Article 1

The regulations hereunder are enacted in accordance with Paragraph 4, Article 14 of the Act Governing the Appointments of Educators (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”) and Article 10 of the Teachers Act, the Republic of China.

Article 2  

Pursuant to Article 16 of the Act, an applicant subjecting to the qualification review of lectureship shall submit the following documents as required, together with a completed Teacher Qualification Portfolio Review Application Form:

1.     For the review subjecting to Subparagraph 1, Article 16 of the Act: Certificate of a Master’s degree or the equivalent supported by course transcript.

2.     For the review subjecting to Subparagraph 2 or 3, Article 16 of the Act: Graduation certificate, proof of relevant years of experience, course transcript and specialized publications.

Article 3

Pursuant to Article 30-1 of the Act, an applicant subjecting to the qualification review of lectureship shall submit the following documents as required, together with a completed Teacher Qualification Portfolio Review Application Form:

1.     For the review subjecting to Subparagraph 1, Article 16 of the Act prior to the amendment of said Act as effected on March 21, 1997: Certificate of a Master’s degree, the equivalent or teaching assistantship with the proof of years of experience supported by course transcript.

2.     For the review subjecting to Subparagraph 2, Article 16 of the Act prior to the amendment of said Act as effected on March 21, 1997: Graduation certificate, certificate of teaching assistantship, proof of relevant years of experience, course transcript and specialized publications.

Article 4  

Pursuant to Article 16-1 of the Act, an applicant subjecting to the qualification review of assistant professorship shall submit the following documents as required, together with a completed Teacher Qualification Portfolio Review Application Form:

1.     For the review subjecting to Subparagraph 1, Article 16-1 of the Act: Certificate of a doctoral degree or the equivalent, course transcript and specialized publications.

2.     For the review subjecting to Subparagraph 2, Article 16-1 of the Act: Certificate of a Master’s degree or the equivalent, proof of relevant years of experience, course transcript and specialized publications.

3.     For the review subjecting to Subparagraph 3, Article 16-1 of the Act: Graduation certificate, proof of relevant years of experience, course transcript and specialized publications.

4.     For the review subjecting to Subparagraph 4, Article 16-1 of the Act: Lectureship certificate, proof of relevant years of experience, course transcript and specialized publications.

Article 5

Pursuant to Article 17 of the Act, an applicant subjecting to the qualification review of associate professorship shall submit the following documents as required, together with a completed Teacher Qualification Portfolio Review Application Form:

1.     For the review subjecting to Subparagraph 1, Article 17 of the Act: Certificate of a doctoral degree or the equivalent, proof of relevant years of experience and specialized publications.

2.     For the review subjecting to Subparagraph 2, Article 17 of the Act: Assistant professorship certificate, proof of relevant years of experience, course transcript and specialized publications.

Article 6

Pursuant to Article 30-1 of the Act, an applicant subjecting to the qualification review of associate professorship shall submit the following documents as required, together with a completed Teacher Qualification Portfolio Review Application Form:

1.     For the review subjecting to Subparagraph 1, Article 17 of the Act prior to the amendment of said Act as effected on March 21, 1997: Certificate of a doctoral degree of the equivalent, teaching assistantship or lectureship certificate, proof of relevant years of experience and specialized publications.

2.     For the review subjecting to Subparagraph 2, Article 17 of the Act prior to the amendment of said Act as effected on March 21, 1997: Certificate of a Master’s degree or the equivalent, proof of relevant years of experience and specialized publications.

3.     For the review subjecting to Subparagraph 3, Article 17 of the Act prior to the amendment of said Act as effected on March 21, 1997: Lectureship certificate, proof of relevant years of experience, course transcript and specialized publications.

Article 7

Pursuant to Article 18 of the Act, an applicant subjecting to the qualification review of professorship shall submit the following documents as required, together with a completed Teacher Qualification Portfolio Review Application Form:

1.     For the review subjecting to Subparagraph 1, Article 18 of the Act: Certificate of a doctoral degree or the equivalent, proof of relevant years of experience, proof of significant academic contribution arising from creation of work or invention, and relevant authoritative publications.

2.     For the review subjecting to Subparagraph 2, Article 18 of the Act: Associate professorship certificate, proof of relevant years of experience, course transcript and relevant authoritative publications.

Article 8

Prior to the amendment of the Act as of March 21, 1997 being effected, an in-service teacher having attained the teaching assistantship or lectureship certificate issued by the Ministry of Education (hereinafter referred to as “the MOE”), without any discontinuance of teaching, may thereby apply for a promotion review. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the promotion review procedure shall be subject hereto.

Article 9

Without any discontinuance of teaching as referred in the preceding article shall be subject to one of the following:

1.     Full-time teacher: De facto teaching on rolling terms. But said condition does not apply to those who are on sabbatical leave or suspension as approved.

2.     Part-time teacher: Rolling teaching contract for each term where a minimum teaching of one credit and eighteen hours shall be met respectively.

3.     Part-time teacher in national or special municipality open university, open college attached to an open university, open school of continuing education or open college of continuing education: A minimum teaching of two credits shall be met in each term.

4.     Full-time teaching assistant: Rolling teaching assistantship contract for each term, with substantial contribution of teaching and research.

Article 10

Years of experience attributable to research work, specialized professions or duties, and teaching, as prescribed in Articles 16 – 18 of the Act, shall be determined in accordance with the following:

1.     The years of experience engaged in research work or specialized professions or duties shall be determined by the duration of years and months imprinted on the certificate of service, officially issued by the institution (organization) of employment.

2.     The years of experience teaching at a certain level shall be determined from the starting date imprinted on the teacher certificate of said level. Should the starting date imprinted on the certificate of level of teaching qualification be later than that on the teacher certificate, the starting date on the certificate of level of teaching qualification prevails.

3.     For a full-time teacher being approved of undergoing full-time continuing education and/or research, the years of experience during such undergoing shall be accounted for no more than one year in the promotion application. For the approval of temporary transfer and during which voluntary teaching at the original school subsists, the years of experience during the transfer shall be accounted for a maximum of two years in the promotion application.

4.     Followed by the regulations hereof, the submittal school and MOE shall abide by the accredited list of overseas institutions of higher education (hereinafter referred to as “the Accredited List”), as compiled and published by the MOE, when considering the applicant’s years of overseas experience; experience attained at any institution other than one in the Accredited List shall be approved by the MOE to be accounted.

The submittal school shall, based on the applicant’s portfolio, accredit the applicant’s years of experience attributable to research work or specialized professions or duties at its full discretion in accordance with the Enforcement Rules of the Act.

Article 11

The specialized publications. as prescribed in Paragraph 2, Article14 of the Act, shall be in compliance with the following:

1.     The submission shall be assured with the originality of the applicant’s work, excluding compilation of any other’s work pertaining to re-organization, addition/deletion, combination or re-arrangement, and any other non-academic work.

2.     Published book in public circulation, published paper in domestic/overseas academic or specialized journal (including electronic journals, which may be publicized and openly accessible, with official review process), proof of regular future publication on the aforesaid journal, or work consisting of presentation in domestic/overseas conference as a result of official review process and public circulation of the bound work (including issuance in the form of compact disc).

3.     Writing in foreign language, provided with Mandarin abstract; should there not be any suitable reviewer located in Taiwan with good knowledge of said foreign language in the specific field, the MOE may require the work to be fully translated into Mandarin or English language.

4.     For submissions of more than two types of publications, the applicant shall distinguish the selected publications from the reference publications; blanket research work in a series may be consolidated as the selected publications. The selected publications shall be first handed without having been previously submitted as such.

5.     The selected publications shall be produced between the time of the previous level of teaching qualification being attained by the applicant and five years upon the review application submission; the reference publications shall be produced between the time of the previous level of teaching qualification being attained by the applicant and seven years upon the review application submission. Notwithstanding the foregoing, should the applicant be pregnant or on maternal leave during said period, the applicant may apply for a 2 year extension therefrom.

Article 14 hereof may apply mutandis mutatis to the change of title or content of the selected publications as prescribed in Subparagraph 4 of the preceding paragraph.

Article 12

The selected publications as prescribed in Subparagraph 4, Paragraph 1 of the preceding article shall be in compliance with the following:

1.     Pertaining to the nature of the applicant’s subject(s) of teaching.

2.     Not being a degree dissertation in part or in full; unless otherwise provided that the applicant is able to provide clear statement clarifying that such dissertation has never been subjected to review or the main work being merely an extended research therefrom, given that such main work has been professionally reviewed and recognized as innovative to a certain extent.

Unless one of the foregoing subparagraphs is satisfied in the preceding paragraph, the applicant will NOT be considered eligible under the review.

Article 13

For any jointly written selected publication prescribed in Subparagraph 4, Article 11, the applicant is only limited to one author; in the review submission, authors other than the applicant shall individually forfeit the right to claim it as selected publication. The applicant shall provide a written statement specifying the participation of the authorship, endorsed and signed by the joint authors. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the following exceptions may sustain if:

1.     The applicant is an academician of the Academia Sinica and thereby exempted from submitting the endorsement and signatures of the joint authors.

2.     The applicant is the first author or the corresponding (communication) author and thereby exempted from submitting the endorsement and signatures of overseas joint authors.

Article 14

Should there be similarity between the previous and current submission of selected publications, the comparison of differences and similarities arising therefrom shall be attached in the application.

Article 15

An applicant holding the proof of regular future publication at the domestic/overseas academic or specialized journal as prescribed in Subparagraph 2, Paragraph 1, Article 11 shall publish the selected publication(s) within a year from the day of issuance of said proof and submit such publication(s) to school for review and archiving purposes within two months from the day of publication; for the aforesaid one year restriction not being complied, the applicant, whilst not being liable for such incompliance, shall apply for an extension to the school teacher review board, providing that a proof specifying reasons of delayed publication and confirmation of time for intended publication issued by the publishing journal, but the extension shall be limited to three years from the initial day of proof issued by the publishing journal. Upon approval of the extension, the applicant shall report to the MOE within a year, prior to the expiration of the extension, for future reference.

In the preceding paragraph, the aforementioned publication(s) having been subjected to review shall be excluded from the subsequent submission.

The school shall reject the application failing to comply with the time restriction and submission as prescribed in Paragraph 1 hereof and report to the MOE; whereas, for application under review at the MOE, the teacher qualification applied shall be denied; whereas, for the teacher qualification having been granted, the MOE will revoke the qualification and retrieve or invalidate the teacher certificate on the level granted.

Article 16

An applicant making the submission in accordance with Subparagraph 1, Article 4 and Subparagraph 1, Article 6 may substitute the specialized publications with the dissertation, creative work, exhibition/performance or written work, or technical report on the degree level (hereinafter collectively referred to as the “Degree Dissertation”).

Article 17

The applicant may specify all attained professional or academic achievements on the Teacher Qualification Portfolio Review Application Form for the duration between the previous level of teaching qualification being awarded and the current application lodged as review references.

Article 18

The conditions to replace specialized publications in lieu of collection of works, proofs of achievements or technical reports, as set forth in Paragraph 3, Article 14 of the Act, for the review are as follows:

1.     An arts teacher may submit the works and proofs of achievements for the teaching qualification review; the scope of arts encompasses fine art, music, dance, folklore art, drama, film and design.

2.     An applied technology teacher may submit the technical reports contributing substantially to the innovation, improvement or extended applications of specific technical theory or practice for the review; the scope of review includes the following:

(1)    Any achievement pertaining to patent or innovation.

(2)    Any paper contributing to the consolidation and exceptional view of the organized and analyzed case studies pertaining to professional technology or management.

(3)    Any Research & Development result contributing distinctively to the improvement project of industry-academia collaboration practices.

3.     A physical education teacher may apply by way of proof of achievement for the review if said teacher or an athlete representing the country won metals in key international games as a result of said teacher’s instruction; the standards adopting the scope of key international games and proof of achievement shall be prescribed by the MOE.

The review standards for Subparagraph 1 of the preceding paragraph shall be referred to in Table 1; those for Subparagraph 2 thereof in Table 2; those for Subparagraph 3 thereof in Table 3.

Article 19

An applicant providing an overseas degree or diploma for the review shall be subject to the Regulations Regarding the Assessment and Recognition of Foreign Academic Credentials for Institutions of Higher Education (hereinafter referred to as “the Assessment and Recognition Regulations”) considering the admission eligibility, school of graduation, completed curricula, duration of studies and incomparability of said degree or diploma. In circumstances where at the time of application the applicant has completed two-thirds of the duration of studies satisfying the conditions set forth in Paragraph 1 or 3 of Article 9 of the Assessment and Recognition Regulations and both the school in concern and the MOE have rendered approvals respectively on the initial and second reviews regarding the applicant’s Degree Dissertation, publications or works, the foregoing may not apply.

Article 20

An overseas degree or diploma shall be subject to school’s verification pursuant to the Assessment and Recognition Regulations while being evaluated under the teacher review board (hereinafter referred to as “the TRB”) or a subject panel. Whereas, upon the MOE’s approval and announcement of the name of concerned foreign institution and its academic reputation, the aforementioned verification may be replaced by an inspection.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, considering the variances for the titles and attributes of educational systems or degrees and diplomas applied and rendered by the national and foreign institutions, the assessment and recognition rules may be subject to Table 4 as attached.

For any uncertainty of verification of the applicant’s overseas degree or diploma, the school shall refer the decision making to the MOE; where necessary, the MOE may decide based on the review of the applicant’s specialized publications (including the Degree Dissertation).

Article 21

An application supported by a provisional degree certificate officially issued by the subsisting school of studies may be accepted upon the verification of the submittal school, which shall have verified the de facto date of degree attainment thereon. Subsequently, within a month upon attaining the official degree certificate, the applicant shall submit it to the school for verification and photocopy archiving; for any inconsistency between the graduation dates imprinted on the official and provisional degree certificates, the date of the official degree certificate shall prevail.

Should the applicant fail to submit the official degree certificate as required, the school shall reject the application and report the case to the MOE; whereas, the teacher qualification in concern under the MOE’s review shall be denied; whereas, for the teacher qualification having been granted, the MOE will revoke the qualification and retrieve or invalidate the teacher certificate on the level granted.

Article 22

Teacher meeting any of the following conditions may apply for qualification review:

1.     Being a subsisting teacher employed by a school. For a teacher having received a teaching employment offer and attended the offer prior to the enrollment of the first academic year students in a newly established and approved school, an early application may be submitted.

2.     Being a part-time teacher with an employment contract where a minimum teaching of one credit and eighteen hours each term shall be met. A part-time teacher in national or special municipality open university, open college attached to an open university, open school of continuing education or open college of continuing education shall meet a minimum teaching of two credits in each term

3.     Voluntarily teaching at the original school while being on sabbatical leave or suspension as approved and having met the number of hours as set forth in the preceding subparagraph.

The application subjecting to the foregoing paragraph shall be made through the school where the applicant teaches on a full-time basis; for temporary transfer to another school over three years, the teacher may apply through the current school of teaching upon the approval of the school-level TRB of the original school; should there be no full-time employment contract, the teacher may apply through the school with a part-time employment contract.

An application made by a teacher not actually teaching in a school term while undergoing full-time continuing education or research within the country or abroad or being a visiting scholar abroad will not be accepted.

Article 23

The teacher qualification review shall be conducted initially by school and secondly by the MOE.

Article 24

The initial review shall be subject to applicable rules as set forth by the school taking into account the applicant’s achievements of teaching, research, services and counseling, among which the specialized publications (including the Degree Dissertation) shall also be subject to review by external experts/scholars. Upon the approval of the school TRB, the MOE will be requested to conduct the second review.

Article 25

Rules governing the MOE’s second review are as follows:

1.     For an application supported by academic degree or diploma, the academic credentials shall be subject to the Act, the regulations hereof and other applicable laws and regulations; for any uncertainty of degree verification or lack of full review by school, the MOE may undergo additional review; where necessary, the MOE may review of the applicant’s specialized publications (including the Degree Dissertation).

2.     For an application supported by specialized publications, upon classification of the academic expertise, the MOE will employ respective consultant in the specialized field to recommend experts/scholars for the review work.

3.     For an application supported by collection of works, proofs of achievements or technical reports, upon classification of the academic expertise, the MOE will employ respective consultant experienced in the specialized field to recommend experienced teacher or expert with teaching experience for the review work.

Article 26

In processing the second review, the MOE shall define the review items and standards with regard to the specialized publications (including the Degree Dissertation), collection of works, proofs of achievements and technical reports.

Article 27

For applications supported by specialized publications, proofs of sports achievements and technical reports, the MOE will commission a batch of three experts/scholars to undergo the review; whereas, in the case of collection of works and proofs of arts achievements, the MOE will commission a batch of four experts/scholars to undergo and review. The reviewer shall not be under-qualified for the subject of review.

Article 28

Under the MOE’s second review process, the specialized publications, collection of works, proofs of achievements and technical reports shall be respectively scored to depict PASS, for seventy and above, or FAIL, for under seventy.

For the applicant’s in-service school measuring the qualities of teaching, services and counseling, the passing score shall be converted considering the aforementioned score of seventy in proportion to those in teaching, services and counseling. After the conversion, be the passing score below sixty five, the passing score shall automatically be regarded as 65.

The passing score conversion as set forth in the preceding paragraph is based on the one hundred full score system and the scores of teaching, services and counseling occupy 20-30% of the total score, depending on the school charter.

Article 29

Under the MOE’s review process, applications supported by specialized publications, proofs of sports achievements or technical reports shall be considered PASS if two of the reviewers consent to it; whereas, applications supported by collection of works and proofs of arts achievements shall be considered PASS if three of the reviewers consent to it.

For any uncertainty arising from the teacher qualification review or verification pertaining to an applicant’s publications, collection of works, proofs of achievements or technical reports, the MOE will make its decision based on the review added by commissioning one to three additional experts/scholars, with the consideration of the original review decision.

Article 30

The MOE shall conclude any case of teacher qualification review within four months from the day of case receipt but may postpone in the cases of winter and summer vacations. Whereas, should the case be involved with a nature of perplexity, suspicion of plagiarism or dilemmatic matters, the review period may be prolonged and the applicant shall be informed.

Under the MOE’s second review and for cases in need of supplemented documents or justification, the school shall supply or justify accordingly within a month after the day of notice. For those who failing to supply, justify or comply with Article 11, the original application will be rejected and returned without progress. Whereas, an exception applies to the extension approved by the MOE due to unusual circumstances.

Prior to the completion of the second review by the MOE, the applicant shall not repeatedly apply for the teacher qualification review of the same level.

Article 31

Upon the conclusion of the MOE’s review, the result shall be posted on a physical letter to the school; the school shall notify in writing the applicant within fourteen days.

Article 32

Upon the completion of the second review, the MOE shall choose an appropriate venue to disclose and preserve the applicant’s approved selected publications, Degree Dissertation, collection of works, technical reports and proofs of achievements; whereas, the MOE authorized schools having undergone and concluded the second review shall disclose and preserve the information in the school library. Technical reports of confidential nature may be kept private.

Article 33

Unless legally provided to the complaint or remedial institutions for teachers, the review process at school or the MOE and reviewers’ comments shall be kept confidential for the preservation of impartiality.

Should there be any interference with the reviewers or review process pertaining to entreating, lobbying, solicitation, threats or other severities by the applicant or others, the qualification review process shall be immediately called off and the applicant be notified immediately that within 2 years from the day receiving the notice the applicant’s teacher qualification will not be accepted.

Article 34

Application to review the teacher qualification according to Article 19 of the Act shall be initially reviewed by school and reported to the MOE for second review where specialized publications shall be under consultation by experts/scholars; Applicants passing the reviews shall attach any proof of distinguished academic contribution for the MOE’s verification.

Article 35

Upon the approval of the teacher qualification review, the MOE will issue the teacher certificate of the reviewed level.

The format of teacher certificate shall be prescribed by the MOE.

Article 36

The starting date as stated on the teacher certificate accounted for years of experience based on the following reasons:

1.     Newly employed teachers shall apply accordingly for the MOE’s second review within the first three months of employment; for the approved applications, the years of experience are cumulated from the starting date on the employment contract.

2.     Upgrading teachers shall apply for the MOE’s second review within the first three months from the beginning of an academic term; for the approved applications, the years of experience are cumulated from the starting date of the new academic term.

3.     The starting date for successful application not complying with the time restriction in the above two foregoing subparagraphs shall be accounted from actual date where school applied to the MOE. Whereas, subjecting to unusual circumstances or a newly employed teacher holding a overseas degree or diploma is restricted from completing the verification within three months from the first day of employment pursuant to Article 20 and 21, the applicant may apply the accumulation methods as prescribed in the preceding two subparagraphs on the basis of delayed review submitted by the school to MOE and the result of review was good.

Article 37

Should an applicant be reported or discovered with any of the following involvements during the MOE’s review period on the teacher qualification and have been reviewed as failure to the teacher qualification; in addition, according to the periods as prescribed below, such applicant shall not be entitled to apply for the teacher qualification review. The period for disentitlement is five years and above and shall be notified to all colleges and universities.

1.     False representation of Teacher Qualification Portfolio Review Application Form or proof of joint authorship , joint authorship information not being provided and endorsement of joint authorship: one to three years

2.     Illegal copying, plagiarism or other forms of misconduct to publications, collection of works, exhibition/performance and technical reports: five to seven years,

3.     The academic/industrial credentials, proofs of achievements, specialized publications, the proof of regular future publication or joint authorship being forged or altered: seven to ten years.

4.     Other matters violating academic ethics: one to five years.

The assessment procedure for the foregoing paragraphs shall be prescribed specifically by the MOE.

The granted teacher qualification having been confirmed through impeachment or discovery of any of the conditions as prescribed in Paragraph 1 shall be subject to the follows:

1.     The teacher certificate rendered as a result of the qualification review of a certain level shall be revoked from that level onward and retrieved as well as be subject to the disciplinary period of disentitlement to submit qualification review application as set forth in Paragraph 1

2.     The qualification review was concluded a failure and shall be subject to the disciplinary period of disentitlement to submit qualification review application as set forth in Paragraph 1.

Prior to the school reporting to the MOE for second review or after the teacher qualification having been granted by the MOE, upon impeachment or discovery of the applicant having any of the matters prescribed in Paragraph 1, the school shall report the its judgment and dispositional recommendation to the MOE for further disciplinary action.

For impeachment or discovery of any of the matters prescribed in Paragraph1, the applicant under the review process or having been granted the teacher qualification under the school authorized by the MOE to undergo self-review pursuant to Article 39 shall be subject to the disposition in Paragraphs 1-3 and the school shall report the review procedure and dispositional result to the MOE for reference.

An applicant having been impeached or discovered of any of the matters prescribed in Paragraph 1 shall not be entitled to withdraw the teacher qualification application and shall be subject to the ongoing procedure.

Article 38

Followed by the preceding article, after rendering the disentitlement disposition, the MOE shall notify school to act in accordance with the Act, Teachers Act and other applicable laws and regulations.

Article 39

The MOE may authorize schools to undergo the second review in part or in full for the teacher qualifications; the standard, scope and procedure of authorization and calculation of years of experience for teacher certificate shall be announced by the MOE.

Schools being authorized to commence the review pursuant to the foregoing paragraph may discretionally stipulate more rigid review procedure and standard.

Article 40

After the teacher qualification being granted by the school authority as a result of the second review, the reviewed specialized publications, Degree Dissertation, collection of works and technical reports shall be disclosed and preserved in the school library. Whereas, technical reports of confidential nature may be kept private.

Article 41

The MOE may regularly evaluate schools in terms of the teacher qualification review performances.

Schools not complying with the regulations governing teacher qualification review and failing to make timely improvement as required by the MOE will be taken into account for their evaluation and administrative performances.

After having been authorized by the MOE to self-review teacher qualifications, should such schools fail to make timely improvement on the matters prescribed in the foregoing paragraph, the MOE may cease the authorization in part or in full regarding the self-review of teacher qualifications and announce it to the public.

Article 42

The Regulations herein shall be effected upon the date of promulgation.