2023
Analysis of potential high-risk closures schools in Taiwan, who will be the next unexploded bomb in the private universities’ exit strategy wave in Taiwan.
Entry type: Single project
Country/area: Taiwan
Publishing organisation: READr
Organisation size: Small
Publication date: 2022-08-19
Language: Chinese
Authors: Chen Pei Yu, Tseng Lee-Yu
Biography:
READr is not just a data newsroom, it is also a digital innovation team. The development of information news in Taiwan media is still not perfect at present. Although the READr is only a small information newsroom, we still try hard to have an indicative impact on the development of data journalism in Taiwan.
We always hope to make breakthroughs in every topic.Without the framework of traditional thinking, the team can make the report more creative and also keep the news professional by presenting stories in a true and complete way.
Project description:
Due to Taiwan’s low birth rate, many private universities in Taiwan are facing the crisis of closing down. However, after the school was closed, students and teachers were left aside, and the right to education and labor rights were affected. We look back at history, visually present how private schools that closed down in the past dealt with personnel issues, and use data to take inventory of schools that are now on the verge of danger.
Impact reached:
The issue of private school closures has been discussed for a long time in Taiwan. But most of them only see the school’s own statement, and there are few objective data as evidence to judge the actual operation status of the school. The survival of schools actually affects not only students’ right to education, but also teachers’ right to work. Therefore, how to judge the operation status of the school is an important follow-up task. This time READr evaluates the school’s annual financial status, the number of students and teachers, etc., and points out several private universities with poor operating conditions. In addition to making the teachers and students of these schools vigilant, it also made the society pay more attention to the seriousness of this problem.
Techniques/technologies used:
Use selenium to capture relevant information of each school, and use R to conduct financial analysis of each school and statistics on the increase and decrease of the number of teachers and students after obtaining the information.
Context about the project:
Since disclosing the business status may lead to poor enrollment and affect the reputation of the school, the disclosure of these materials has been limited in the past. Through the public information of the Ministry of Education, together with expert advice, we have found a set of methods to evaluate poorly managed private schools. Several of the schools on our list did face closure after the report was published.
What can other journalists learn from this project?
A social issue that has been discussed for a long time can still be discussed more objectively by finding out the viewpoint of the data.
Project links:
https://www.readr.tw/post/2913
