The proportion of top 20%high-income households with higher education in Taiwan rose to 84%in 2011,the highest on record,versus 58.8%of households in the bottom 20%income level,according to recent statistics compiled by the Directorate-General of Budge,Accounting,and Statistics(DGBAS)
DGBAS'statistics also show only 20.1%students from low-income households went to national universities,far below the average of 32.2%.
Analyzing correlations between students aged 18-23 and household income in 2011,DGBAS'figures show students from higher income households tend to be higher educated in Taiwan.
S.Z.Hu,a researcher at Taiwan's Academia Sinica,says the current social issue in Taiwan focuses on narrowing the wealth gap,whose solution lies in fairer distribution of educational resources to avail the poor to better education and more opportunities;and that,despite Taiwanese government's educational subsidies and preferential student loans to low-income households,providing more or fairer educational resources is critical.
According to the Ministry of Education(MOE),average tuition and fees for national universities total about NT$58,720(US$1957.3)for an academic year(two semesters),versus NT$109,944(US$3664.8)for private colleges.
Source:
http://www.cens.com/cens/html/en/news/news_inner_41557.html
