Taiwan has an increasing number of doctorate degree holders, yet it’s getting harder for them to find full-time professor jobs (…). Citing data from the Ministry of Education, the reports said PhD holders increased 2.5 times, from 13,000 to 33,000, between 1999 and 2009. However, job openings at colleges and universities did not catch up with the rise.

Recently, National Changhua University of Education and National Chiayi University received hundreds of applications from PhD holders for a few academic openings. Some of the applicants held doctorates from prestigious institutions in the US, UK and Germany. PHD holders without full-time professor jobs had to work as teaching assistants, or in administrative or secretarial jobs.

The reports cited Yang Yu-hui, deputy director of MOE’s Department of Higher Learning, as saying it is a little difficult for the ministry to set a limit on the number of PhD students universities can enrol each year. The ministry will ask college admissions boards to be more selective if there are too many PhD students there, she said.