Foreign scholars will be able to lead universities

Currently, only Taiwanese nationals can head colleges and universities in Taiwan.

Other amendments to the University Act limit the term of a university president to four years, enable universities to elect their own presidents, and require universities to rate their faculties.

The University Act as amended will be submitted to President Chen Shui-bian for promulgation within two weeks.

Under the amended law, a university president will be elected by a screening panel, whose members will be selected by a faculty conference, an alumni association, and the government agency concerned in accordance with a 2-2-1 ratio.

The panel will screen candidates who may be named both at home or from abroad and elect one from among them to be the university president.

At present, the screening panel has to elect at least two candidates, and the Ministry of Education has to select one of them for appointment to the post.

With the amendments in place, the Ministry of Education can appoint only one fifth of members to the screening panel for a national university and simply has to approve the university president elected. If colleges and universities are run by city or country governments, their education departments function like the Ministry of Education for national institutions of higher learning.

Universities in Taiwan are no longer forbidden to open branches abroad. They may be operated in China, because the amended act does not say it is prohibited.

Student representatives are allowed to take part in a faculty conference, while the educational authorities may conduct a regular assessment of instruction in colleges and universities.

Graduate students may be given degrees in two disciplines, while holders of bachelor’s degrees with excellent grade records are allowed to enroll for courses leading to a Ph.D.degree without going through studies toward a master’s degree.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos Respond to this email