After being briefed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) at today's Cabinet meeting on efforts to resolve certain industries' human resources issues by promoting industry-academia cooperation as well as professional competency standards and capability appraisals, Premier Jiang Yi-huah instructed related agencies to study the MOEA's methods, then formulate and promote their own standards and appraisal plans in accordance with Article 18 of the Act for Industrial Innovation.
The premier also directed the Council of Labor Affairs to coordinate and integrate central competent authorities' competency standards and ability evaluation criteria in accordance with Article 4-1 of the Vocational Training Act. The Ministry of Education (MOE) should monitor technical and vocational education (TVE) institutions to ensure they apply these standards, reform their curriculum and encourage students to obtain licenses in order to use their knowledge at work.
"The gap between industry and academia has made it difficult for many students to find employment after graduation and for industries to find suitable personnel," Jiang said. "Since the shortage is in mid-level technical personnel, the government should not cope with the situation simply by opening the labor market to more foreign workers. Instead, it must take action to address the industry-academia divide."
The premier also asked the MOE to research for solutions to a number of educational policy issues, such as Deputy Minister of Education Huang Pi-twan's suggestion of establishing a model science and technology university-industry research center and Vice Premier Mao Chi-kuo's concerns about over-education.
The premier further noted that the armed forces' voluntary recruitment system is being gradually implemented, and while substitute service will eventually become a thing of the past, before that the number of citizens participating in such service will greatly increase for a period of four to six years. The Ministry of the Interior has already drawn up a plan for alternative service in industry. To efficiently distribute this manpower, the premier asked ministries to formulate three-to-five-year short- and medium-term allocation plans in order to make the best use of servicemen's expertise in coming years.