Shifting Purposes and Learning Processes of Massified Master’s Education in Taiwan

• In Event: Master’s education in east Asia: access, learning, and employment

Proposal

Most studies tend to explore the massification process of and outcomes of higher education system in Taiwan. There are relatively fewer studies focused on the impacts of postgraduate expansion. Master degree in Taiwan was used to be viewed as the preparation of doctoral students and this degree was also viewed as a screening for academic talent. Taiwan’s higher education entered the phase of universal access (over 50% participation rate of higher education) from the year of 2004. At the same time, over the past two decades, the number of undergraduate students doubled within 10 years (from 1994 to 2005), stabilized and grew rapidly after 2005. However, the number of master’s students increased five-fold from 1994 to 2010, whereas the number of doctoral students rose by 300%. In other words, postgraduate programs have been the focus of expansion. In terms of types of master’s education programs, most of day time programs are research oriented programs. In recent years, there are more vocation and profession oriented in-service master’s programs. In terms of subjects of master’s education in Taiwan, 20.9% of master’s education students studied in the field of humanity; 34.4% of master’s education students studied in the field of social sciences; while 44.8 of master’s education students studied in the field of technology. This study will be based on theories of human capital and credential theory to explore the shifting purposes and learning processes of master’s education in Taiwan via the perspectives of professors taught in the field of education in Taiwan. The reason why we chose the filed the education as a case is in Taiwan, education used to teach students classic theories and have higher expectations on students’ academic performances. Now, due to the change of stagnant labor market for doctoral degree students, fewer master graduates will pursue doctoral degrees. Thus, this study plans to interview 10-15 senior professors who have long histories teaching master programs of education. The research questions are to explore the following questions: (1) has master’s education in Taiwan shifted its focus after massification? (2) what are the major differences of student learning and teaching strategies in the master’s education program for the past decade? (3) what are the new positioning of master education in Taiwan in labor market?

Authors

• Jason Cheng-Cheng Yang, National Chiayi University, Taiwan

• Sheng-Ju Chan, National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan