Taipei, June 29 (CNA) The Cabinet on Thursday approved plans to fund minimum annual tuition fee subsidies of NT$35,000 (US$1,127) to all private university students in Taiwan.
The subsidies are part of a raft of higher education measures set to benefit an estimated 634,000 students at a cost of NT$21.9 billion a year to the public purse, according to Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠).
The ministry said that the subsidies would cover almost 70 percent of the current gap between private and public university tuition fees.
According to the latest ministry figures, average annual tuition at public schools in Taiwan is around NT$62,000, compared with NT$11,000 at private universities.
Under the ministry's plans, the government will begin dispersing the subsidies to students in February 2024 in the form of direct tuition fee deductions.
The Cabinet also approved proposals to increase means-tested subsidies for students at both private and public universities.
From next year, annual subsidies for students from families with household incomes of less than NT$700,000 per year will be raised from NT$22,000 to NT$55,000 for those attending private universities and from NT$10,000 to NT$20,000 for those enrolled at public schools.
Those in the NT$700,000-NT$900,000 income bracket will be eligible for newly introduced subsidies of NT$50,000 per year if attending a private university and NT$15,000 if enrolled at a public institution.
Private university students with an annual household income above NT$900,000 will be granted subsidies of NT$35,000 per year.
The government said that it also plans to scrap fees for all high school and vocational high school students, as well as relax eligibility requirements and repayment terms for student loans.
Responding to the proposals, Pan Wei-ta (潘維大), the president of Soochow University, doubted the mooted subsidy program would help improve the quality of higher education, given that it did not increase universities' overall funding.
Noting that running a high education institution well without money was impossible, Pan said that the government should relax current restrictions on tuition and miscellaneous fee adjustments.
Meanwhile, the opposition Kuomintang and Taiwan People's Party accused the government of using the subsidy program as a political ploy ahead of Taiwan's presidential and legislative elections on Jan. 13, 2024.
