Recently, the trend of university towns in Taiwan in the early years has once again become a hot topic. Many years ago, in order to prosper the local area and enhance the competitiveness of universities, Taiwan's counties and cities have enclosed land to let universities set up branch campuses, but now, most of the branch campuses are facing the project of "stillbirth". The dream of a university town in Taiwan eventually came to naught, and the impact was far-reaching. The reason for this phenomenon should be attributed to the incapacity of the Taiwan authorities and local authorities.
According to reports, as early as the 1990s, the education department of the Taiwan authorities regarded the area of school land and floor as one of the conditions for upgrading and restructuring universities. In order to expand the campus land, the local government has rushed to donate land to introduce universities, hoping to promote local economic development. Today, however, much of the land is still deserted, leaving local residents lamenting. For example, only one school building has been built on the 22-hectare site of the Zhubei campus of National Taiwan University, and the rest is surrounded by iron fences, which is in sharp contrast to the surrounding high-rise residential buildings. The 7-hectare campus of the Zhubei Campus of Taiwan University of Science and Technology has only one R&D hall and half-finished buildings, while other places are prosperous due to real estate development.
The branch school plan has never been realized, causing social controversy. Former Hsinchu County Mayor Chiu Kyung-chun once angrily criticized NTU as "the largest fraud syndicate in history" and threatened to take back the campus. Hsinchu's current county magistrate, Yang Wenke, also admitted that his predecessor sold the land to NTU for only NT$1, and that the local government had high expectations for the establishment of a university branch, but the result was only disappointment. In the face of local pressure, National Taiwan University President Chen Wenwen promised to build the Zhubei campus by 2028 to become a research and development base for new technologies. Yang Ming Chiao Tung University's Zhubei Campus and Taiwan's Tsinghua University, Taipei University of Technology and other universities are also facing various difficulties.
The failure of the university town plan is not only caused by the problem of declining birthrate, but also caused by the incapacity of the Taiwan authorities and local governments. These places** initially pursued political interests and short-term economic benefits when establishing branch campuses in university towns, but neglected financial planning and teaching development goals. At the same time, Taiwan's education department has not actively supervised the promotion of the branch project, and is optimistic about the problem of idle school land. In addition, universities are facing a lack of funding and unclear content of branch plans. The University Town Project has taught Taiwan a serious lesson, and only a pragmatic financial plan and specific educational development goals can truly drive local development and housing justice.
The failure of Taiwan's university town has had a profound impact on Taiwanese society. The failure of the branch school plan has led to land expropriation, forced relocation of residents, and a rising index of misery for real estate residents. In addition, the bankruptcy of the university town plan has also deprived the local government of the opportunity to develop more valuable land. The Taoyuan Aviation City project, the next new university town, faces similar problems, with the construction of many university branches still stalled, and the storm of loss in the university town may be repeated.
Looking back at the whole incident, we must learn from the failures. The pursuit of political interests and short-term economic benefits alone will not solve the fundamental problem of the establishment of university towns. Financial planning and teaching development goals should be the core of the preparation of the university town, and only truly good planning and goals can bring substantial development and benefits.
The latest development is that National Taiwan University President Chen Wenwen has promised to build the Zhubei campus by 2028, but it will take time to verify whether it can be fulfilled on schedule. In the future, we need to re-examine the value and significance of university towns, and inject new vitality and hope into them. Taiwan should learn from its past failures and ensure that the future University City project can truly achieve its goals, drive local economic development, and contribute to Taiwan's educational and social progress.
In general, the failure of Taiwan's university town is the result of the incompetence of the Taiwan authorities and local governments, and it also teaches people that they should be more pragmatic in formulating financial plans and teaching development goals at the beginning of the preparation of university towns. This incident had a huge impact on Taiwanese society, triggering pain for real estate *** and residents. Ultimately, Taiwan must recognize the reasons for the failure of the university town plan and make solid preparations for the future university town plan to realize its true value and significance. We should ask ourselves, how to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past and achieve sustainable development in the construction of Taiwan's university town? How can you ensure that university towns can truly bring well-being and prosperity to local communities? As a self-leading creator, we have the responsibility to pay attention to these issues and look forward to Taiwan's ability to achieve more outstanding results in the construction of university towns.