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Currently there are 15 counties that run Indigenous Community Colleges in Taiwan since the beginning of Indigenous Community College in 2002 in which 7 counties were involved. As a token of breakthrough in Taiwan for an innovation of indigenous education system where the indigenous peoples were the major player, the establishment of Indigenous College has become a promise to develop indigenous cultures and basic daily life necessities that are not fully fulfilled. As one of the pioneer counties, it is phenomenal that Indigenous Community Colleges in Miaoli County remain after the experiences of being suspended and of being managed by different administrations for the last decade. As of now, Indigenous Community Colleges in Miaoli County is administered by the Civil Affairs Department of the Miaoli County. In practice, they are managed respectively by two different elementary schools in the north and south Miaoli. Difficulties have been encountered, and have overcome throughout the years. In the current study, the literatures regarding the concerns and feasible solutions were reviewed and data were collected through in-depth interviews to show their perspectives of their strategies running Indigenous Community Colleges. Research questions are as followed: First, is it guaranteed for a course applied lecturer? Does tuition waiver policy for all villagers become a must to bring student? Second, considering the administration, is it the best way to commission an elementary to manage the Indigenous Community Colleges? Third, In findings, it is found that the model of lecturer-application provided the stable number of opening courses. However, courses or classes number that were decided accordingly by the needs of lecturers and learners would not fully reflect the needs of the village. Besides, the Indigenous Community Colleges themselves would have to compromise their authority regarding the design of their curriculum. Resource monopoly was also found when the number of course-opening became the goal. Finally, tuition waiver policy for all villagers to attend their Indigenous Community Colleges generated issues of low attendances and unstable attendances. As a project with specific purposes, running Indigenous Community Colleges required annual applications for funding. In Miaoli County, the Civil Affairs Department of the Miaoli County was in charge of the project in which abundant experiences and successful cases were their advantages. However, insufficient understanding of indigenous cultures and few connections with the villages were issues. To solve the above problems, local elementary schools were commissioned to manage Indigenous Community Colleges in Miaoli County. Though the project was conducted in ways that were closely connected to the locals and their life, there were new concerns such as the gaps between expected and final results. Insufficient human resource in elementary schools was one of the major issues in running Indigenous Community Colleges in Miaoli County. The indigenous villagers were the marginalized in the current economic system in Taiwan. Restricted regulations toward the using of lands, inconvenient transportation, and problematic avenues of sales managements altogether limited the developments of local indigenous villagers. Unique traditional cultures were considered as the base for Cultural and Creative Industry. Economically, the room of Indigenous Community Colleges to work toward can be promising if concerned indigenous Cultural and Creative Industry is developed. In Miaoli County, the major goal was to develop indigenous Cultural and Creative Industry in running the Indigenous Community Colleges. Courses regarding cultural and creative industry were opened. Though the learners learned skills in courses at Indigenous Community Colleges, the contents in such courses might not be closely connected to local cultures. When local cultural and creative products were not developed and the courses provided by the Indigenous Community College weren’t able to promote local industry, economically the local life was not improved. To the indigenous villagers, Indigenous Community Colleges contained valuable resources. In this study, the researcher offered immature suggestions regarding the management of the Indigenous Community Colleges. It’s aimed at effectively making use of the resources to include more locals within the management and so creating a local learning field for the locals.
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