Outline       

     This chapter is concerned with information on education, science & technology, culture, and mass communication in our country. The Annual National Technology Survey takes place once a year. Objects of the survey are all of the organizations engaging in research in the fields of natural sciences, engineering, medical sciences, agricultural sciences, humanities and social sciences, including departments and institutes of all public and private colleges and universities, independent research institutes, and public and private industries. For investigation, private industries are drawn by the stratified sampling method, and the data are used as a base to estimate the population of each related parameter by ratio estimation. For all other kinds, every object is investigated in the survey, and the data obtained from this part are directly compiled and tabulated in the statistical tables without going through any estimation process. The survey adopts the calendar year as the survey period.
     School Year -- A school year begins August 1 of a year to July 31 of the next year. Each school year is divided into two semesters, with the first semester being from August 1 of a year to January 31 of the next year and the second semester, from February 1 to July 31 of the next year.
     Education at All Levels -- Education can be classified into following five stages: preschool education (preceding the first level), primary education (first level), secondary education (second level), higher education (third level), and social education (special and other levels). The preschool education is offered to toddlers (age 3 to 5) at the kindergartens. The primary education is offered to students (age 6 to 11) at the elementary schools. The secondary education is offered to students (age 12 to 17) at the junior high, senior high, and vocational senior schools (including the first three years of the 5-year junior colleges). The higher education is offered to students (age 18 to 21) at the colleges/universities and above (excluding the first three year of the 5-year junior colleges).
     Opportunity for graduates entering advanced levels -- This refers to the chance for a school graduate to enroll in a school the next higher level. For instance, the opportunity for a junior high school graduate entering advanced levels is the first-year students at the senior high schools, vocational senior schools (including supplementary schools and prolonged education classes), and 5-year junior colleges as a percentage of total graduates coming out of all junior high schools in the current year.
     Education Attainments -- This refers to the highest school education received or the highest qualification test passed or the best knowledge gained from informal schools, at home and overseas, by a person of age 25 or above at the benchmark date. An informal school may be a tutorial class, unregistered college, correspondence course program (school), symposium, training class, supplementary education class, seminars, and self-study.
     To facilitate comparison with international statistics, the indicators has presented R&D expenditures and personnel since 2001, which are classified according to the definitions in the newest edition of the OECD’s R&D manual “Frascati Manual”. In the OECD criterion, only persons with university degree or above are counted as “researchers”. Those with lower formal qualifications are counted as “technicians.”
     Scientific and Technical Paper -- This refers to the papers produced in the process of the scientific and technological activities, including referee papers, conference papers and monographs. The research reports published yet never in any academic journals and the dissertations of doctors or masters are excluded from the statistics.