Shan Ding Lu

Now I am not a demographer, an academic or a politician. But the observation I make here should be obvious to all of those professions here in Taiwan.

Wandering around Kaohsiung I have seen that many universities are undertaking construction. This at a time they are struggling to fill courses and the population demographic for future students is looking grim.

The current fertility rate of Taiwan is 1.12. Almost the lowest in the world (2.1 is required for population replacement). The population pyramids for 2000 and 2025 quite clearly show the impending youth drought.

This is just 4 of the 13 university and colleges in the Kaohsiung area.

The first is Fooyin university. This is right behind our house and a place we have an affiliation with. They are currently building a large addition over the top of the existing administration building.

I-Shou university is a fairly new institution with very ambitious plans. There is a lot of construction there at the moment.

Though I was unable to find the scaffolding and construction materials, I believe Wenzao college has recently undertaken some development.

And recently passing Chengshui university near Chengching lake it can be seen that they are also undertaking some expansion work.

Of coarse these are just lay observations and may not actually represent a true over-development at any particular university. But I hope that it doesn’t represent the all too familiar phenomenon here in Taiwan of bubble and bust for the university sector.

Tags: Kaohsiung, Taiwan //