NTU / NTNU / NTUST's Shorter Semester and Other Developments .... Will Other Unis Follow Suit?

Hi all… so NTU and NTNU will start their semester on September 5th, run for 16 weeks and end December 23, just in time for Christmas. This was proposed last year and now taking effect.

Just wondering if other universities are or will follow suit… thoughts, comments, expereiences?

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I’m in NTUE, and at the end of the last semester there was a survey sent to everyone asking if we wanted to change from 18 weeks to 16.
Our new academic calendar still has 18 weeks, but the last 2 are “flexible” so the lecturers can choose to finish in week 16 or 18.
But we still start and finish later, Sept 12- Dec 30 or Jan 13.

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Seems NTUE (not sure what the E is for) is not mentioned in the article, so they are still on the old system.

“E” in this case stands for “Education”—National Taipei University of Education, located on Heping East Road. There has been talk over the years of integrating this institution with NTU, but so far this has not happened.

The three university grouping that’s moved forward with a formal 16 week semester includes NTNU, NTUST, and NTU.

Guy

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What’s the difference between this school and NTNU? The second “N” is for “normal” which means it’s related to education… at least it should be. So what purpose does it serve to have two separate campuses for education like this?

There are heaps of universities in Taiwan dedicated to teacher training, just as there are heaps of technology based institutions. With the shrinking base of students, the MOE has attempted to faciliate (or strong-arm, depending on how you see things) the merger of some of these institutions. The cases in which this has happened include the merger of National Hsinchu University of Education with the much larger and richer National Tsing Hua University; and the merger of National Hualien University of Education with the larger National Dong Hwa University. I have yet to meet anyone who has expressed delight at the results. :slightly_smiling_face:

Guy

Yeah, but considering the shrinking population, what else can be done? Especially for teaching… it’s a shrinking field, the teachers that are already in the system are scrambling to keep their jobs as more and more schools close due to demographics. Either that or they close, no really good options, but it’s better. And this is what Japan has been doing in response to their population crisis. Hopefully unis in Taiwan can learn what they did well and what they need to avoid.

More developments concerning NTNU starting in August 2024: “the first all-English bachelor’s degree program in the school’s history.”

Guy

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