A group of lecturers protested outside the Ministry of Education building yesterday, accusing tertiary institutions of illegally firing faculty to cut down on human resource expenses, adding that the practice puts their right to work at risk and degrades the learning environment.
They called on the ministry to probe colleges and universities that lay off lecturers, adding that more than 1,000 lecturers from private universities and colleges have been made redundant over the past five years.
Taiwan Higher Education Union section chief Lin Po-yi (林柏儀) said lecturers’ right to work should be protected and that they should not be treated as temporary employees.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
That the supply of lecturers outweighs the demand is not an excuse for downsizing, as the problem can easily be fixed by cutting class sizes, thereby making a better student-to-lecturer ratio, Lin said.
“It is time that the ministry responded to our demands,” he said.
Former Taipei Chengshih University of Science and Technology lecturer Chou Ming-tai (周明台) said he was “forced to resign” last week by the university, adding that it threatened that if he did not leave, he would have to go through a three-stage appraisal, which he said would be rigged by the university administration, meaning he would likely fail.
“If you fail, the university will issue an unemployment notice to the ministry, which, once confirmed, will cost you your pension,” he said, adding that the appraisal mechanism was set up to intimidate lecturers so that they are likely to resign without dissent.
He criticized tertiary institutions, saying that nowadays they are run like private enterprises, seeking to maximize profits and cut down on costs.
Taipei College of Maritime Technology professor Liu Chao (劉釗) accused the college of making lecturers shoulder student recruitment duties.
Lecturers who fail to retain a certain percentage of students after one semester fail the college’s appraisal and are fired, which seriously affects lecturers’ ability to do their main job, Liu said.
He said the school has been consistently downsizing its faculty — especially senior members who receive higher salaries — and replacing them with young, inexperienced lecturers, whose salaries are partially subsidized by the ministry.
“These actions will affect the competitiveness of Taiwanese students, leading them to trail students from other Asian countries or even dropping to the lowest tier in the world,” he said.
A ministry official said a meeting would be arranged between ministry officials, school administrators, lecturers and lecturer’s union representatives no later than Sept. 28 to address the issues raised at the protest.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to