正文
With cannons on campus, its own
Qing-dynasty wall and the first Dutch fort in Taiwan nearby, National Cheng
Kung University seems an appealing place for a budding historian.
国立成功大学，这座承载着深厚历史底蕴的学府，不仅坐拥校内古朴的炮台与清代城墙遗迹，紧邻之处更是矗立着台湾省首座荷兰堡垒，对于初涉历史研究领域的学子而言，无疑是探索过往、启迪智慧的理想之地。
However, after a first round of applications, no students had accepted places in the history department for next year. It is a shock for the university, ranked third in Taiwan. But it is part of a broader trend.
然而，令人讶异的是，在最新一轮的招生申请尘埃落定后，竟未有一人选择入读历史系。对于这所在台湾省排名第三的大学而言，这着实令人震惊。此现象，实则是更广泛教育趋势中的一抹缩影。
In much of East Asia, universities face a
demographic crisis. In Japan the population of 18-year-olds has been declining
since the 1990s. In Taiwan the undergraduate population has dipped by more than
a quarter in the past decade. Experts in South Korea talk of an “enrolment
cliff”, as 3.6m students in 2010 fell to 3m last year.
东亚多国正经历着前所未有的高等教育人口挑战。日本自90年代起，便目睹了18岁人口数量的持续下滑；中国台湾省，则在过去的十年间，本科生人数锐减超过四分之一。韩国的教育界则形象地称之为“入学悬崖”， 因为学生总数已从2010年的360万高峰滑落至去年的300万关口。
This has hit humanities and
social-sciences departments hard. Faced with a more uncertain economic
environment than their parents, students want to study subjects that will lead
to well-paid jobs. These are mostly in science, technology, engineering and mathematics
(STEM).
在这场变革中，人文社科类专业首当其冲，遭受了前所未有的冲击。面对比前辈们更加复杂多变的经济环境，学生们普遍倾向于选择那些能够直接通往高薪职业的专业路径，其中尤以科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）领域为甚。
Private universities, which educate most students in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, often depend on tuition fees, and therefore most need to adapt to students’ wishes to stay afloat. In South Korea 18 private universities have closed for good since 2000.
