As another university closes its department of Taiwanese literature, academics and students disagree on the reasons for its demise.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/06/14
By: Yuan-ling Liang

In a June 6 article, the Chinese-language United Daily News discussed the many challenges

Image Credit: Cargo / ImageZoo / Corbis / 達志影像

confronting Taiwanese literature and noted that the Department of Taiwanese Languages at Chung Shan Medical University (CSMU) will be closed after its current students graduate this month.
The real reason for the closure remains murky; some say courses lack popularity and practicality, while others fear the study of local culture and literature is being marginalized by profit-seeking universities and career-focused students across Taiwan.

Lin Shi-chieh (林士傑), who majored in Taiwanese languages and graduated from the CSMU in 2015, is now a student at the Graduate School of Taiwanese Literature of the National Taipei University of Education (NTUE). During Lin’s freshman year, 2012, the department announced it would not recruit any students for the following year due to its low enrolment rate and a high number of students already transferring out of the department.     [FULL  STORY]