The future
If PhDs see nothing wrong with doing physical labor, then those with masters' degrees should be prepared to descend even lower.
"No one can tell you what the future will bring," stresses Huang Tung-chun. Yet pursuing research should hone problem-solving skills, which are more valuable than mere book learning. Huang recommends that students go after their masters' to broaden their interests. In that way, they will be able to take on new challenges at a moment's notice, whatever changes the future brings.
"You can think about future trends, but don't fret over them too much, because you are probably just groping in the dark," says the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange's Chen Pu-yan. Regarding the future of mass communications, he says, "The move toward multi-media is inevitable." This realm isn't contained in any one discipline, but rather combines the three fields of mass communications, computers, and art and design. And studying multi-media also answers the call to broaden skills.
For more than a decade people have been asking whether they should go abroad, and what they should study if they do. To answer these questions, Chen says it's best to go back to the basics: personal interests, values, abilities, and opportunities.
Others say that the academic side isn't the be-all and end-all of a foreign study trip, that just broadening one's horizons is enough. Chen asks them to think long and hard: Do you really want to spend so much money doing it? Is it worth spending all that money on a language school abroad just because "taking a language course" or "traveling and studying" sounds better than just plain "traveling." Can it be that there aren't any good foreign-language courses in Taiwan? Or do you just want to force yourself to enter a native-speaking environment?
With these questions, what he really wants to say is this: "There are a lot of reasons for going abroad to study, but we haven't found the underlying motivation." How lousy you'll feel if you spend NT$1-2 million to go abroad and don't end up happy about the trip.
No one holds a magic wand that can put you on the right track with one tap. In this mixed-up age, you'll have to guide yourself.
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Should I study abroad? Will a foreign degree brighten my future job prospects?
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Look how many countries are welcoming students from Taiwan! Besides collecting information about foreign study, think about future career plans too. (photo by Vincent Chang)
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Before going to America, many students can't avoid coming to Nanyang street, known for its Stanley Kaplan-style cram schools and language centers.
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With an eye on Taiwan's bulging wallets, institutions of higher education in various Western nations make the trek to Taiwan. Graduate and undergraduate education, as well as language study, are all for sale.
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Trinity College, Cambridge University. With their ancient architecture and air of history, British universities attract the second largest numbers of Taiwanese students. (photo by Vincent Chang)
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Germany's Cologne University. Europe's aura of high culture attracts people studying social sciences and humanities. Many players on Taiwan's political stage studied in Germany. (photo by Cheng Yuan-ching)
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(top) Among Taiwanese universities, National Chungcheng University in Chiayi leads in student-faculty ratio, square footage per student, and the percentage of instructors with doctorates. Graduate education in Taiwan does in fact match up to what is offered abroad. And since contacts won't be broken in leaving and returning, students have a head start on grabbing hold of job opportunities. (photo by Pu Hua-chih)
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(bottom) Engineers will still be in high demand in Taiwan's future. (photo by Pu Hua-chih)
(bottom) Engineers will still be in high demand in Taiwan's future. (photo by Pu Hua-chih)