FORCED LIQUIDATION:Funds from the sale of closed schools’ assets would be used to relocate students and to provide loans to institutions to pay salaries and pensions
Taipei Times
Date: Nov 24, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved draft legislation that would close private
Deputy Minister of Education Yao Leeh-ter speaks at a post-meeting news conference at the Executive Yuan in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA
universities that fail to enroll enough students, with the Ministry of Education scheduled to announce enrollment figures and the financial status of all universities next month to alert students and academics to possible closures.
Under the bill, universities that have less than 3,000 students, fail to achieve at least 60 percent of their enrollment goal for two consecutive years, fail to pay faculty salaries for three months in a row or exhibit signs of financial instability would be placed on a watch list; they would be closed in three years should they fail to make improvements, Deputy Minister of Education Yao Leeh-ter (姚立德) said.
The bill was proposed to reduce the number of universities given the nation’s low birth rate.
New college students last year totaled 255,000, a decrease of 15,000 from 2015, ministry data showed. [FULL STORY]