TAIPEI: Taiwan's higher education faculties are generally underpaid as compared to their counterparts in top notch universities in other parts of the world, a National Taiwan University (NTU) official said yesterday.

The relatively lower salaries offered to NTU faculty are cited among reasons why the university has been unable to hire good teachers from abroad, NTU Secretary-General Liao Hsien-hao said.

"NTU should consider adjusting its salary structure so as to attract talented professors from overseas," Liao said.

He was speaking at a news conference to publicize a report from London earlier in the day that NTU has made the top 100 list of the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings for 2009, with a ranking of 95th.

It is the first time that NTU has been listed in the top 100 university rankings since the global company began to compile the list in 2004. NTU ranked 124 in 2008.

Liao noted that on average university faculty salaries in Taiwan are the lowest among the four "Asian dragons" - Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore.

"The salary issue has also led many outstanding Taiwanese professors to seek employment in the wider academic marketplace, including the United States, Canada and Singapore," Liao added.

He praised a government initiative that was launched in 2006 to make available "NT$50 billion in five years" to boost higher education in Taiwan, saying that it has been validated by NTU's entry to the world's top 100 university rankings.

However, the allocation this year of NT$7.5 billion instead of the NT$10 billion originally earmarked under the plan has dealt a blow to the development of higher education in Taiwan, he said.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 10/09/2009 page2)