The Ministry of Education yesterday said it would not allow public universities to poach staff from private universities by taking advantage of a new salary scheme.
Deputy Director of the Department of Higher Education Yang Yu-huei (楊玉惠) said local universities can only spend the scheme’s budget on recruiting distinguished academics from abroad or on preventing their own talent from being recruited by schools overseas.
“Schools are not allowed to spend the money hunting talent from other local universities,” Yang said.
The ministry began the scheme on Sunday, granting top universities about NT$1.2 billion (US$37.7 million) to recruit foreign staff or retain distinguished faculty members.
The Chinese-language China Times yesterday quoted several private university presidents as expressing concern that national universities could use the money to lure staff from their private counterparts.
Shih Hsin University (SHU) president Lai Ting-ming (賴鼎銘) described the scheme as “private schools’ worst nightmare,” saying that 10 young SHU lecturers had left because of better offers at national universities.
Fu Jen Catholic University president Bernard Li (黎建球) was quoted as saying that the scheme would only serve to concentrate educational resources in certain public universities.
Vice Minister of Education Lin Tsong-ming (林聰明) said yesterday that the ministry would also provide NT$100 million a year to help schools that do not receive the recruitment funding to hire or keep staff.
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