Three Major Initiatives in Higher Education by the 2016 Taiwan Tsai Administration-Self accreditation, Higher Education Sprout Project and New Southbound Policy and Their Impact on Taiwan Higher Education

Due to global influence and local demand, Taiwan’s higher education has experienced great changes in policy agendas and system reforms over past decades. After 80s, Taiwan higher education experienced great expansion but faced the challenges from global competitors. In response, “selection and concentration policy” aiming at “World class” universities building and implementation of a compulsory external accreditation were the strategies adopted by the government, which led to a new type of institutional governance and academician’s engagement over the past decade. After President Tsai took the presidential office in 2016, the MOE shifted the focus to universities’ autonomy and social responsibility and encouraged institutions to strengthen the partnership and collaborations with ASEAN countries. Based on the new ideological and political paradigm shift, three major national projects, including the new cycle of self-accreditation policy, higher education sprout project, and new southbound policy were kicked off. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to present the current development of three MOE initiatives and explore the paradigm shift of higher education policymaking in terms of egalitarianism. Their impacts on universities’ autonomy and accountability are discussed as a conclusion of the paper.