如何言「利」？兩岸高等教育交流的另一種思維

Gaining an Edge: An Alternative Perspective on Cross-Strait Higher Education Exchange

台灣四面環海，在上古時代海洋是保護台灣的屏障，但當大航海時代的來臨，全球性的貿易逐漸將世界踏平，海洋如果不能成為高速公路，就會將台灣封閉在一個狹隘的空間裡，走出去成為世界公民是現代社會無法避免的宿命。自民國88年世界銀行發佈《1998/1999年世界發展報告書》，宣告知識經濟的時代正式到來，然而知識不可能是靜態的，也不可能僅向一個方向運動。高教的交流正是這個知識產業時代「必須」「及時」「有效」的一種知識活動項目。兩岸的發展在近30年來互有消長，基於地理、語言、文化的歷史交會，兩岸的高教交流成為台灣平衡高教資源的機運，也成為消弭兩岸長期隔閡所產生的誤會與不信任的管道，更是透過大陸快速發展，增厚台灣未來發展的基石。台灣高教在目前沒有埋怨的空間，只有開拓未來的責任，與其擔心大陸的打壓，不如思索如何藉此時機走出台灣，走向世界。兩岸高教的交流要讓民國初年「留美親美」的經驗，作為典範；切不可走向「留日仇日」的境地。而台灣高教中最具有特色的技職體系，與開放的通識教育則是我們吸引陸生，建立良好發展的最佳奠基石。

Taiwan's insularity is in crisis: it was once a ring of protection to the island before the Age of Discovery and the advent of global commerce and exchange, but now it is at risk of becoming a barrier that constricts the future prospects of the island's population. Taiwan's future, like many others of its kind, lies in striving for world citizenship. The World Bank declared in its World Development Report 1998-99 that the age of knowledge economy has arrived, and that knowledge cannot remain static, and its transmission cannot be monodirectional. Higher Education Exchange is the necessary, immediate, and effective activity that is key to the age of knowledge economy. Both sides of the Taiwan Strait have underwent various forms of development in the last thirty years. Geographical, linguistic, cultural and historical circumstances have led to the formulation of cross-strait higher education exchange that generated opportunities for Taiwan to balance its internal disparity in the allocation of educational resources, and helped reconcile mutual hostilities and distrust. Such exchange also offered both sides to tap into each other's fruits of development, particularly those of mainland China's. Institutions in Taiwan ought to actively engage opportunities generated through cross-strait higher education exchanges. The historical model of cross-strait exchange ought to be the Sino-American model instead of the Sino-Japanese one. The particular strengths of professional education and general education in Taiwanese institutions of Higher Education ought to receive further investment, as they are particularly attractive to students from mainland China, and hence the cornerstone of establishing strong and reciprocal cross-strait relations.