Taiwan

Despite the victory by the DPP opposition party in the 2000 election, the GMD continued to hold a slender majority (52.2 percent) of seats in the legislative Yuan (the main parliamentary body of the government), which allowed it to assert its education agenda. During the 40-year period in which the GMD has been in power, that agenda has had the same primary goals—to produce a loyal and educated workforce. However, the number of reforms that were proposed at the start of the twenty-first century make it clear that those fairly narrow objectives are beginning to expand. The MOE is the division of the executive Yuan that is officially charged with oversight of all of Taiwan's educational programs. Among its departments are higher education, technological and vocational education, secondary education, elementary education, social education, physical education, general affairs, and international, cultural, and educational affairs. In 1994, the Yuan set up a Commission on Educational Reform that is reputedly independent of the MOE and is charged with deliberating on issues in the educational system and recommending reforms. In the fiscal year 1998, government spending on education, science, and culture exceeded US$13.24 billion, or about 4.8 percent of the gross national product.