Structural Imbalance between General and Technical Tracks in Taiwan’s Education System: A Demographic Analysis from Secondary to Higher Education

This study examines the long-term demographic shift between general and technical tracks in Taiwan’s education system and its implications for the secondary-to-higher education pipeline. Using longitudinal enrollment data published by the Ministry of Education from 1991 to 2022, this study analyzes changes in student distribution across secondary education tracks and their subsequent alignment with higher education fields. To facilitate analytical comparison between academically oriented and applied-oriented educational pathways, the study employs Academic Territorology as a taxonomy-based analytical framework rather than a grand theory, mapping secondary school tracks and higher education fields into academic and applied categories. The findings reveal a persistent structural imbalance: while more than 50% of students enroll in academically oriented general high schools, fewer than 30% ultimately enter academic-oriented or STEM-related fields in higher education, with STEM enrollment stagnating at approximately 31–32% after 2018. This discrepancy indicates a systemic misalignment between secondary education pathways and the functional differentiation of higher education. The study argues that this imbalance should be understood not merely as an issue of individual choice or labor market demand, but as a structural consequence of educational tracking and institutional differentiation. These findings raise important implications for education policy, particularly regarding pathway design, university positioning, and the role of vocational education in knowledge-based societies.