A Ministry of Education draft bill for transitioning and closing private universities lacks safeguards for disposing of school property, the Taiwan Higher Education Union said yesterday, calling for the assets of dissolved schools to be placed in a public higher-education trust.
Numerous private universities are expected to merge or fold in the near future due to declining student numbers, potentially paving the way for massive layoffs of university instructors.
“The ministry is basically giving schools a blank check on how they want to transition,” union chairwoman Liu Mei-chun (劉梅君) said, blasting a ministry proposal to set aside NT$5 billion (US$165 million) in special subsidies for “transitioning” schools, while failing to earmark funds for severance pay.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
“After the money is given to schools, it will just disappear, and teachers will only be able to get a hold of their share after long and arduous lawsuits,” she said.
“The Ministry of Education is not willing to shoulder its responsibility to take over the management of struggling schools,” said Su Tzu-hsuan (蘇子軒), the union’s student action committee convener, questioning a ministry proposal to provide “guidance” to schools that fall behind in paying salaries, rather than filing court motions to replace their boards and take direct control.
“The ‘professional guidance’ proposal is a feint because only schools’ founding capital and physical property would be put in trust during the guidance period,” he said, citing bank accounts, special funds and investments of subsidiary organizations as examples of resources over which struggling school boards would retain direct control.
Rights campaigners have expressed concern that school boards might choose to divert school resources rather than pay teachers’ benefits, with Alliance Against the Commercialization of Education member Hsieh Yi-hung (謝毅弘) saying that a survey by his group had found that the nation’s 107 private universities have NT$14.5 billion in bank funds alone.
Su also criticized the ministry’s removal of requirements that school closures be passed by an internal school advisory committee or a consensus after talks with teacher and student representatives.
While there are provisions requiring severance payments for laid-off teachers, there are no rules on how these should be paid out, effectively allowing schools to set the terms, he said.
Union executive secretary Chen Chiung-ting (陳炯廷) called for the property and capital of closed schools to be placed in a public fund, which can be used for improving student-teacher ratios, lowering tuition in the remaining schools and other objectives.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS