National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam.
People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.”
Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments.
Photo: Screen grab from Threads
NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see the exam before it was given to students and that all exams would use traditional characters.
The usual professor is on leave and a part-time instructor accidentally included simplified Chinese while preparing the exam using external materials, it said.
Regarding the textbook, there is no traditional Chinese version of it, so the instructor used versions written in simplified Chinese and English, it said, adding that the English-language material was not used in the exam.
As it was a translation course, the instructor was allowed to use content in simplified Chinese as a reference and as practice for the students, it said.
The use of traditional Chinese characters is strongly encouraged, NKUST said.
While the Ministry of Education does not mandate the use of traditional Chinese characters, it would bolster guidelines for instructors and continue promoting traditional characters, it added.
The business card bearing the words “Taiwan Province, China” was a personal card of a professor and was not issued by the university, it said.
Kaohsiung City Councilor Chang Po-yang (張博洋) said that the government should do a nationwide inspection of professors to uncover Chinese Communist Party agents in higher education.
Infiltrating the education system is part of China’s “united front” efforts, Chang said, adding that the government would uncover a “mountain” of evidence if it looked into the situation.
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