Taiwan’s Ministry of Education will investigate whether universities are hiring too many part-time faculty members. In the last decade universities in the Republic of China have increased the number of adjunct professors by 63 percent.
The Taipei Times reports that:
In response to recent requests made by the Taiwan Higher Education Union and the Control Yuan, the Ministry of Education said it would look into whether universities are exploiting regulatory loopholes to reduce their human resource expenses by not employing professors on a full-time basis.
“We will take a very close look into the matter and if we decide that some universities have infringed upon the rights of teachers and students, the ministry will seek to remedy the situation and look for ways to prevent reoccurrences,” [Deputy Minister of Education Chen De-hua] said.
Under a Taiwanese regulation approved last year, a university’s total number of part-time faculty members cannot exceed one-third of the number of full-timers.
In the United States 73 percent of college professors are employed on a part-time basis.
