受到全球化、知識經濟及人力資本論的影響，各國皆以強調卓越與品質績效做為高等教育主要的政策，國際大學評比機構的興起更促使各國以追求世界一流大學為目標，我國也不例外，自2006年起開始執行「發展國際一流大學及頂尖研究中心計畫」，亦即所謂的「五年五百億」計畫，至2011年起進行第二期的五年五百億計畫，並將名稱改為「邁向頂尖大學計畫」。而國家在有限的經費下，為了邁向卓越，開始縮減一般性的高等教育經費補助，轉而提供競爭性的計畫補助，或是要求學校進行產學合作以爭取經費。也因此，大學為了獲得經費補助及累積聲譽，將學術研究轉為商業用途，這樣的現象即是Slaughter與Leslie（1997）所稱的「學術資本主義」現象。本文歸納出學術資本主義對於高等教育所產生的四個影響：一、大學治理的轉型；二、學術生產型態的轉變；三、學術勞動力的轉型；四、成本與收益的轉移。並以這四個面向分析在學術資本主義的影響下，我國頂尖大學計畫的優點與限制，希冀有助於我國在追求卓越下的省思。

On account of the influence of globalization, the emergence of a knowledge economy, and the recent reformulation of human capital theory, the global community has made excellence and quality performance central to higher education policy. The rise of international university rankings has prompted countries worldwide to orient themselves toward pursuing the goal of establishing world-class universities. In 2006, the Taiwanese Ministry of Education began implementing the “Development Plan for World Class Universities and Research Centers of Excellence”, which is also known as the “Fifty Billion Within Five Years” plan. The second phase of the plan began in 2011 when its name was changed to the “Aim for the Top University Project”. However, in order to strive for academic excellence countries with limited funds may begin to reduce general subsidies for higher education and reallocate those funds to competitive grants. They may also stipulate that schools engage in cooperation with industry to compete for funding. Thus, in order to obtain funding and build their reputations, universities are forced to orient their academic research toward commercial ends. Slaughter and Leslie have described this phenomenon as “academic capitalism”. The present study classifies the influence of academic capitalism on higher education into four components: 1. the transformation of university governance, 2. the change in academic production, 3. the transformation of academic labor, and 4. the transfer of costs and benefits. The merits and limitations of Taiwan’s “Aim for the Top University Project” are then analyzed under the influence of these four aspects of academic capitalism in the hope of benefiting Taiwan’s pursuit of academic excellence.