Three cash-strapped private universities have been ordered to stop enrolling new students for the upcoming semester and shut down next year, the Ministry of Education said on Monday.
The ministry made the announcement after a meeting of its private university closure review committee, which had placed Mingdao University in Changhua County, Tatung Institute of Technology in Chiayi County and Transworld University in Yunlin County on a watchlist in August last year, due to mounting debts and unpaid wages.
The universities failed to resolve their financial issues by the deadline on Wednesday last week.
Ko Chin-wei (柯今尉), deputy director of the Department of Technological and Vocational Education, said the three universities were ordered to halt enrollment of new students from the fall semester and shut down on July 31 next year.
The ministry would oversee the closures using about NT$1.25 billion (US$40.68 million) from a designated fund and would help 1,120 students at the universities transfer to other institutions, Ko said.
Tatung Institute of Technology has 419 students, 102 of whom would not graduate this year or next year and would need to transfer to other schools. It has 52 employees and debts of NT$50 million. Transworld University has 1,873 students, 556 of whom would need to transfer, 184 employees and NT$180 million in debt. Mingdao University has 1,376 students, 462 of whom would need to transfer, 190 employees and NT$328 million in debt, the ministry said.
The committee would meet next month to appoint new boards of directors for the universities, Ko said.
From the appointment of the new boards until universities’ closure, employee’s salaries would be paid from the ministry’s designated fund, Ko added.
Back salary owed to employees would be paid next year, after the universities close and their assets are liquidated, Ko said.
University employees recently protested asking to receive compensation sooner.
Any assets remaining after the schools’ debts are settled would be transferred to the designated fund, the central or local governments, or designated public schools, Ko said.
Kao Yuan University in Kaohsiung was removed from the watchlist after receiving a NT$280 million donation from Taiwan Steel Group on Monday last week, the ministry 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,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
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