The Ministry of Education has fined the National Taiwan University (NTU) NT$30,000 for an exam question from the mechanical engineering department that contravened the Gender Equality Education Act (性別平等教育法). It is the first such fine for a university in the nation’s history.
In the department’s entrance exam in March, students were asked to write about the “social responsibilities” of an engineer based on a family created by a man and a woman.
The foreword to the question said: “The formation of family by man and woman is the law for society and family, and engineers should not violate natural law through their engineering innovations.”
Student Affairs and Special Education Administration Deputy Director Yen Pao-yueh (顏寶月) said a ministry investigation concluded that the question could have affected the outcome of students’ exams.
The act stipulates that schools should not give unequal treatment to students during recruitment based on gender, sexual preference or gender identity, Yen said.
The ministry’s Gender Equality Committee said the international trend on defining marriage is moving past the “husband and wife” model and there is need to reassess what constitutes a family from other perspectives.
The university could have faced a fine of up to NT$100,000. Some committee members suggested NT$10,000, as the incident was the school’s first offense, but others said that the nation’s top university should lead by example, so the committe compromised on NT$30,000.
NTU Secretary-General Lin Ta-te (林達德) said the school is considering whether to appeal.
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