The Ministry of Education supports the power of local universities to expel students for misdemeanors or academic failure, Vice Education Minister Lu Mu-lin (呂木琳) said yesterday.
The ministry also supports the decision of two institutes -- the Taipei-based Shih Hsin University in Taipei and National Hualien Teachers College -- to file an appeal with the Supreme Administrative Court to overturn a ruling by Taipei High Administrative Court Thursday that denies local universities the power to expel students for misdemeanors or academic failure, Lu said.
Education minister Ovid Tzeng (曾志朗) also on Thursday discounted the Taipei High Administrative Court's ruling which upheld two students' claims that their universities violated their right to an education under the Constitution by forcing them to drop out.
Tzeng said that the notion of expulsion and related practices is basically a part of the sovereignty of all universities and colleges in Taiwan, whether public-run or private, and that this has been the consensus of all authorities concerned.
Lu said all disputes and any confusion derived from the two students' complaints about being expelled from university are expected to be settled by legislators.
Lawmakers are scheduled to discuss and screen a related amendment to the current laws governing higher education during the next legislative session.
People First Party Legislator Diane Lee (李慶安), who is also a member of the Legislative Yuan Education Affairs Committee, said it is one of the academic conditions of local universities that students be expelled for flunking.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique