Vocational high-schools report dive in numbers

MONEY MATTERS: Fees for private, occupation-oriented universities are often twice that of public universities, which could be a reason parents are avoiding the schools

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 18, 2020
By: Rachel Lin, Wu Po-hsuan and Dennis Xie  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

The number of vocational high-school students in the nation last year plunged by more than 100,000

compared with 2009, and is forecast to be exceeded by that of high-school students for the first time this summer semester, the Union of Private School Educators said on Sunday.

Over the period, the number of high-school and vocational high-school students combined has decreased from about 800,000 to 660,000, with the former dropping from 360,000 to 325,000, and the latter dropping from 440,000 to 335,000, Ministry of Education data showed.

The drop in vocational high-school student numbers accounted for 75.3 percent of the total decrease in the two groups, the data showed.

Tuition fees for private universities are twice that of public universities, which receive more resources from the government, union president Yu Jung-hui (尤榮輝) said, adding that the two cannot compete on the same ground.    [FULL  STORY]