National Taiwan University's Department of Dentistry affected the distribution system by increasing its number of Star Program spots to seven. Ministry of Education said it would evaluate its possibility from four to seven. Meanwhile, parents' groups call for the college entrance examination admission placement ratio to be raised to over 50 percent. Deputy Education Minister Lio Mon-chi responded and said there would be only 25 percent of spots left for students applying directly for admissions and this would have an extremely huge impact on examinees and parents.
Under the new "four out of five subjects" college entrance exam system, the number of applicants meeting admissions thresholds at popular university departments has soared. A total of 506 students made it past the first round at National Tsing Hua University's Department of Electrical Engineering and 467 past the second. In the end, the department filled all 40 spaces available and wait-listed 392 applicants.
Deputy Minister, what is a reasonable admissions amplification factor? It is currently three (times). If you look at the actual admissions amplification factor this year, however -- we have already asked the Joint Board of College Recruitment Commission to discuss the issue and explore the feasibility of a factor of 4.
Popular university departments are getting 72 percent more applicants than they can accommodate and students applying to college through the entrance exam say there are too few spots available. In response to criticism from lawmakers that the amplification factor for different admissions channels has become unbalanced, Deputy Education Minister Lio Mon-chi says this year's factor of 3.42 is only slightly lower than last year. Lio also responded to calls from parents' groups to raise the entrance exam placement ratio to above 50 percent, saying this would have a huge impact on examinees and parents.
If this happens, it would be a step backwards. It would reduce the existing (number of spots) universities have. This means the ratio of unavailable spots and rejected students would go back up again for individual applicants. This is an admissions channel that all examinees participate in.
Lio says entrance exam placement is the only admissions channel without an upper limit and the ministry respects the autonomy of university departments to set their own ratios. In addition, National Taiwan University Department of Dentistry will reassess its resources and demand after accepting seven Star Program applicants and explore the possibility of increasing the number of exam placement spots by four to seven. Lio said the department would send a proposal to the Ministry of Education for "appropriate" subsidization.