The Impact of Neoliberalism on Higher Education Reform in Taiwan: Perspectives from Critical Pedagogy

Higher education in Taiwan has undergone major changes since 1994. Whether it is the appeals of civil society groups or official reports and subsequent policies, they are full of the curses of neoliberalism and need to be dismantled. This article uses the philosophizing method to advocate thinking and argumentation that have a clearer understanding of higher education practices, and employs critical pedagogy as the theoretical framework to achieve the following four research purposes. The first is to analyze the neoliberal discourse within globalization, focusing on academic capitalism and new public management, which have significantly impacted higher education; the second is to review and reflect on Taiwan’s 30 years of development of higher education reform through official reports and higher education-related policies; the third is to explore the impact of neoliberalism on higher education, especially the important aspects of governance, curriculum, teaching, learning and teachers in universities; and the fourth is to rethink how future higher education institutions, along with their teachers and students, can break through neoliberalism’s influences. Ultimately, this article proposed that, in the face of the destruction of democratic values and social justice by neoliberal discourse, universities must re-establish themselves as democratic public spheres, with university teachers and students as transformative public intellectuals; universities reflect on and implement general education with liberal education concepts, and develop students’ citizenship with critical thinking, fairness and objectivity, rational argumentation, scientific attitude, value-discrimination, and social care; and in addition to attaching importance to students’ specialized skills in employment, universities reiterate the idea of cultivating citizens to become public intellectuals to defend the publicity and social responsibility of higher education institutions.