Finally, Taiwan's declining birth rate has reduced the pool of graduate-school applicants just as the number of graduate schools has increased, making entry into local graduate programs less competitive.
結果，出國意願的比例提高至 36 %；若有獎學金，比例更大幅提高至 59 %。不過陳永耀觀察，近來情勢已有改變，今年他實驗室的 5 名研究生都沒有申請國防役，因為一般的義務役期已有愈來愈短的趨勢，而可以發放豐厚員工分紅的科技公司其實不多，「經濟誘因減低了」。