TAIPEI (TVBS News) — The Ministry of Education on Monday (May 6) released new statistics showing a rise in the number of technology students in higher education for the 2023 academic year. The data revealed that approximately 514,000 students, or 46.9%, were enrolled in technology-related courses, marking an increase from 2018.
Conversely, the number of students in humanities courses was at its lowest, with about 207,000 students, or 18.9%. This represents a decrease of 38,000 students over the past five years.
The total number of students across all levels of education in 2023 was approximately 4.04 million, a decrease of 62,000 (1.5%) from the previous year. The most significant drop was seen among higher education students, with a reduction of 45,000 (4%).
The declining birth rate has had a significant impact on these numbers. Compared to 2018, the total number of students in 2023 was down by 283,000 (6.5%), with higher education students seeing the most significant decrease of 150,000.
In 2023, there were 558,000 high school students, with the proportion of students in general courses increasing from 43.2% in 2018 to 50%. The proportion of students in professional courses decreased from 41.7% in 2018 to 38.7%.
The total number of higher education students in 2023 was 1.095 million, a decrease of 150,000 from 2018. While the number of master's and doctoral students slightly increased, the number of bachelor's students decreased by 149,000.
Regarding subject classification, technology had the highest proportion of higher education students in 2023 at 46.9% (514,000 students), while humanities had the lowest at 18.9% (207,000 students). Compared to 2018, the proportion of technology and humanities students increased by 3.6 percentage points and decreased by 0.8 percentage points, respectively.
Furthermore, the number of students in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) field in 2023 was 374,000, an increase from 31.4% in 2018 to 34.2%. The number and proportion of graduate students in the STEM field also increased from 78,000 (19.9%) in 2018 to 85,000 (22.8%) in 2023.
