to the development of this emerging field.