Taiwanese are learning the hard way that a PhD is no longer a guarantee to a successful career.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/08/24
By: Hsu Chia-yu

Taiwanese with post-graduate degrees in the liberal arts, history and philosophy fields are struggling to find jobs, a university professor says.

Hu Chia-yu (胡家瑜), a professor in the Department of Anthropology at National Taiwan University (NTU), said that in the past, PhD graduates could easily find jobs at research institutions, such as Academia Sinica. The ease with which of fresh graduates could find such research positions, coupled with the failure of the Ministry of Education to regulate the number of PhD students at each university, has resulted in a surplus of graduates, Hu said.

Hu tells her students to think twice before applying for a doctoral program and only to pursue subjects they have a genuine interest in, rather than studying for the purpose of advancing their career.

Chen Chao-ming (陳超明), a lecturer in the Department of Applied Foreign Languages at Shih Chien University, said the main goal of most doctoral programs in Taiwan is to train students to become university professors. But as there currently are only a few openings for professors in Taiwan, Chao said doctoral programs should cultivate students’ critical thinking abilities instead.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-08-24
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taipei City Councilor Wang Shih-chien could face 50 days in detention for alleging that a key city government official had accepted money from Taipei Dome developer Farglory Group, reports said Wednesday.
An appeal against the Taipei District Court verdict was still possible, though. The sentence could also be commuted to a NT$50,000 (US$1,570) fine.

The city and the development company have been locked in a conflict about the completion of the stadium project for more than a year and a half, but the surprising element in the Wang case was that both sides involved were linked to the Democratic Progressive Party.

During a television interview last January, Wang, a veteran DPP politician, hinted that someone on the city government team had accepted “an unfairly high amount of money” to agree to negotiations between the city and Farglory about the Taipei Dome.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/08/24
By: Chen Wei-ting and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Aug. 24 (CNA) A tropical depression which formed north of Guam could strengthen into

From the Central Weather Bureau website

Tropical Storm Namtheun within the next two days, a meteorologist said Wednesday.

If Namtheun develops into a tropical storm, there will be two tropical storms in the northwestern Pacific Ocean following Tropical Storm Lionrock which formed on Aug. 19, according to Wu Der-rong (吳德榮), a meteorologist and adjunct associate professor of atmospheric sciences at National Central University.

Wu said that while no tropical storms had cropped up in the northwestern Pacific Ocean in the first half of this year, there have been 11 tropical storms in the area so far in the second half, two more than the average of 9 during the past few Pacific typhoon seasons.

Although the tropical depression is expected to move in a north-northeasterly direction and approach Tropical Storm Lionrock, there have been no obvious signs that the two could affect each other and create a Fujiwhara Effect, according to Wu.     [FULL  STORY]

A Taiwanese columnist says that a university that puts academic competition as its primary focus is ‘suicidal.’

The News Lens
Date: 2016/08/23
By: Olivia Yang

This year’s Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) was recently released by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, with National Taiwan University (NTU) dropping from 154th last year to 163rd this year, marking the fourth consecutive year NTU has declined in the ranking.

While some commentators have expressed concerns over the “underperformance” of Taiwan’s top university, an op-ed in Business Weekly argues that the university should not be overly worried about such rankings.

Hsieh Yu-cheng (謝宇程), a well-known columnist on educational issues in Taiwan, says people normally have three main expectations about universities: acting as an engine that pushes society, industries, and government toward progress; cultivating talent; and a “race horse” in academic competitions.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-08-23
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Prosecutors visited the headquarters of Mega International Commercial Bank, the Ministry of Finance and the Financial Supervisory Commission Tuesday to read documents related to the fine in the United States for money-laundering allegations.

Mega International Commercial Bank was fined US$180 million (NT$5.7 billion) by New York State’s Department of Financial Service (DFS) for a number of allegedly suspicious transactions between its branches in New York and Panama.

After the government and prosecutors announced they would investigate the bank in Taiwan, prosecutors took action Tuesday morning and visited the three locations.

According to media reports, investigators will be looking for violations of the Banking Act, the Financial Holding Corporation Act and the Money-Laundering Prevention Act.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/08/23
By: Elaine Hou

Taipei, Aug. 23 (CNA) The winners of this year’s Tang Prize will have an opportunity to sample Taiwanese cuisine at a dinner that will be held in their honor when they visit Taiwan in September for the award ceremony and other events, the organizers said Tuesday.

The dishes served at the banquet will feature meats and other products from Taiwan’s 17 cities and counties, offering “a taste of Taiwan,” said Chern Jenn-chuan (陳振川), CEO of the foundation, at a news conference.

In addition, there will be live entertainment at the banquet at the Grand Hotel in Taipei, headlined by the world-renowned U-Theatre drummers of Taiwan, Chern said.

The banquet will begin with Aiyu jelly, yam and taro balls, sakura shrimp, cuttlefish sausage and roasted mullet roe as starters, the foundation said.

The other courses will include chicken soup, deep-fried shrimp with salted duck eggs, steamed giant grouper, and mutton stew with fish noodles, it added     [FULL  STORY]