Article 1. These Regulations are enacted in accordance with Article 6 of the Junior College Law and Clause 6, Article 57 of the Private School Law.
Article 2. The Regulations are established to complete a fair evaluation system for junior colleges, and the Ministry of Education (hereinafter referred to as the MOE) shall work out the following evaluation criteria:
a. Studying the present evaluation system of Taiwan.
b. Collecting and analyzing relevant information of foreign evaluation systems.
c. Establishing an evaluator pool and a data base of junior colleges.
d. Providing training courses for related personnel and evaluators.
e. Other related evaluation system.
If necessary, the planning of the above items of evaluation can be carried out by the Higher Education Evaluation & Accreditation Council of Taiwan (hereinafter referred to as theHEEACT) which is founded by the MOE and the universities and colleges in Taiwan. A implementation project has to be planned by the HEEACT and approved by the MOE.
Article 3. The evaluation categories and contents are described as follows:
a. General Evaluation: school development and performance in the areas of:
(1) Administration: including academic affairs, student affairs, general affairs, library, information, personnel, and accounting.
(2) Porfessional Departments: with regard to the educational philosophy and goals,
faculty, curriculum, teaching, equipment, administration ,and performance etc. of each department
b. Project Evaluation: focused on specific items from the general evaluation or those assigned by the MOE.
c. Follow-up Evaluation: the schools and departments ranked below the 3rd level as regulated in Article 7, have to be re-evaluated under the same category and content within two years after the announcement.
The General Evaluation has to be conducted once every four to seven years; the Project Evaluation and Follow-up Evaluation have to be conducted when they are deemed to be necessary.
Article 4. The MOE shall form an evaluation team or authorize an academic body or a professional evaluation institution to conduct the evaluation regularly.
The authorized organization must meet the following requirements:
a. An approved / registered / licensed naitonal academic body or approved / registered / licensed national organization or professional institution with established targets related to junior colleges.
b. Having a professional and objective evaluation planning which incorporates sufficient experts/scholars in the evaluation field, a complete system for selecting and training members of the evaluation commission, adequate administrative staff (full time or part time), organizational structure, and accounting system.
Article 5. The MOE or the authorized body shall carry out the evaluation based on the following principles and procedures:
a. Form an evaluation team in order to coordinate the related matters.
b. The school shall be notified one year prior to conducting each evaluation, with the exception of the Project Evaluation.
c. An evaluation implementation shall be made and announced six months prior to conducting each evaluation, with the exception of the Project Evaluation.
d. The implementation content should include: the evaluated items, criteria (guidelines), procedures, results, revision petition, appeal processes and commissioner’s qualification, seminar, ethical codes, conflict of interest policy, and other relevant matters. It shall be submitted to the evaluation team as well as the MOE for approval. Once approved by the evaluation team or authorized by an academic body or a professional institution, an announcement shall be made.
e. Hold a meeting to explain to the evaluated school how the evaluation implementation will be conducted.
f. Form an execution team which shall operate under the supervision of the evaluation team for conducting the evaluations.
g. An initial draft report shall be submitted to the evaluated school within four months after the evaluation is done.
h. Schools that disagree with the initial draft report may petition for revision within two weeks after receiving the report. The MOE or the authorized body does reserve the right to determine the validity of the petition. If the petition is revoked, a final report has to be completed based on the initial draft.
i. The final report has to be made public and sent to the evaluated school.
j. Schools that disagree with the final report may file an appeal to the MOE or the authorized body within one month after the result is published. A revision or re-evaluation may take place if the appeal is deemed valid. The final evaluation result shall be made public accordingly.
k. A fair and objective procedure has to be designed in order to handle petitions for revision or appeal.
l. Depending on the evaluation categories and the purposes they served, the measuring mechanisms shall be made for handling the evaluation result; a routine follow-up shall also be conducted.
m. Commissioners and the personnel involved in the evaluation process shall keep all received information confidential.
Article 6. The MOE reserves the right to assess all aspects of the evaluations (including planning, design, implementation, and report) proposed by colleges/universities, academic bodies or professional institutions; the evaluation results will be referred to as a basis for assessment.
Article 7. Junior colleges will fall under one of the four criteria according to their scores:
First criterion: 80 and up
Second criterion: 70 - 79
Third criterion: 60 - 69
Fourth criterion: below 60
Scores will be given by the evaluation team after discussion; for the new faculties / departments / divisions (establishment less than two years) only improvements will be suggested.
Article 8. The evaluated schools have to make up for the shortcomings indicated in the report as part of their development plans according to the timeline set forth in the improvements. Failures have to be explained and progress shall be assessed in the Follow-up Evaluation.
The report serves as a reference for the MOE to base its decision on the allocation of resources pertaining to school reform, adjustment for development, tuition and sundry, bonuses, and subsidies.
The adjustment for development means the establishment or reform of faculties / departments / divisions / classes / admission and enrollment / admission requirements and quota.
Article 9. Junior colleges with 'outstanding' performance are those that have been ranked in the first criterion in the categories of Administration and Professionalism in the most recent General Evaluation.