The Ministry of Education yesterday said it would discipline universities that have recognized credits earned by students on academic exchanges in China.
Minister of Education Wu Ching-chi (吳清基) told the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee that the ministry would not recognize any academic credits from China, though it encourages cross-strait academic exchanges.
Wu said Taiwan does not recognize Chinese credentials or credits and that universities that recognized credits earned in China were violating the law.
The minister’s comment came after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said Tamkang University last year started recognizing credits earned by students on exchanges in China.
Kuan said Tamkang accepted the credits on the condition that the academic departments the students were affiliated with agreed.
Kuan said Tunghai University told teachers they could bypass the ban on Chinese credits by having teachers give students final grades for coursework done in China upon returning to Taiwan.
The ministry later confirmed Kuan’s claims about Tamkang, but rebutted those concerning Tunghai, while vowing to censure the former.
Tamkang University said in a press release last night that it had since last year allowed students to apply for the “transfer” of credits they earned on exchanges in China. But it said it did not recognize academic credits from China.
Meanwhile, the minister rebutted criticism that the president had broken a campaign promise to increase the annual education budget.
DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said the president had pledged to raise the budget by 0.2 percent of GDP per year, or approximately NT$24 billion (US$742.6 million). The budget request for education next year was NT$479.4 billion, up only NT$10.5 billion, Chen said.
But Wu said the budget request should have been NT$9.7 billion lower as there was a NT$40 billion drop in tax revenues this year. The ministry still raised the budget by NT$10.5 billion, Wu said.
In related developments, Vice Minister of Education Lin Tsung-ming (林聰明) said the ministry did not recommend that youths play a popular Facebook game called Happy Farm because “stealing” vegetables is unethical.
Wu said the ministry would suggest that the developer of the game modify it by having players “rent” rather than “steal” vegetables from other players.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
RSS