A group of National Chengchi University (NCCU) students yesterday called on students across the nation to protest against school regulations requiring foreign-language proficiency exams.
The Supreme Administrative Court last month ruled that requiring students to take proficiency exams before they may attend remedial courses exceeds the parameters of university autonomy.
However, while NCCU in January abolished the foreign-language proficiency requirement, more than 100 universities in Taiwan still enforce such a requirement, said plaintiff Lai Yi-ling (賴怡伶), a graduate of the university.
Photo: Lin Hsiao-yun, Taipei Times
Student Rights Association leader Hsu Jen-yu (許人友) told a news conference that the association has launched an “abolish zero-credit courses” movement.
Universities should not offer fake courses, nor should they mandate arbitrary graduation standards, NCCU student council leader Chen Po-han (陳柏翰) said, adding that universities should return to offering regular courses to better enhance students’ English-language abilities.
“It is illogical to impose a rule that students may not attend remedial courses unless they have failed an exam,” Lai said.
In 2016, Lai sued NCCU for refusing to issue her diploma because she had not provided a language proficiency test score.
The court last month ruled in favor of NCCU, but said that university regulations demanding that students take foreign-language proficiency exams before they can attend remedial courses exceeds the parameters of university autonomy.
“Universities are given autonomy so they would be able to offer better education,” said lawyer Chen Yi-tsung (陳易聰), who is representing Lai pro bono.
Current regulations “do not fit the goal of education,” Chen Yi-tsung added.
While the ruling seemed to be in the university’s favor, it has nonetheless pointed out the logical fallacy behind language proficiency tests, so it actually favors students, he said.
Hopefully, the majority of universities would observe the court ruling and return to the essential tenets of education, Lai said.
NCCU Department of Sociology director Huang Hou-ming (黃厚銘) said that the tests, originally intended to promote globalization, have become vapid and funnel students toward either British or American English.
While the case was an individual incident, the ruling says that university autonomy must remain rational, NCCU Department of Law associate professor Chen Chih-hui (陳志暉) said.
Determining student capabilities is a university’s task, and ensuring that students meet the standard is the true function and goal of universities, and should not be contracted to outside companies, Chen Chih-hui said.
NCCU Department of Radio and Television professor Kuo Li-hsin (郭力昕) said that he harbors no ill will toward the English language — having studied in the US and the UK for his master’s and doctoral degrees — but examinations do not allow students to become more fluent.
Exams instead make English a superior language to which people should aspire, a common reaction in post-colonial nations, Kuo said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
RSS