1995年台灣高等教育政策走向擴張，大量培養高等教育人才，致使大專青年失業率升高，引發大專人才培育與產業需求之間產生失衡的質疑。為了釐清高等教育人才培育失衡是發生在哪一部分，以及探討造成失衡的原因，本研究分析多種統計資料，以及深入訪談高等教育相關人員，進而釐清「高學歷、高失業率」的諸多迷思，包括高等教育擴張並未導致大學及以上族群的全面失衡，失衡主要發生在私立一般學院、私立技職學院、私立科技大學，以及高等教育有助於提升長期職涯競爭力，終身教育為未來趨勢。最重要的是，本研究發現，政府管制與干預才是造成高等教育人才培育失衡的問題根源，故唯有鬆綁政府對大學的管制與干預，讓大學自由競爭與自主發展，才能有效矯正大學的發展，修正人才培育的失衡現象。

In 1995, the Taiwanese government embarked on a policy of expanding the higher education sector. As a result, since 1995 there has been a dramatic increase in the number of university and junior college graduates produced each year. At the same time, however, the unemployment rate among university and junior college graduates has risen, raising concerns that the higher education sector is failing to cultivate the types of human talent that industry needs. In order to clarify exactly where the imbalance between high education talent cultivation and the needs of industry lies, and to explore the reasons for the imbalance, the present study analyzed a wide range of statistical data, and undertook in-depth interviews with persons directly involved with the higher education sector. The results obtained in the study helped to shed light on a number of “myths” regarding the relationship between the expansion of the higher education sector and the rise in the graduate unemployment rate. For example, the study found that the expansion of the higher education sector had not led to an across-the-board imbalance affecting the whole sector; rather, the imbalance was heavily concentrated in private sector institutes, private-sector technical and vocational colleges, and private-sector universities of technology. The results obtained in the study suggested that, overall, higher education does help to improve graduates’ long-term career prospects, and that “lifelong education” will become a significant trend in the future. The most significant finding was that government-imposed controls and government interference were the main cause of the imbalance between the types of human talent being cultivated by universities and the types needed by industry. A relaxation of government restrictions, and a lessening of government interference, will be needed to enable universities to compete freely and to develop autonomously, thereby putting Taiwan’s universities on the right development track and rectifying the imbalances in human talent cultivation.