New Minister of Education Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮) yesterday said he would communicate with National Taiwan University (NTU) within the next two months with the goal to resolve the controversy surrounding the school’s presidential election.
Yeh yesterday took office as the education minister at a handover ceremony in Taipei that was presided over by Minister Without Portfolio Lin Wan-yi (林萬億).
At the ceremony, Yeh said his priorities are to resolve the NTU controversy and finish curriculum guidelines for the 12-year education system, which is to be implemented next year.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
The ministry on April 27 decided not to appoint NTU’s elected candidate, Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔), as the school’s new president on the grounds that there had been a conflict of interest in the election process, instructing the university to hold a new election.
Since then, three administrative appeals have been filed — by NTU students, by the university and by Kuan himself — requesting that the ministry honor the election results and appoint Kuan.
A standoff has existed between the ministry and NTU since the university last month refused to hold another presidential election, he said.
While respecting their decision to file an administrative appeal, Yeh said that such cases typically drag on for years, adding that the university being without a formal president long-term would be damaging to its development.
“I hope that we can find another way to resolve the problem. I will communicate with the university, understanding their needs and the context,” he said.
By being open to dialogue, he hopes to build mutual trust with the school, Yeh added.
The ministry would not leave the nation’s leading university stranded, he said, adding that the university has “many top faculty members and students, and we should ensure that the school continues to be successful.”
“However, this window of communication will not last forever,” he said. “It is important to offer an opportunity, but this will be the only opportunity.”
“The next two months are the best time to resolve this and we must work hard and take advantage of the opportunity,” he added.
Regarding the new curriculum, the ministry plans to complete it before the beginning of the new academic year, he said.
While many had questioned Yeh’s lack of experience in elementary and secondary education, he said he would do his best to learn more about the subject.
“I will work hard on that,” he said. “No matter how much I already know, I will always try to learn more.”
Yeh was earlier this year accused of teaching illegally at China’s Zhejiang University from Dec. 19, 2011, to Jan. 15, 2012, while he worked at NTU.
However, he says he did not break any law, adding that it was a short-term academic exchange for which he was not paid.
When asked whether he received any subsidies for the trip, Yeh said that although he was not paid a salary, he had received subsidies to cover lodging and transportation.
Before taking office, Yeh was the minister of the interior. He was also a professor at National Taiwan University and a minister without portfolio for the Executive Yuan.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods