National Taiwan University (NTU) faculty and student representatives yesterday voted 59-51 to shelve a proposal to establish a college of international political economy, pending further discussion.
The proposal was shelved at a university affairs meeting due to a number of concerns.
NTU president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章), who proposed setting up the college on the university’s Taipei campus, told reporters after the vote that he was dismayed by the result.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Chen said he intended to seek approval from the Ministry of Education to establish a political economy college under the Act for National Key Fields Industry-University Cooperation and Skilled Personnel Training (國家重點領域產學合作及人才培育創新條例).
The act was promulgated in May 2021 to foster collaboration between industry and academia, with the aim of cultivating talent and conducting research in several key fields, most notably the semiconductor industry, the ministry said.
Multiple firms, including Fubon Financial Holding Co, Cathay Financial Holding Co and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, had agreed to provide funding for the college, Chen said.
The plan was to establish degree programs focusing on the political economy, finance and the education of top executives — with all courses taught in English, he said.
NTU representatives expressed concerns during the meeting that companies funding the college could potentially exert their influence on areas such as the hiring of lecturers and how courses are taught, affecting the school’s autonomy, Chen said.
Some were also worried that the new college could take up NTU resources, while others said that academics from universities should meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to discuss whether the act should be adjusted.
Chen said that he would discuss the shelved proposal with businesses, adding that the topic would be brought up again in the next school meeting.
He denied that the establishment of the new college was ordered by the Presidential Office, saying that while he had come up with the initial proposal, he could not push through the measure unilaterally and required the support of school representatives.
“Having different opinions is what makes NTU,” he said.
The NTU campus on Xuzhou Road, which used to house its College of Law and College of Social Sciences, has since been unused and needs to be revitalized, he added.
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its