Major Problems Graduate Students in Taiwan Encounter

The major problems for graduate students in Taiwan universities are self-understanding, learning attitude, and job application. This essay will focus on the three main problems as well as suggestion toward these two problems.

There are very few students in Taiwan ever trying to understand himself or herself. Since the age of seven, most students are taught to care about nothing but only to study hard for the best scores and the best schools. That is usually because most parents regard academic background as the most important thing in the world. Elementary school, junior high school, senior high school, university, and eventually graduate school are the goals that almost every student is asked to achieve. It is very possible that some students never try to understand what they like or what they want. As a result, they are not really sure if they’d like to study in graduate school for advanced knowledge. The only thing certain for them is that they will receive a diploma after 2 or 3 years.


Not understanding themselves, some students go to graduate school with no aim. They are not sure if they will apply for a job after graduation or go for a PhD degree. Also, the lack of self-understanding makes it difficult to look for a thesis topic for these students because they are not even sure what topic they are interested in. Moreover, it might be hard to ask graduate students in Taiwan to have critical thinking as they are always told to memorize as much as possible, in order to pass every entrance exam. Therefore, students in Taiwan, not just graduate students, tend to believe everything on the book. There will be nothing new created or invented if people always believe and trust what books tell them.

Due to the education system in Taiwan mentioned above, it is sometimes very necessary for graduate students to improve their learning attitude. If a student is very good at exams, he or she will be easily forgiven for something wrong he/she does. Take punctuality as an example, it seems that people do not think attending class on time is important and necessary. Also, graduate students seldom study actively. Some of these graduate students even think it is more than enough if they only finish reading the part teachers assigned. They spend little time searching for other useful information or materials. Usually they just expect to receive materials from teachers.

It is also worth mentioning the phenomenon of job application. Since most people take academic background as the most important thing in the world, graduating from graduate school means they are superior to other people, so they are supposed to have much better chances to get a job with fabulous title and handsome salary. However, academic background is not everything for executives in charge of personnel management. Personality, ability of co-operation, and many other things are also regarded as important as educational background. It is sometimes common in Taiwan that some people refuse to apply for jobs which they think not good enough. While getting older, they still depend of parents and do not even have a full-time job.

What can be the possible solution to these two problems? Firstly, think about self-improvement. Graduate students are supposed to have better learning attitude. Going to graduate school means another step of access to knowledge. It is necessary trying to learn actively and grab every change discussing with teachers. Also, development of critical thinking is important. While reading a book, graduate students should think about: “is the theory perfect enough?”, “is there any point I would argue against?”, and “is there any thing can be improved and revised?” Do not just believe what books tell. Try to analyze and review with your own point of view, not just someone else’s. And do not expect too much while applying for a job. Nobody was born as somebody. Only if the combination of education background and work experience will someone be admired and appreciated.

Secondly, let’s move on to the possible change of the educational policy. Educational policy in Taiwan leaves much to be desired. The government is supposed to consider vocational school as much important as other schools. Also, it is crucial to change the type of exams. The existing type of exams do not help student have critical thinking. The only thing students in Taiwan learn from the exams is to memorize everything to get the best scores. It would be great if the government tries to improve the content of textbooks, making them more interesting and practical, as well as give teachers training course to show them how to help students think independently rather than telling them what to do or what not to do.

In conclusion, this paper discusses three major problems graduate students in Taiwan encounter: self-understanding, learning attitude, and job application. They are not just independent causes but relating to each other. Also, this paper provides two possible solutions, including self-improvement and governmental policy. Changing policy of government sounds a little bit difficult, but it can be easy if everyone tries his/her effort solving these problems from now on. As a result, the government will eventually follow what people want.