The Ministry of Education is set to expand its pilot program for semiconductor education to include 35 senior high schools. Sources revealed that the ministry has already extended semiconductor education to both senior high and vocational schools, collaborating with 11 schools in the pilot program for the 2023-2024 academic year.
They announced that the program would expand for the 2024-2025 academic year beginning next month. Around 100 senior high schools applied, and 35 were selected. The ministry is reviewing nominated teachers and curricular content, the sources said. High-school students from both art and science streams can enroll in the semiconductor courses, and over 1,000 students will have completed a course a year from now, they added.
The semiconductor curriculum for senior high school students was developed in the 2022-2023 academic year, according to the ministry's Education Administration official Huang Ching-yi, in line with the government’s policy to cultivate talent for the semiconductor industry. Huang said the curriculum includes “the scientific knowledge of electricity,” “the principle of semiconductors,” “the manufacturing process of semiconductors”, “semiconductor applications in life”, “circuit designs”, and “the social aspect” at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, along with practical classes.
Selected schools may arrange one or two-credit courses for each academic year or provide micro-lectures under the “flexible learning” scheme based on teachers’ expertise, curricular features and students’ needs, she said. Industrial and academic resources could also be introduced to the high schools, such as collaborations with college laboratories and lectures by industry professionals or college professors to boost the students’ practical and problem-solving skills, Huang said.
Hung Yi-wen, a teacher at the National Taiwan Normal University Affiliated Senior High School, stated that high-school teachers would discuss and design the semiconductor curriculum, including course introduction videos and practical class teaching materials. He added that the curriculum framework would cover the principles and applications of semiconductors. Hung emphasized that Taiwan’s next generation must develop semiconductor competency not only to keep pace with the information age but also to understand the scientific principles, industrial ecosystems, and international geopolitics related to semiconductors.
Art stream students are also encouraged to take semiconductor courses in high schools to learn about the industry from global trade and international relations perspectives, he said. These courses would be jointly taught by teachers from scientific and social fields. Cheng Hsiang-ti, a physics teacher at Taipei Municipal Nangang High School, noted that their school was the first to implement the ministry’s semiconductor curriculum, with 28 freshman-year students selecting the course.
