| 英文摘要 |
More than a hundred universities in Taiwan have implemented rules of English benchmark for graduation. The Ministry of Education (MOE) and most scholars contend that such rules are protected by university autonomy. Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 563 indeed states, Given that university autonomy is systematically protected by the Constitution, universities are entitled to set up reasonable and necessary requirements for the degrees conferred, in order to ensure the standards of such degrees. However, most commentators have only noted the part that recognizes universities right in implementing graduation requirements but have overlooked the prerequisite that such requirements be reasonable and necessary, which dictates that any graduation requirement still must obey the Constitution and the fundamental principles governing administrative laws. This paper discusses the legality of universities rules of English benchmark for graduation. In particular, we have chosen the National Chengchi University (NCCU) as a case study and systematically scrutinized its relevant rules from several perspectives: education, legality, fairness, and practicality. We demonstrate that these rules are incompatible with the principles of administrative laws, i.e., prohibition of arbitrariness, principle of fairness, and principle of proportionality. The reality is, the university need not offer the necessary English courses or administer the required exams, a practice that goes against not only the essence of education but also Article 27 of the University Act, … the university should by law confer the degree to students that have completed the courses required by the degree program and have passed its assessments. According to this article, the university should be the only legal entity that assesses its students. Universities that relinquish their right and obligation of educating and assessing their students to an external commercial organization have thus precisely betrayed the privilege of university autonomy granted by the Constitution. Given Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 684, announced on January 17, 2011, a university student is now able to bring the university to court for a violation of his/her right to education or any other fundamental right, expulsion thus no longer a precondition of such legal actions. We therefore earnestly urge the MOE and the universities to re-examine their policy of English benchmark for graduation with prudence. |
