A national university in Kaohsiung promised it would increase the oversight of professors’ use of Chinese in course material following a social media outcry over several instances of simplified Chinese characters being used in the school such as on a final exam paper.
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) found itself at the center of controversy after social media users revealed that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and a course English textbook, while the business card of a professor had the words “Taiwan province, China” on it.
On the social media platform Threads, users posted photos of the exam, the English textbook and the business card, leading to questions about the university’s policies.
Photo: Taipei Times file photo
NTUST said that other teachers did not see the exam papers before they were given out to students, adding that all exam papers will continue to use traditional Chinese characters.
Regarding the textbook with simplified Chinese, there is currently no traditional Chinese version of that textbook, the school said, so the course instructor utilized resources in both Chinese and English for the class.
The course’s usual professor is away on leave, and the part-time teacher used external materials that accidentally included content from simplified Chinese textbooks for the students’ exams, the school added.
The English textbook was not used in the exam, clarified the school. As the class was a translation course, the teacher was allowed to use simplified Chinese content as reference materials and as practice for the students.
The use of traditional Chinese characters is strongly encouraged, NKUST added.
The business card that said “Taiwan province, China” was the personal card of a professor and not one issued by the school, said NKUST.
NKUST alumnus and Kaohsiung City Councilor Chang Po-yang (張博洋) said the government should do a nationwide inspection of professors to uncover Chinese Communist Party agents in higher education.
Infiltrating the educational system is part of China’s “united front,” Chang said, adding that the government would uncover a “mountain” of evidence if it looked into the situation.
The Ministry of Education does not currently mandate the use of traditional Chinese characters, the university said, adding that it would strengthen guidelines for teachers and continue promoting traditional characters.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei City Reserve Command yesterday initiated its first-ever 14-day recall of some of the city’s civilian service reservists, who are to undergo additional training on top of refresher courses. The command said that it rented sites in Neihu District (內湖), including the Taipei Tennis Center, for the duration of the camp to optimize tactical positioning and accommodate the size of the battalion of reservists. A battalion is made up of four companies of more than 200 reservists each, it said. Aside from shooting drills at a range in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), the remainder of the training would be at
RSS