Ministry of Education (Taiwan)
The Ministry of Education is the ministry of Taiwan responsible for incorporating educational policies and managing public schools and it oversees the educational administrative agencies of local governments.
History
The Taiwanese education ministry's origin goes back to the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture under the Imperial Japanese government, which took over Taiwan in 1895. During Japanese colonial rule, school attendance for Taiwanese children increased from 3.8% in 1904 to 71.3% in 1943 and literacy in Taiwan became common. Modern schools were formed with widespread establishment of primary schools while higher schooling for Taiwanese people remained rare and secondary schools and colleges were mostly for Japanese nationals. In special cases many Taiwanese did receive higher schooling and many went to Japan for further studies.The current government of Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China, was formed in mainland China in 1912. After the retreat of the ROC government to Taiwan in 1949, the ROC Ministry of Education was re-established in Taipei.
In 2022, in response to complaints from higher education institutions about the weekly cap on inbound visitors, the MOE reserved extra slots for foreign students to ensure they are not prevented from entering Taiwan.
International partnerships
The Ministry of Education launched a New Southbound Talent Development Program in 2017 to promote educational exchange with India.In November 2023, Montana governor Greg Gianforte announced that the Montana Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education signed a new memorandum of understanding with the Taiwanese MOE to create a Mandarin Chinese language program at the University of Montana in Missoula and an educational exchange program at Montana Technological University. This partnership followed a first wave of Montana Tech students who, after a 2022 MOU, studied at the Minghsin University of Science and Technology.
In December 2023, the MOE hosted a delegation from the University of Scranton led by Joseph G. Marina to explore partnerships with Taiwanese universities. The trip followed a series of exchanges between the university and the MOE, leading to Taiwanese cultural programs, lectures, and film festivals in Scranton starting in 2010.
Organizational structure
The following is a list of political departments, administrative departments and agencies under the Ministry of Education:Political departments
- Department of Planning
- Department of Higher Education
- Department of Technological and Vocational Education
- Department of Lifelong Education
- Department of International and Cross-Strait Education
- Department of Teacher and Art Education
- Department of Information and Technology Education
- Department of Student Affairs and Special Education
Administrative departments
- Department of Secretarial Affairs
- Department of Personnel
- Department of Civil Service Ethics
- Department of Accounting
- Department of Statistics
- Department of Legal Affairs
- Supervisory Committee Managing Retirement, Compensation, Resignation and Severance Matters for Private School Teachers and Staff
Agencies
- K-12 Education Administration
- Youth Development Administration
- National Academy for Educational Research
- National Central Library
- National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium
- National Museum of Natural Science
- National Science and Technology Museum
- National Taiwan Science Education Center
- National Education Radio
- National Library of Public Information
- National Taiwan Library
- National Taiwan Arts Education Center
- National Museum of Marine Science and Technology
- National Sports Training Center
- Taiwan Institute of Sport Science