Secondary Education

As introduced by the Taiwan Yearbook 2006:

Secondary school in Taiwan is a comprehensive system that provides students with various types of educational programs for the development of their minds and careers. Secondary education, which follows the nine-year compulsory curriculum, is a multilateral system in which students are assigned to different types of schools based on a number of factors.

Senior High School

The three-year senior high school program prepares students aged 15 to 18 for college study as well as for specialized learning. Under the current education system, senior high school graduates pursuing further studies have two main options: (1) attend a university or college, and (2) enter a two-year junior college or a four-year institute of technology after one year of work experience.

Senior Vocational School

The purpose of senior vocational school is to equip youths between the ages of 15 and 22 with vocational knowledge and skills. Specialized high schools include those for the arts, commerce, industry, and agriculture, as well as paraprofessional occupations, such as nursing and midwifery. In SY2005, about 42.77 percent of vocational students majored in industry, 40.88 percent in commerce, and 10.22 percent in home economics.

Senior vocational school graduates may choose to either take a job or continue with their studies at a four-year institute of technology, a university, a college, or a two-year junior college.

Bilateral High School

Since 1996, several experimental bilateral high schools have combined vocational and academic programs, enabling students to select from a much wider range of courses before deciding to take either the academic or vocational track. In addition to general subjects, such as foreign languages, mathematics, and social sciences, various technical courses are provided for students taking on skilled trades or semiprofessional careers. After graduation, they may enter a university, four-year institute of technology, or two-year junior college. Alternatively, they may enter the workforce. Nevertheless, all students of such bilateral schools must fulfill the same general requirements for graduation as other high school students.

Comprehensive Junior-Senior High School

A pilot program has been conducted since 1996 to relax the fierce competition of the joint public senior high school entrance examination system and balance differences in educational resources between rural and urban areas. Under the Comprehensive Junior-Senior High School system, junior high students enrolled in this program are allowed to enter senior high school without having to take entrance examinations. By SY2005, 68 high schools of this type had been established.

Multi-route Promotion Program for College-bound Seniors

The Joint University Entrance Examination (JUEE) had been in use for 48 years. Starting in SY2002, as part of educational reforms, it was replaced by a new system, the Multi-route Promotion Program for College-bound Seniors, which offers two channels of entry: admission by screening and admission through examination and placement.

Students who choose admission by screening may apply individually to the colleges they wish to attend, or receive recommendations from their own senior high school. Each senior high school has a quota of students it can recommend. Either way, such students must first take the General Scholastic Ability Test (GSAT).

Admission through examination and placement is a new version of the JUEE. Students who choose this channel of entry are required to take the Department Required Test. They may also need to take the GSAT, depending on the requirements of the individual college or university.