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Higher education in Taiwan has been influenced by U.S. and Western practices, and syllabi represent one means to verify this. However, limited research exists in Taiwan on course syllabi and on similarities of syllabi with practices in other countries. In the U.S. as the paradigm shifted from teaching to learning and to the learning-centered context, scholars argued that syllabi should be learning-centered. Given the assumption that higher education in Taiwan is similar to U.S. higher education and the call for a learning-centered context, this qualitative research examined 180 undergraduate syllabi at a public university in Taiwan with a (traditional) syllabus component template and a learning-centered syllabus component template derived from the literature in the U.S. to describe (1) the contents of syllabi, and (2) the extent that syllabi in Taiwan were congruent to U. S. syllabus component templates. Syllabi at this university were highly congruent with the (traditional) syllabus component template and were congruent at the medium level with the learning-centered component template. About 90% of syllabi included 8 of 10 major components. Additional findings included: 70% of faculty were male, and 30% were female; more than 75% of the faculty earned their doctoral degrees from the United States or Europe; gender made no difference on inclusion of major components for both templates; there was no difference in inclusion of components on both templates for faculty who earned their doctoral degrees from the U.S. or Taiwan; a high percentage (80%) of college courses adopted English textbooks published in the U.S.; some differences existed and use of English in the syllabus and on components included in the syllabi. Based on these syllabi, it is evident that syllabi in Taiwan represent course planning and organization congruent to recommended practices in the United States.

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The purposes of this study were to (a) examine higher education activities from 1945 to 1980 before Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong became newly industrialized countries; (b) study the higher education reforms that each country made in its progress in order to meet the challenge; (c) compare and contrast the higher education systems that were adopted; and (d) identify a single Asian higher education system model (descriptive model) for any country that desires to become an industrialized country. Historical research was utilized in this study. This study was approached as follows: First, the economic growth of the countries under study was examined. Then, the countries' higher education systems were compared and contrasted. The result is at least one possible higher education system model that can be used by any country to improve the future performance of its higher education system. The study concluded that the models of higher education used by Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong from 1945 to 1980 were not identical. However, they came to similar conclusions in terms of economic development. In this case, an emerging industrial country like the social and economic condition of Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong would find that adoption of those higher education models might be appropriate. For instance, an emerging country with a social and economic system like Taiwan would find Taiwan's higher education model appropriate for adoption in that country. On the other hand, if an emerging industrial nation has social and economic criteria dissimilar to those of Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, a proposed single model of higher education would be appropriate, with an adjustment to suit the national resources, cultural background, and structure of trades and the labor force of that country.