SHU Funding: Money Well Spent?

By Crystal Yao

    As this semester first started, students came back to the campus noticing a few changes. For example, a few new changes in the student restaurant, fancy Dyson hand dryers in the restrooms, and fewer adjunct teachers around. Some of the changes started a heated discussion among students. Any decisions of alternation about the school cost money, but are those adjustments really necessary? Or do they just feed the vanity of the school instead of furthering students’ interests?

  One of the things widely complained by students and teachers in the beginning of the semester was that the number of General-Education Courses (通識課程; hereafter as GE courses or GE) has dwindled and the teachers of GE courses, as a result, had to receive more students into their classes to cope. The reason for such dwindling is that a number of GE teachers, adjunct and uninsured, were laid off. The Ministry of Education stipulated a regulation on June 2017, deciding that all universities should include adjunct teachers for their insurance programs, labor and health. Such extended insurance programs certainly mean more expenses--for adjunct teachers, now like full-time teachers, are to be covered by the same insurance programs paid by the school--unless they have full-time jobs elsewhere and therefore covered by programs otherwise provided for. For that matter, Shih Hsin let go of 40-ish teachers who did not have full-time jobs elsewhere to pay for their insurances. This movement effected not only those adjunct teachers but also students and professors who teach general education courses. Students have harder time trying to get their spots in one general education class, and the professors have to expend their classes to take in more students. Students and faculties cannot help but wonder if the school really do not have enough funding to pay for the insurance for 40-ish teachers.

  Another surprise that the students notice when they came back to school is that the fancy hand dryers in R building’s restrooms. One thing we are sure of is that the school is definitely generous about the hygiene of students. However, is it really cost-effective? One Dyson hand dryer cost around 40,000 NTD, and they are installed from the ground floor to the top, both in male and female restrooms. Plus, most of the students do not even use hand dryers after they wash their hands. We sent our report out to the campus to ask some students about their opinion on the school funding. Here is the report from our reporter, Crystal:

  We interviewed some students and get their thoughts on what do they expect when choosing courses. First, of course we all need to earn enough credit to graduate. Second, some student said that some courses will give them number of transferable skills in the future. Third, they choose the subject because they know it'll lead to a career. Did our school really let their students choose the course they want or just ignore students’ needs? Let’s look at the chart below.

  

  School should provide different kinds of courses for not only teachers to teach but also let students to learn the subject they want to learn. In the chart we can see that 75% students are dissatisfied about our class selection. Is there any possibility for Shih Hsin university to change the system? We hope more students will be satisfied with the courses in the near future.

  We interview some students from our department:

Crystal: What do you think about our university spending money on Dyson brand hand dryers?

Coco: I think school should spend more money on our course selection, like more teachers and courses, not on the things that students seldom use. School should provide more courses for us to take.

Crystal: Hi guys! What do you think about our university spend our money on Dyson hand dryers? And our class selection, did you guys got the courses you wanted?

Vanessa: Hand dryer sucks!!!! I don’t understand that why we should use a hand dryer that cost over ten thousand dollars? I won’t even use it.

Grace: My course sucks also. I woke up early to select the courses I wanted. But I got nothing. I chose many different courses and the result came out to be zero. Some of my classmates even got more than they needed.

Vanessa: Yeah! I needed the courses, or I can’t graduate! School does not even care if I can graduate or not! I pay for almost fifty thousand dollars to come here and learn but I learned nothing that I needed to learn.

Crystal: I can tell that you guys are angry about this issue. Sorry to hear that.

  Perhaps the school board should listen to the voices from students and faculties more before they make important decisions that will affect everyone. It is good to upgrade facilities and hardware so that students and teachers can have a better environment. However, the basic needs of students and teachers should always be attended first, otherwise, schools will be nothing but an empty title without the supports from their foundation—the students.