CHAPTER 4 RESEARCH FINDINGS
4.2 Case 1 ”University Corporations Project” from Ministry of Education
4.2.2 Politics stream
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4.2.2 Politics Stream
Party ideology: A citizens’ government
“A citizens’ government” was the representative party ideology propelled by the new regime;
therefore, policy entrepreneurs from the MOE followed the party ideology and proposed
“University Corporations Project”. Though policy entrepreneurs from the MOE initiated the project in 2002, the political regime they were contextualized in should be traced back to 2000. In 2000, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the presidential election and took the executive power from the Kuo Min Tang (KMT), the long-term regime in power since 1949. Since KMT retreated from Mainland China, they had been the dominant political party in this island from 1949 to 2000(Lo, 2014). As a rising power, the DPP consolidated political alignments by sharing authorities with citizens and with communities from grassroots. “A citizens’ government” was proposed by President Chen from the DPP; in his inauguration speech, he emphasized:
Citizens are the owners and stakeholders of this country, and public policies should be formed on the basis of citizens’ opinions.1
The rationale of sharing power also revealed in President Chen’s campaign promises on education policies, it is written:
The relationship among the central government, local bureaucracies, schools, communities and parents will become partnership.2
Thus, policy entrepreneurs from the MOE followed the rationale, “a citizens’ government”, by proposing the “University Corporations Project”. In the meeting of Education and Culture Committee, Minister of Education clarified his intention about “University Corporation Project”; he stated:
We contend to set up university corporations in the Draft of University Act;
corporatizing universities is essential after we take democratization and empowerment into consideration.3
1 Office of the President, 2000
2 National Blueprint Committee, 2000
3 Legislative Yuan, 2005
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Undoubtedly, the concept of a citizens’ government is embedded in this project. No matter policy entrepreneurs or the new regime actually aimed at establishing political coalition with university faculties and stakeholders. In order to cater stakeholders’ need, policy
entrepreneurs from the MOE just set up general directions of policy design and limited guidelines. So policy entrepreneurs requested the feedbacks from stakeholders during public hearings. The director of Higher Education Department stated:
We haven’t decided if we preserve quotas of public officers in national universities.
The policy design on differences of welfare between faculties’ from national universities and those from private universities are not finalized yet as well.4
In addition to obtaining sufficient information about stakeholders’ demand, these policy entrepreneurs also expressed that of governance sharing power is of benefit; they demonstrated potential niche in these public hearings. In a public hearing meeting, the director of Higher Education Department elaborated:
The goal of “University Corporations Project” is to solve the problem of university autonomy. Universities are equipped with lots of innovation and those institutions expect to have more university autonomy to strengthen their competitiveness. That is the major goal of “University Corporations Project”.5
Not only demonstrating potential benefit, policy entrepreneurs also explained the rationale of their policy design as well. The team member of “University Corporations Project” stated:
University presidents, who lead the development of higher education institutions, should be delegated with power and responsibility. The source of power derives from faculties.6
However, not all stakeholders accepted the new structure of sharing power. To faculties, they were afraid that corporatization of universities will influence their pension and salary. One faculty asked in public hearing, he said:
4 MOE, “Minutes of the public hearings on University Corporations Project”, (March 27th, 2009)
5 MOE, “Minutes of the public hearings on University Corporations Project”, (March 27th, 2009)
6 MOE, “Minutes of the public hearings on University Corporations Project”, (March 27th, 2009)
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Can we make sure the pension system will maintain unchanged after corporatization of national universities?7
Also, due to diverse scales of universities in Taiwan, faculties from some public small-scaled universities worried their competitiveness after being incorporated. In a public hearing, one faculty asked:
How national universities appeal excellent faculties if faculties’ pension changed after corporatization of national universities? That reform seems of benefit to private
universities. In Japan, negative impact on small-scaled universities or higher education institutions has emerged in rural areas. Does the MOE have any solution for this? 8
National mood: Frustrating bureaucracy
Distress toward the unhampered bureaucracy represents the national mood in this case, so the MOE delegated university corporations with specific authorities to bypass bureaucratic intervention. In 2003, hundreds of university faculties announced “Ten Thousand Words about Taiwan's Educational Reformation” to express their distress toward a series of education reforms. In this announcement, the performance of education measurements was severely criticized for harsh decisions and limited participation. In “Ten Thousand Words about Taiwan's Educational Reformation”, It’s written:
For decades, a series of education reforms were put into practice in a rush, and these policies lacked of discussion and evaluation. So-called “education reforms” exhausted faculties, made students get confused, and increased burdens of parents. The quality of education declined as well.9
The failure of education policies mentioning in this announcement ranged from voluntary education to higher education, such as the controversial governance mechanism by faculty members, the rapid establishment of universities, unclear curriculum design, and high unemployment rate of teachers. The major pursuit of “Ten Thousand Words about Taiwan's Educational Reformation” toward policy formation is as follows, it is written:
7 MOE, “Minutes of the public hearings on University Corporations Project”, (April 9th, 2009
8 MOE, “Minutes of the public hearings on University Corporations Project”, (March 27th, 2009)
9 Ten Thousand Words about Taiwan's Educational Reformation, 2003
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We expect the process of policy formation is equipped with transparent information, broad participation, respect for expertise from various fields, tolerance for diverse opinions, and avoiding being dominated by few politicians.10
Obviously, though DPP promised to share power with education communities from grassroots, the public showed distress toward the failure caused by bureaucracy. Consequently, those communities expected to participate in policy processes by themselves after being frustrated with governments’ performance. Policy entrepreneurs from the MOE took the national mood aforementioned into consideration and sensed the vulnerability of bureaucracy. In the
proposal of “University Corporations Project”, it is written:
National universities, which affiliated with the MOE, should abide by all kinds of governmental regulations on personnel, accounting, budget, and audit. Those detailed regulations hindered academic development and diminished universities’
competitiveness. For example, faculties’ salary should abide by the rigid standard for public officers.11
Thus, relevant measurements were devised in the “University Corporations Project”. First, university corporations can be exempted from governmental regulations by proposing their own personnel and finance systems. By this means, universities could set up their level of faculties’ pay and could obtain the flexibility of finance management. Moreover, the
deregulation on procurement and ownership of national property would also be delegated to university corporations. The MOE expected to help universities bypass the inflexible bureaucracy.
Policy entrepreneurs from the MOE, the policy innovator, also should persuade bureaucratic system to delegate those authorities to universities on the other hand. In other word, the MOE needed to link up the demand from universities with the incentives from the authorities in charge of finance policy and personnel system. So in the project, the MOE requested
universities to take policy cost and financial responsibility. The task of drafting new rules and designing alternative mechanisms on those delegated authorities fell on the shoulders of universities. In the proposal of “University Corporations Project”, it is written:
10 Ten Thousand Words about Taiwan's Educational Reformation, 2003
11 MOE, 2006
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University corporations should set up their own regulations on finance management and draft their own mechanism on personnel recruitment.12
In the Higher Education Policy White Papers, the MOE stated:
University corporations should bear responsibility of fund-raising.13
Those policy designs will lessen the working load of relevant ministries, also may ease the budget deficit those ministries faced. Thus, this deregulation won other ministries’ support.
Interest group: Faculties’ associations and university councils
In a politics stream, faculties’ associations and university councils in national universities formed the unexpected externa force to policy entrepreneurs from the MOE. However, it seemed policy entrepreneurs from the MOE were not aware of the emerging interest group.
In 2004, “University Corporations Project” was listed in the meeting agenda of Association of National Universities of Taiwan, a non-governmental association organized by higher
education institutions. The major attendants in the meeting were presidents from
research-oriented universities, and their conclusion on university corporations was written:
In general, our members agreed the wording from the task force in charge of the Draft of Amendment of University Act. Universities should be categorized into national
universities and university corporations.14
In brief, university presidents in this meeting approved the policy change by the MOE.
However, policy entrepreneurs neglected that university presidents were not the only representative from campus. In 2003, nineteen chairpersons from Faculty Associations of National Universities delivered an announcement to the public, it is written in this
announcement:
We contend that these articles about university corporations should be deleted.
Competitiveness of universities can be improved just by adjusting the mechanism of
12 MOE, 2006
13 MOE, 2009
14 Association of National Universities of Taiwan, 2004
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university fund. We don’t agree with the implementation of the defaulted measurement, university corporatizations.
In the same year, fifty-eight faculty members from the university council affiliated with Nation Taiwan University (NTU), the leading university in Taiwan, sent out a petition calling for turning down the Draft of Amendment of University Act. That purpose of “University Corporations Project” was interpreted as political intervention rather than facilitating university autonomy. National Taiwan University released a public announcement against
“University Corporations Project”. It’s written in this announcement:
The Amendment of University Act will facilitate politicians to intervene academic affairs, to damage university autonomy, and to deprive higher education institutions of their resources and to increase rate of tuition.15
The reason why faculties’ associations opposed “University Corporations Project” not only came from policy entrepreneurs’ ignorance of potential interest groups, but also from the impact by reorganizing the structure of power in campus. For a decade, university councils have dominated the decision-making in national universities. One university council member questioned if the design of policy will diminish the power and function of university council, he stated:
If a university president can appoint directors of departments and deans by himself or herself without faculties’ advice, will this decision making process lead university presidents to confront with faculties? The function of university councils can’t be weakened for this council has facilitated faculties to exchange ideas.16
In brief, the board of regents may replace university councils after “University Corporations Project” is put into practice. Thus, certain stakeholders opposed the project and questioned the delegation of power.
15 NTU, 2003
16 MOE, “Minutes of the public hearings on University Corporations Project”, (March 27th, 2009)
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4.2.3 Problem Stream