In pursuit of academic excellence and international competitiveness in higher education, Taiwan's government started to develop the Excellence Initiative as part of national agenda since the early 2000s. The first phase of the initiative, launched in 2005, sought to redefine institutional missions and visions of research universities. This then continued into the second phase while shaping up capacities and privileges of selected universities. After the new administration took office in 2016, the Excellence Initiative program moved into the third phase, but with a new focus, on egalitarianism. While being ambitious, it had to address a major concern about funding being cut for the privileged research universities. To mitigate the emerging tensions, a complementary program titled “Yu Shan Program” was initiated for the previously privileged universities. This presentation will examine these dynamics while focusing on policy dilemmas and institutional transformations affected by different phases of the Excellence Initiative over the past two decades. Angela Yung-chi Hou, is Professor of Higher Education at College of Education, National Chengchi University, Taiwan. In 2022, she was elected as President of Chinese Taipei Comparative Education Society. She served as Executive Director of Higher Education Evaluation & Accreditation Council of Taiwan (HEEACT) from 2016 to 2021. She has been actively committed to quality assurance practices and international research for more than 15 years, including serving as Vice President & Board member of International Network of Quality Assurance in Higher Education (INQAAHE), Vice President & Board member of Asia Pacific Quality Network (APQN). She specializes in higher education policy, quality management, internationalization, faculty development, and quality assurance of cross-border higher education.