RISK TO EDUCATION:Pan Wen-chung said the ministry forbids schools to save on costs by firing lecturers, as it runs counter to their mission to educate

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 20, 2017
By: Sean Lin / Staff reporters

If private universities and science and technology institutions conduct mass layoffs of part-time teaching staff to save on personnel costs, encroaching on students’ right to learn, the Ministry of Education would follow the Private School Act (私立學校法) by cutting their subsidies and lowering their recruitment quotas, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) said yesterday.

Pan made the remarks amid allegations that Asia University and Chien Hsin University of Science and Technology plan to lay off part-time lecturers by cutting the number of courses.

Pan said that as schools begin to discuss contracts for the September semester with their teaching staff next month, he would like to remind all private institutions that the ministry forbids them from cutting personnel costs by firing lecturers, as it runs counter to their mission to educate.

The ministry is working to amend regulations governing the employment of part-time lecturers, which will mandate schools pay their part-time teaching staff pensions, Pan said.    [FULL  STORY]