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Article 1
In order to provide incentives for cademic development, enhance teaching and research standards, and encourage universities to develop their own individual strengths, the Ministry of Education(hereunder “the Ministry”)has established the National Chair Professorships, in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 2 of Article 17 of the University Act, and has formulated these Regulations.
Article 2
Each National Chair Professorship shall be awarded to a full-time university professor who is aged seventy years or less on the date set as the deadline for universities to submit recommendations, to whom none of the situations referred to in the subparagraphs of Article 14, Paragraph 1 or the subparagraphs of Article 15, Paragraph 1 of the Teachers’ Act pertain, and who when recommended or selected is still actively engaged in ongoing academic research and teaching; held in high esteem; playing a leading role in shaping the direction of academic thought; and an exemplary role model in the academic community. In addition, the person shall satisfy one of the following requirements:
1. Be an academician of Academia Sinica;
2. Have received a Ministry of Education Academic Award at least three years earlier. Or
3. Have some outstanding achievement equivalent to being an Academia Sinica academician or to receiving a Ministry of Education Academic Award, in an academic or professional field in Taiwan or in another country.
Article 3
Candidates who meet the eligibility requirements for a National Chair Professorship set out in the preceding article shall be recommended to the Ministry by universities after each candidate’ s eligibility has first been officially reviewed by their university and approved by the Teacher Evaluation Committee. Each university may recommend up to four candidates in each designated field and the selection shall be made by the Ministry.
The Ministry’s procedures to select National Chair Professors are as follows:
1. A separate Review Board will be set up for each of five categories, based on different academic fields: the Humanities and Arts; Social Science; Mathematics and Natural Science; Biology and Medical and Agricultural Science; and Engineering and Applied Science. From nine to eleven prestigious scholars and experts shall be appointed to be members of each Review Board. The Standing Committee of the Ministry of Education’s Academic Review Committee shall designate the convener of each Review Board.
2. The Review Boards shall conduct the first review, after undertaking a detailed evaluation of the academic research and teaching performance of each of the candidates, and fully discussing and analyzing each one.
3. Each Review Board shall forward all the material pertaining to each candidate who has passed the first review to three or four scholars or experts for further evaluation, after which it will conduct its second review. Each Review Board will then give its recommendations of candidates for a National Chair Professorship to the Standing Committee.
4. The Standing Committee shall review and discuss the results of each evaluation of each of the recommended candidates referred to in the preceding subparagraph, and then draw up and submit a list of candidates for a National Chair Professorship to a meeting of the Academic Review Committee to discuss and deliberate over.
5. After discussion and deliberation at a meeting attended by at least half of its members, the Academic Review Committee shall determine the successful candidates using one of the methods stipulated below. The National Chair Professors are selected based on the number of votes received by each of the candidates:
(1)At least two thirds of the members present give their approval; or
(2)More than half of the members present give their approval, and at least half of the members in the same disciplinary category as the candidate recommended for a National Chair Professorship are present and at least two thirds of those members give their approval.
6. If any National Chair Professorship remains vacant after the selection procedure, a further ballot may be cast if more than half of the members present at the meeting of the Academic Review Committee attended by at least half of its members agree. If a second ballot still fails to result in anyone receiving the number of votes stipulated in the preceding subparagraph, that National Chair Professorship shall remain vacant.
Article 3-1
The recusal of members of the Academic Review Committee from review and ballot-casting procedures shall be handled in accordance with the following provisions:
1. If a member of the Academic Review Committee is one of the candidates currently recommended for a National Chair Professorship, that person shall withdraw from participating in all associated review and ballot-casting procedures.
2. If any one of the following relationships exists between any member of the Academic Review Committee and any candidate currently recommended for an Academic Award, the relationship must be disclosed to the Committee; the member involved may participate in the review process but shall recuse themself from the ballot-casting procedure:
(1)A candidate is the member’s spouse, or a former spouse, or a fourth degree or closer blood relative, or a third degree or closer relative by adoption or marriage, or a person who has ever had such a relationship with the member;
(2)A candidate and a member have had a teacher-student relationship in which the teacher was the student’s advisor for their doctoral or master’s degree thesis;
(3)The candidate and the member served in the same department, institute, discipline, or some other equivalent level unit.
(4)The candidate and the member have co-authored a paper or research findings published within the past two years; or
(5)The candidate and the member have jointly implemented a research project within the past three years.
3. Any member of the Academic Review Committee who has or has had some relationship with any candidate currently recommended for a National Chair Professorship apart from those relationships listed above, all of which must be disclosed, the member may choose to disclose that relationship to the Academic Review Committee, and the Academic Review Committee will then discuss the matter and decide whether recusal is necessary.
Article 4
A maximum of thirteen National Chair Professorships shall be approved and awarded each year. The number available in each different disciplinary category is stipulated in Article 3, Paragraph 2, Subparagraph 1. There is an annual quota of two such professorships in the Humanities and Arts category, two such professorships in the Social Sciences category, and three such professorships in each of the other disciplinary categories.
Article 5
The term of each National Chair Professorship is three years. If it is necessary for a National Chair Professorship to be extended beyond the end of this term, the procedures set out in the provisions of Article 3 shall be conducted before the term ends.
Any person who has served two terms as a National Chair Professor shall become an honorary life-time National Chair Professor, without participating in any further recommendation or selection process.
Article 6
During the period when they are receiving the associated grant, National Chair Professors shall set up elective courses that students from other universities may enroll in; deliver lectures around the country; publicize research and teaching achievements, in order to enhance the quality and general climate of academic research and teaching in Taiwan; and each National Chair Professor shall submit a detailed summary to the Ministry of their findings or other achievements, lectures and presentations given, and substantial contributions made each year
Their university shall assist each National Chair Professor to establish a designated area where details of their research and teaching achievements will be accessible, in order to enhance academic exchanges and put their achievements to practical use.
Article 7
In addition to the necessary resources that each university that recommended a particular National Chair Professorship will provide, the Ministry shall provide NTD two million annually, which shall be allocated each year as follows:
1. A personal grant for each National Chair Professor: up to a maximum of NTD 1,500,000.
2. Teaching and research funds: the amount remaining after the allocation of funds for the National Chair Professor’s personal grant, to be used for employing assistants, operating expenses, and transportation.
Any person selected to be a National Chair Professor is not permitted to concurrently receive any other grant from the public affairs budget of any other government agency(organization).
Article 8
If any of the following circumstances occur, a National Chair Professor’s personal grant shall be handled in accordance with the following provisions:
1. If a National Chair Professor does not continue working in a position as a full-time professor at their original university, their grant shall be terminated, beginning from the next semester. The university where the person is newly taking up an appointment may, however, continue providing similar administrative resources, and a similar research environment, and offer National Chair Professorship related courses, and if so, the person may continue to receive the grant.
2. If a National Chair Professor takes research leave, they shall report this to the Ministry which shall suspend their grant starting from the month immediately after the period of leave begins. Grant payments will resume when the period of research leave ends and will continue until the expiration of the term of the National Chair Professorship.
3. If a National Chair Professor is temporarily transferred in accordance with relevant regulations, for a period of less than two years, their grant shall be suspended starting from the month immediately following the temporary transfer. The grant payments will resume when the temporary transfer ends and will continue until the expiration of the term of the National Chair Professorship.
Article 8-1
If any of the circumstances referred to in the subparagraphs below pertained to a National Chair Professor before their selection, the Ministry shall submit the matter to the Academic Review Committee for deliberation and if it passes a resolution approving the disciplinary measure, the Ministry shall declare the person’s eligibility to be a National Chair Professor null and void and require the personal grant that they were paid in accordance with the provisions of Article 7, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 1 to be repaid:
1. Any of the situations referred to in the subparagraphs of Article 14, Paragraph 1 or the subparagraphs of Article 15, Paragraph 1 of the Teachers’ Act pertains to them, and they were dismissed.
2. They were involved in a violation of academic ethics that would have adversely affected the decision to select them.
3. Any material presented during their selection procedure contained false or incorrect details that would have adversely affected the decision to select them.
If either of the circumstances referred to in the subparagraphs below pertains to a National Chair Professor after they have been appointed, the Ministry shall submit the matter to the Academic Review Committee for deliberation, and if it passes a resolution approving the disciplinary measure, the Ministry shall revoke the person’s eligibility to hold a National Chair Professorship and shall cease paying the personal grant that was paid in accordance with the provisions of Article 7, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 1:
1. Any of the situations referred to in the subparagraphs of Article 14, Paragraph or the subparagraphs of Article 15, Paragraph 1 of the Teachers’ Act pertains to them, and they have been dismissed.
2. They have become involved in a violation of academic ethics and the circumstances are serious.
If, subsequent to their appointment, a National Chair Professor no longer has the status of teacher, and the institution(or agency)at which they are employed or a related committee constituted in accordance with the law has investigated and verified that they engaged In conduct referred to in any of the subparagraphs of Article 14, Paragraph 1 or the subparagraphs of Article 15, Paragraph 1 of the Teachers’ Act, the Ministry shall submit the matter to the Academic Review Committee for deliberation, and if it passes a resolution supporting the disciplinary measure, the Ministry shall declare the person’s eligibility to hold a National Chair Professorship null and void or revoke their eligibility and handle the matter in accordance with the provisions of the preceding two paragraphs.
If the Ministry declares a person’s eligibility to hold a National Chair Professorship null and void or revokes their eligibility during the period in which any associated grant is being paid, the Ministry shall cease its allocation of the teaching and research funds referred to in Article 7, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 2. If any such funds have been released but have not yet been spent, the operations for which the funds were to be used shall be discontinued and the unspent funds must be returned.
The procedures for the Ministry to declare a person’s eligibility to hold a National Chair Professorship null and void or revoke their eligibility, in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 1 to Paragraph 3, are as follows:
1. The procedures for the Ministry to declare a person’s eligibility to hold a National Chair Professorship null and void pursuant to Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 1, or Paragraph 3, or to revoke a person’s eligibility to hold a National Chair Professorship pursuant to Paragraph 2, Subparagraph 1, or Paragraph 3: the Ministry shall submit the matter to the Academic Review Committee for deliberation.
2. To declare a person’s eligibility to hold a National Chair Professorship null and void pursuant to Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 2 or Subparagraph 3, or to revoke a person’s eligibility to hold a National Chair Professorship pursuant to Paragraph 2, Subparagraph 2: an investigation team organized by the Ministry shall investigate the matter, and after the investigation team makes its professional judgement, it shall draw up and submit a written report of its investigation to the Academic Review Committee for deliberation.
3. The deliberation procedures referred to in the two preceding subparagraphs shall be conducted at meetings of the Academic Review Committee attended by at least half of its members, and a resolution approving the disciplinary measure will be passed if at least two-thirds of the members present vote in favor.
Article 9
These Regulations shall take effect on the date of promulgation.