Training

The children in Taiwan start school at the age of six and have compulsory schooling for nine years. In 2014, compulsory schooling was extended by three years.

About 99 percent continue on three-year vocational or college preparatory high school, or on a special five-year line in college that combines high school with initial college studies. Taiwan’s students are often at the forefront of international comparisons, especially in mathematics and science. There is some criticism that the school is unilaterally focused on test results and does not promote creative thinking and analysis.

• COUNTRYAAH: Country facts of Taiwan, including geography profile, population statistics, and business data.

There are over 160 universities and colleges, and over half of the youth go to some form of college education.

• Educationvv: Provides school and education information in Taiwan, covering middle school, high school and college education.

2020

June

China-friendly mayor of Kaohsiung is dismissed

6th June

Han Kuo-yu who was elected mayor of Kaohsiung in the fall of 2018 will be dismissed by residents of the city in a new vote. More than 900,000 Kaohsiung constituencies of more than two million participated in the vote. In order for the vote to be valid, at least 25 percent of voters were required to participate. Only 2.6 percent voted no. Voters were disappointed that Han Kuo-yu had run as a candidate in the presidential election against Tsai Ing-wen earlier this year, while many were also skeptical of his Beijing-friendly stance.

March

Kuomintang changes leader after election defeat

March 7

Johnny Chiang is elected new party leader for Kuomintang, KMT. He is supported by two-thirds of the party members in an internal vote and thus defeats his opponent, the former mayor of Taipei, Hau Lung-bin by far. Chiang takes over after Wu Den-yih who chose to leave his post following Kuomintang’s failure in the January elections. With 48 years, Chiang is KMT’s youngest party leader ever.

January

Landslide victory for Tsai in the presidential election

January 11

In the presidential election, Tsai Ing-wen wins as expected. She wins a big victory with 57 percent of the vote over Han Kuo-yu from Kuomintang, who gets 39 percent of the vote. James Soong from the party People first get just over 4 percent of the vote. President Tsai’s party DPP also wins the election to the legislative assembly held simultaneously. However, DPP backs from 68 to 61 seats. Kuomintang wins three more seats compared to four years ago and receives a total of 38 seats. The newly formed party, the Taiwan People’s Party, comes third with five seats.