The lack of students pursuing blue-collar jobs could be fatal to the city's long-term development, the head of the body charged with training such workers says.
Vocational Training Council chairman Clement Chen Cheng-jen said yesterday that even in a knowledge-based society, not everyone needed a degree.
And some blue-collar workers could even make more money than people working in offices, he said.
"When you talk about a knowledge-based economy, not every single one of us must have a university degree. We can have skilled work forces in various aspects," he told the media.
"The government is now relying on two legs, degrees and associate degrees, but vocational and professional training seems not to be the focus," he added, noting that there were concerns about labour shortages in welding, aviation engineering, maritime services and, more recently, information technology.
A VTC spokeswoman said later that the council's courses on maritime studies, for example, ran at 70 per cent of capacity while some courses had more applicants than vacancies.