Proposing the "Pin"-character Criteria of Degree Requirements Based on the Constitutional Significance of "Universities' Purpose is Teaching": A Focus on the Highest Administrative Court Judgment No. 107-Pan-488 on National Chengchi University's English Benchmark for Graduation

• Published in: Educational Policy Forum Vol. 22; no. 4; pp. 1 - 22
• Main Authors: Her, One-Soon, Lin, Jun-Ru, Lin, Kun-Han
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Chinese
• Published: Puli National Chi Nan University, Department of Education Policy and Administration 01.11.2019
• Subjects: Academic degrees; Academic standards; Administrative courts; Colleges & universities; Degree Requirements; Education policy; Educational Policy; Higher education; Qualifications; Rule of law; Teaching; Universities
• ISSN: 1560-8298
• DOI: 10.3966/156082982019112204001

In the case against National Chengchi University’s English benchmark for graduation, the Highest Administrative Court Judgment No. 107-Pan-488 draws on “universities’ purpose is teaching” as a guideline to determine whether a specific requirement for a university degree violates the condition “to the extent reasonable and necessary” set by the Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 563. Under this premise, this paper further interprets Article 11 of the Constitution in relation to the qualifications and conditions for a university degree. We conclude that any such requirement must first pass the test “universities’ purpose is teaching” and thus be “to the extent reasonable and necessary”, and then meet two additional parallel conditions: “its content must be reasonable and appropriate” and “the enactment and enforcement of the regulations and rules must follow due process of law”. The former and the latter two thus form a constitutional hierarchy of the shape of the 品 “pin” character, which also incidentally highli