The Rise of “New Taiwan Studies”:Community Colleges, Two Decades On

One early Sunday morning in March, the first stirrings of spring brought a rush of tourists to Taipei’s Bei­tou District. A steady stream of traffic plied the winding mountain road. Xin­ming Junior High School, usually deserted on weekends, was bustling. The school is the site of Bei­tou Community College, which was holding a forum that Sunday on “Imagining the Future of Taiwan’s Community Colleges.”

Nearly 100 community college employees gathered for panel discussions on two main topics: “Conceptions of Community College Curricula,” and “Lifelong Learning Methods.” The pens of the audience members never stopped moving.

During the breaks, everyone gathered in the corridors, making the most of the opportunity to swap notes and learn about new creative approaches in education. The atmosphere was imbued with much more passion and thirst for knowledge than one usually sees at academic forums.

For more than 20 years, Taiwan’s community colleges have walked down a road less traveled: Rather than looking to grant degrees, they have put their focus on engendering the joy and sense of accomplishment that really should be at the heart of education.

“Thanks to the mission and public nature of community colleges, they have moved learning out into the open and created a true adult education movement,” says Ku ­Chung-hwa, founder and former director of Taiwan’s National Association for the Promotion of Community Universities.

A class from Wanhua Community College visits the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, delighting in the artistic atmosphere.

Saving old trees

Cut to Tainan Park, which is approaching its centennial celebration. Full of vim and vigor, citizens are engaged in morning exercises.

Next to a Hong Kong orchid tree, a group of “tree citizens” from Tai­nan Community University are using a tape measure to determine the circumference of the tree and are making detailed records of the tree’s condition. In recent years Taiwan’s old trees have been hit hard, suffering from the spread of both disease and concrete. Community colleges from around Taiwan have worked together to create maps of the island’s old trees, surveying them periodically to keep track of their health and to collectively look for solutions to save them.

At a temple not far from Tai­nan Park, volunteers aided by local residents are recording the location of trees on a GPS system, to compile a map of the old trees of Tai­nan City.

Tainan is at the leading edge of the tree conservation movement in Taiwan. Trees had always been the city’s pride and joy, but by 2004 it became clear that they were under attack. In that year Chao Rui­guang, a nature and ecological sciences instructor at Tai­nan Community University, began to bring together educators, students, volunteers and community residents to combine theory with practice and make a comprehensive survey of the city’s trees.

“This isn’t just about preserving arboreal ecosystems; it’s even more an issue of city governance,” says Lin Guanzhou, TCU’s president. Lin explains that apart from providing data that the government can use when it allocates funding, efforts at mapping trees and preserving urban ecosystems are also helping to create a “public health system for trees” that is bringing preventative measures to the fore.

The fact that the old tree protection movement has spread throughout Taiwan is a tangible demonstration of the impact of “new Taiwan studies.”

The photography club from Shilin Community College also travels around the island of Taiwan, using their cameras to record the face of numerous locales.

The role of NGOs

Today in Taiwan, issues such as ecological conservation, historical preservation and the decline of rural communities all show the imprint of Taiwan’s community colleges.

How do community colleges manage to combine political, educational and research functions? Mainly through a creative atmosphere born of educational reform and the long-term involvement of NGOs.

In 1994 the winds of educational reform were gusting through Taiwan. Everyone was talking about expanding the narrow path to college advancement, about reforming the joint entrance examination system with its emphasis on cramming, and about the low levels of civic consciousness. NTU professor ­Huang Wu-­hsiung went so far as to say: “If the thinking of adults doesn’t change, then society and the educational system won’t change either.” Consequently, he proposed the creation of community colleges that would help to realize “the liberation of knowledge and the participation of citizens.”

“Deepening Democracy and Cultivating a New Culture,” an op-ed piece that ­Huang wrote in 1997, caused a big stir. With 18 other educational leaders (including National Cheng­chi University sociology professor Ku ­Chung-hwa, NTU Graduate Institute of Building and Planning professor Hsia Chu-joe, and National ­Tsing Hua University professor ­Perng Ming-hwei) taking up the cause and actively pushing for community colleges, the Tai­pei City Government eventually agreed to fund one. In September of 1998, Taiwan’s first community college was founded at Mu­zha Junior High School.

“To make things easier for elderly people with mobility issues, Mu­zha Junior High also specially lent out classrooms in a new building with elevators,” says Ku.

Because there were no precedents, early on the community college offered many courses that would be found at typical colleges and universities, such as introductory economics or political science classes. But after several years they discovered that academic knowledge wasn’t necessarily suited to regular adults, and so they began to create various courses developed around experiential and applied knowledge, such as “ethnic groups through their films,” “carpentry,” “observational astronomy” and so forth. Furthermore, the college encouraged students to form organizations and actively participate in shaping their communities, so that what they learned could be extended directly into their lives.

Gradually, community colleges were established throughout Taiwan, with local governments accepting bids from groups to set them up. Because there weren’t many entities capable of and interested in setting up these colleges, it fell to NGOs—usually with strong environmental, educational-reform or cultural orientations, to take the lead in helping to found them. At first they groped along in the dark, but they ended up creating grassroots community colleges that were full of unique local character.

Because those NGOs had close ties with international NGOs in their areas of specialization, Taiwan’s community colleges have been able to reach out and communicate their experiences to the rest of the world.

In 2003 the Lifelong Learning Act was passed. With that seal of legislative approval, community colleges began to spring up throughout Taiwan. What’s more, because the initiating NGOs varied from locale to locale, the issues they focused on varied as well, and their curricula began to take on distinct local flavors: community colleges in farming communities emphasized farming; those in Aboriginal communities emphasized Aboriginal issues; those in industrial cities emphasized labor issues; those in riverside villages emphasized water quality.

As their communities shaped their individual identities, the colleges launched one local studies program after another: Ping­tung studies, Bei­tou studies, Hsin­chu studies, Tai­nan studies, Yi­lan studies, and so forth. Meanwhile, the National Association for the Promotion of Community Universities encouraged the institutions to share experiences. Departing from a strict academic focus, they blended distinct local character with activism, giving rise to what has come to be called “new Taiwan studies.”

Learning is no longer just about personal development. Community college classes in tuina massage, English, and cooking are all aimed at getting students to help themselves by helping others.

Imparting skills and love

Throughout Taiwan, there are many examples of community college classes that have led to community building. Whether teaching life skills or focusing on academic research, they all offer contact points to the community, making them true “community” colleges.

Take, for instance, the ­tuina massage classes offered by Tai­nan Community University. At first the professor simply taught ­tuina skills. Then the school went a step further by going out into the community to provide services to the disadvantaged and the elderly. They also connected massage therapy to activities for “Grandparents Day”—tying it to expressions of filial piety and celebrations of family values.

Lin Chao-chen, president of Tai­nan Community University, describes ­tuina massage as a form of intimate contact. Via ­tuina and foot-washing services, you can connect to families and bolster community relations, so that ­tuina is no longer merely a form of massage therapy. Rather, it becomes a means to give of oneself and serve the community.

Furthermore, when the curriculum fosters the formation of student clubs, even greater power results. Take, for instance, the Song­shan Carpenters’ Club. Established in 2009, it began working with the Hua­shan Social Welfare Foundation to help members of disadvantaged groups and elderly living alone with home repairs. The club members have gained practical experience, and the seniors have gained comfort and care.

Apart from traditional teaching, the community colleges also urge their students to learn from each other.

In 2002 Ludi Community University in New Tai­pei City’s Lu­zhou District began to offer a basic Chinese literacy class for immigrants, encouraging its Taiwanese students with limited literacy to serve as teaching assistants in the class. During the class, people from different ethnic groups engaged in cultural exchange.

Vietnamese immigrant Li Xiu­ying, who was a student in one of the first basic Chinese literacy classes, has been teaching a course on authentic Vietnamese cooking since 2012. The class always fills up all its slots.

If clubs have a sufficient activist orientation, their members can even become movement leaders with connections to international organizations.

For instance, Kaoh­siung’s Chi-Mei Community University, which has long shown concern for issues connected to agricultural communities and has been a hotbed of opposition to government seizure of land for reservoirs, began to hold forums on these topics as well as climate change in 2002. It has also exchanged experiences with the Thailand-based Khao Kwan Foundation, which works to promote sustainable agriculture, and the National Association of Mass Education Movements in mainland China.

Learning is no longer just about personal development. Community college classes in tuina massage, English, and cooking are all aimed at getting students to help themselves by helping others.

Influencing public policy

In the 1970s UNESCO proposed the concepts of “permanent education,” “recurrent education,” and “lifelong education,” advocating that higher education ought to continue over the course of an adult’s life. Some Western countries, however, had already put adult education systems into place decades earlier.

In 1905, Germany, which greatly values investment in education, followed Denmark in establishing Volks­hoch­schulen, which bring together public resources to provide 12 kinds of curriculum. The country poured in massive funds to create adult learning opportunities, with more than 1000 of these institutions created to the present day.

In the United States state governments started establishing community colleges as far back as 1901. These provide short-term, low-cost, practically oriented educational curricula. They serve as paths for those already in the workplace to advance their educations.

In Asia, South Korea established the flexible academic credit bank system (CBS) in 1997. Students can get credit for taking classes from a variety of institutions offering adult education classes. After earning a certain number of credits, no matter where or when, students can earn degrees.

In comparison to the international situation, the history of community colleges in Taiwan isn’t long, but their public and local character have made them much admired. They also serve as a living educational reference for showing how citizens can have an impact on public policy.

In 2013 Bei­tou Community College brought together citizen advocacy groups and local residents to bring back the old Bei­tou Station building, which had been moved to Changhua, where it was falling apart. The school also held the nation’s first mock local referendum, on the Bei­tou Cable Car project.

In 2013 Yungho Community University launched the “Eco Zhonghe–Yonghe Plan,” coordinating with communities and schools in the two neighboring districts to open up green space for citizens’ enjoyment. “It was the first time in the community college’s 14 years that an urban blueprint had been proposed for the ­Zhonghe–­Yonghe area,” says Zhang Suzhen, the college’s secretary-general.

A dance class at Songshan Community College.

Building trust and social capital

Over the last 20 years, the accomplishments of the community colleges have exceeded all expectations. Via the camaraderie arising from social participation and mutual provision of services, these educational institutions have built important social capital.

During the SARS outbreak in 2003, community colleges, with their tight connections to their locales, became the best conduits for spreading public health information. Community colleges have also helped the government implement labor, social welfare, anticorruption and household policies.

In 2009 Typhoon Mo­ra­kot ravaged Kao­hsiung City and Ping­­tung County. Chi-Mei Community University, which has nine branches there in places such as Na­ma­sia and Jia­xian, was on the front lines responding to the disaster, making use of the rural mobilization systems it had put into place. Afterwards, the Kao­hsiung City Social Affairs Bureau commissioned it to train personnel for reconstruction efforts and thus assist people in rebuilding their lives.

In 2013 Wan­hua Community College and the Wanhua Social Welfare Service Center launched the “urban artists on the street” plan, inviting the homeless to paint their own stories. They hoped the street art would remove the negative stereotypes that the outside world holds about Wan­hua and would assist the homeless in regaining balance in their lives.

Because they are stationed on the front lines, community colleges are able to respond quickly to local needs and at times even to promote local economic development.

In recent years Ping­tung County has actively pushed the planting of cocoa, thanks to the inspiration of a local community college instructor. Since 90% of Taiwan’s cocoa is imported, there’s a market for any cocoa crop grown locally, and consumer response has been strong. Local farmers have thrown themselves into planting the crop.

“What sort of community colleges do we want?” Sixteen years ago, ­Huang Wu-­hsiung, the mover and shaker behind the original conception of Taiwan’s community colleges, gave his answer. Now there are more than 80 community colleges scattered throughout Taiwan that are actively looking to answer that question in their own ways.

Engaging in grassroots citizen activism off campus, community colleges turn education into practical demonstrations of concern for their communities. At a time when globalization is gradually erasing the individual character of communities, these educational institutions are sowing distinctive local seeds and reaping rich and varied local harvests.

Learning is no longer just about personal development. Community college classes in tuina massage, English, and cooking are all aimed at getting students to help themselves by helping others.

Community colleges in selected nations

table by Liu Yingfeng

At night, classrooms are flooded with light, as students diligently learn with the goal of brightening their own futures.

Students from Wanhua Community College travel widely to document the ecologies of small creeks.

A group from Chi-Mei Community University goes out to the fields to gain hands-on understanding of agriculture, thus realizing the college’s goal of “learning from the farming community.”

Students at the Wenshan Community College examine the local ecology of Muzha for themselves. It’s an action-oriented class.