The Ministry of Education has changed the election rules for public university presidents, a move that many believe is a response to the controversial election of National Taiwan University (NTU) president Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔).
The amendment requires candidates for university president to provide a comprehensive employment history, including details that could affect their elected position, and bar people who have held a supervisory position at the same company as any election committee member from being considered.
Kuan’s appointment as NTU president was questioned when it became known that he had been an independent director on the board of Taiwan Mobile Co, when a company official was on the election committee, and held a teaching position at a university in China.
Photo: Lin Hsiao-yun, Taipei Times
In March, Richard Tsai (蔡明興), a committee member and Taiwan Mobile’s vice president, said that he had not been informed of the conflict of interest.
The amendment should reduce the chance of a conflict when university presidents are elected, Ministry of Education Department of Personnel Director Chen Kun-yuan (陳焜元) said on Friday.
National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism, National University of Kaohsiung, National Taiwan Ocean University, National Changhua University of Education and National Taipei University of Education are all to elect presidents in the coming year, he added.
In April last year, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) exposed flaws in the election system, but then came under fire and was first replaced by Wu Maw-kuen (吳茂昆), and then by Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮).
In January, Pan was reinstated as education minister after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators criticized Wu and Yeh for their position on Kuan’s election.
Pan has been busy reforming the public university president election process since his return to office, the ministry said.
The amendment also restricts the relationship between thesis advisers and students, it said.
Kuan was accused of plagiarizing a student’s paper when writing a conference paper that he coauthored with National Chi Nan University professor Chen Chien-liang (陳建良).
The change is viewed by many as a “corrective measure” for when the NTU election committee, citing a need for autonomy, refused to comply with several ministry requests that it hold a new election.
Under the changes, a controversial election must be resolved by a committee within three months. If the committee stalls on the issue, agreement by half of the representatives from the university administration could dissolve it.
A new committee would need to be formed within two months, and no committee member would be permitted to serve on more than two consecutive committees, the ministry said.
In determining a candidate’s academic performance, committees would need an evaluation performed by an industry professional or an academic from outside the university, it said.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition