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Chapter Law Content

Title: University Act CH
Category: Ministry of Education(教育部)
Chapter 3 Organization and University Councils
Article 8
A university shall appoint a president who will be responsible for the overall management of the university and its development and represent the university externally. The president of a university may appoint one or more vice presidents to assist the president with the implementation of university affairs. Each university shall stipulate the number of vice presidents that may be appointed, their term of office, and necessary qualifications in its charter and by-laws.
The qualifications a person must have to hold the post of president of a university shall be in accordance with the provisions of related laws and this post may be filled by a foreign person, without the appointment being subject to the restrictions set out in the provisions of the Nationality Act, the Private School Law, and the Employment Service Act pertaining to nationality and employment.
Article 9
For the appointment of a new president to a public university, the university shall organize a selection committee ten months prior to the expiry of the term of office of the incumbent president, or within two months after the post becomes vacant through some other cause. After being selected through an open selection procedure, the new president shall be officially appointed by the Ministry of Education or by the local government that has jurisdiction over that university.
The selection committee referred to in the preceding paragraph shall have proportionate numbers of members satisfying the following criteria who are selected as follows:
Representatives of the university, nominated at a university council meeting, shall comprise two fifths of the full committee.
Representatives of the university’s alumni who have been recommended by the university and impartial, upright members of society shall jointly comprise two fifths of the full committee.
The other committee members shall be selected by the Ministry of Education, or by the local government of the place where the university is located, as its representatives.
The regulations governing the organization and operations of the selection committee for appointing the president of a public university, and other related compliance matters, shall be prescribed by the Ministry of Education for national universities, and by the local government of the area where it is located for a university established by a special municipality, county, or city.
The president of a private university shall be selected by a selection committee organized for that purpose by the board of directors of the university and the selected candidate may be appointed after Ministry of Education approval has been requested and given.
Persons of any one gender must comprise at least one-third of the selection committee referred to in the preceding paragraph.
The term of office for the president of a public university shall be four years, and the president may be reappointed when their term of office expires; the procedure for a president’s reappointment, the number of times a president may be reappointed, and different ways in which a president might leave office before their term of office ends shall be stipulated in the charter and by-laws of each university; the term of office of the president of a private university and details regarding a president’s reappointment shall be stipulated in the charter and by-laws of each private university.
The Ministry of Education and local governments that have jurisdiction over universities shall carry out an evaluation of the presidents of the respective universities one year prior to the expiry of their term of office and use the results when deciding whether to reappoint those presidents for a further term.
If the president of a public university states that they do not want to extend their term of office, during the course of the performance assessment referred to in the preceding paragraph, conducted by the Ministry of Education or by the local government, or fails to satisfactorily pass the performance assessment, that person is not permitted to participate in the selection process for the next president of that same university.
Article 10
The president of a newly established national university shall be directly selected and appointed by a selection panel organized by the Ministry of Education. The president of any newly established public university that is not a national university shall be selected and appointed by a selection panel organized by the Ministry of Education that includes two or three persons nominated by the local government with jurisdiction over the university. The president of a newly established private university shall be selected by the university’s board of directors, which shall submit details of the proposed appointment to the Ministry of Education for approval, before the appointment is made.
Persons of any one gender must comprise at least one-third of each of the selection panels referred to in the preceding paragraph.
Article 11
Universities may establish subsidiary colleges and/or independent graduate institutes; a college may establish subsidiary departments and/or graduate institutes.
Universities may set up credit courses and degree programs that are jointly offered by different departments, graduate institutes, or colleges.
Article 12
The scale of the number of students at a university shall match the scale of its overall resources; the associated standards shall be prescribed by the Ministry of Education, and universities may refer to these standards when considering plans to add or adjust colleges, departments, graduate institutes, or courses, and student admission quotas.
Article 13
Each college within a university shall appoint a dean who will be responsible for the overall management of that college. Each department shall appoint a head of department and each independent graduate institute shall appoint a director who will be responsible for the affairs of the respective departments and graduate institutes. The university may also appoint heads of degree programs to be responsible for dealing with matters related to their respective programs.
The supervisory academic posts of dean, head of department, institute director, and head of a degree program shall be for a fixed term and filled as set out below:
The dean of a college shall be selected from among the professors in that college following the procedure set out in the charter and by-laws of the university and will hold that post in addition to their position as a professor. The details of the person selected shall then be submitted to the president with a request that the president appoint the selected person to serve as dean in a concurrent capacity.
The heads of department, directors of graduate institutes, and heads of degree programs shall be selected from among the teachers in that department, or graduate institute, or teaching in that degree program who are at the rank of at least associate professor, following the procedure set out in the charter and by-laws of the university. The details of the person selected for each such post shall then be submitted to the president with a request that the president appoint the selected persons to serve in the respective posts in a concurrent capacity. If a department, graduate institute, or degree program provides fine arts, art or technology related education, then the university may appoint professional technicians at the level of an associate professor or higher to serve in the posts of heads of department, director of a graduate institute, and heads of degree programs in a concurrent capacity.
To assist a university to meet its further development requirements, when a college, department, graduate institute, or program reaches a certain scale thereby creating an onerous burden of academic responsibilities, the university may create a deputy supervisory position to assist the academic supervisor of that college, department, graduate institute, or program undertake and promote those academic responsibilities.
The terms of office, and procedures for the reappointment, and dismissal of deans, deputy deans, heads of departments, deputy heads of departments, directors of graduate institutes, deputy directors of graduate institutes, heads of degree programs, and deputy heads of degree programs, and other related compliance matters shall be stipulated in the charter and by-laws of the university.
The academic supervisor posts referred to in Paragraph 2 may be filled by foreign teachers in a concurrent capacity.
Article 14
In order to achieve the objectives set out in Article 1, a university may establish various administrative units and subcommittees. The names of the administrative units, the purpose, areas of responsibility, and duties of each subcommittee, the qualifications that administrative supervisors must have, and other related compliance matters shall be stipulated in the charter and by-laws of the university.
National universities may select and appoint teaching or research personnel to fill administrative supervisory posts at all levels, in a concurrent capacity, or select non-teaching staff to fill these posts, and each national university shall set out related details in its charter and by-laws.
To assist a university to meet its further development requirements, when a university unit reaches a certain scale, thereby creating an onerous burden of responsibilities, the university may create a deputy supervisor position and appoint a teaching or research staff member to fill that position in a concurrent capacity, or select non-teaching staff to fill such posts, to assist the unit supervisor undertake and promote university business. The qualifications a deputy supervisor must have and other related compliance matters shall be stipulated in the charter and by-laws of the university.
The provisions of the legislation pertaining to civil servants and educators shall apply to the appointment of non-teaching staff by national universities; the appointment of human resources and accounting personnel shall also be undertaken in accordance with the provisions of relevant human resources related ordinances, and accounting related ordinances.
Non-teaching staff working in non-supervisory positions in a national university may be employed on a contract basis and their employment is not subject to the provisions of the preceding paragraph. The rights and obligations of each such staff member shall be clearly specified in their contract.
Article 15
Each university shall set up a university council to deliberate and make decisions regarding significant university matters. The university council shall comprise the university president, vice president(s), teacher representatives, heads of academic affairs units and administrative units, representatives of research personnel, representatives of non-teaching staff, student representatives, and representatives of other personnel.
The numbers of people in each of the categories of council members referred to in the preceding paragraph, apart from the president and vice president(s), and details of how they come to be on the council, are set out below:
The teacher representatives shall be elected and shall comprise at least one half of the university council; in principle, at least two thirds of the teacher representatives shall be a professor or an associate professor.
The student representatives shall be elected and shall comprise at least one tenth of the university council.
The method of selecting the other voting and non-voting members of the university council, and the proportion of the council that each other category of members must comprise shall be stipulated in the charter and by-laws of the university.
When calculating the actual numbers of people in accordance with the proportions stipulated in Subparagraph 1 and Subparagraph 2 of the preceding paragraph, any number that includes a fraction shall be unconditionally rounded up to the next integer.
University council meetings shall be convened by the president, at least once each semester. If an extraordinary university council meeting is requested by a minimum of one-fifth of the number of those council members who are required to attend meetings, the president shall convene the extraordinary meeting within fifteen days.
When the university council considers it necessary, it may establish various committees or special task groups to deal with matters that the university council assigns to them; whenever such a committee or special task group is established, its name, duties, and the method of selecting its members shall be written into the charter and by-laws of the university.
Article 16
The university council shall discuss and deliberate on the following matters:
Plans and associated budgets for development of the university.
The charter and by-laws and important regulations.
The establishment of, alterations to, and cessation of operations of colleges, departments, graduate institutes, and affiliated organizations.
Academic affairs, student affairs, general affairs, research, and other important internal matters.
Study and discussion of regulations governing teaching evaluation.
Resolutions of committees and special task groups set up by the university council.
Proposals put forward at council meetings and proposals put forward by the president.