I apologize in advance from some vagueness in this post. If you are a foreigner teaching in Taiwan you could just skip the next three paragraphs and then help answer the questions.
I am a foreign faculty member at a fairly tiny, specialized college in Taiwan. Until recently these colleges were overseen by the Interior Department but recently the government has started allowing them to pursue accreditation through the Education Department (to do this they have to have a certain amount of land, faculty with legitimate degrees, and so on, and in return there is government funding and resources available and the degrees will be recognized for government positions, etc.). The faculty at my college mostly have doctorates from major western universities in the US, Germany, etc., but many of them have never published much. We are now accredited, the second school in our category to get this designation.
OK, hereās where it gets complicated. In the past, most of our teachers who were alumni of this college (and then did PhD abroad) moved from assistant professor to associate professor after three years and then to full about ten years after that. This includes our president, former dean, and most tenured teachers. At the same time, some teachers were never promoted, even after ten or more years here. Most of the non-promoted teachers came from outside the school (including several foreigners who have all left). In Taiwan, I also have met some foreigners who have been here for decades but have stayed at the assistant rank the whole time.
I had asked to be in my own special category because I am here through outside funding. I finished PhD ten years ago. The president agreed to list me as a specialized associate professor, but then this never appeared on our website. Now that we are being accredited about half of our teachers are listed as āspecialized associateā or āspecialized professor,ā but others want to pursue accreditation and are back to assistant professor (this includes the current president). The āspecializedā rank only applies to our own school and, as I understand it, doesnāt transfer the way the other ranks do.
I am going to visit the Education Department tomorrow (my college told me I could do this and I made an appointment). Here are my questions:
-Have you been through the promotion process in Taiwan and how straightforward was it?
-How political is promotion at your school?
-Is there anything you wish youād known as an outsider before submitting your various documents and materials?
-How similar is promotion in Taiwan to other countries? (My understanding is in many places you submit a whole dossier and CV and then it goes to outside readers from a list.)
-Do you have any advice on which rank to apply at? (Iād like to apply as an associate, but others have said itās better to apply as assistant and then seek promotion three years later.)
-How much can I trust my school to submit all documents and how much can/should I oversee this process? What needs to be translated into Chinese?
There many not be anyone here who can answer these questions, but I thought Iād ask. You could also PM me.
These are huge questions, not answerable in brief form.
What exactly do you wish to accomplish in your meeting with the MOE (I presume this is what you mean when you write āEducation Departmentā)?
One thing you should know is that there is no formal tenure system in Taiwanās universities. The promotion process (from assistant professor, itself a relatively recently introduced category in Taiwanās universities, to associate professor) functions as a de facto form of tenure (i.e. with greater job security).
When faculty are promoted to a higher rank (assistant professor to associate professor; associate professor to full professor) the key point is to get MOE accreditation, which the faculty member receives in the form of a certificate. At some schools, however, there is no guarantee that such accreditation will be recognized with new hires. I know of some colleagues that have the MOE certificate for a certain rank, but were hired at a lower rank, and forced to go through the promotion process a second time to get back to where they were!
Itās important to note the perhaps obvious point that different institutions have different ways of doing things, and even within specific institutions, the rules keep changingāthis is alas a constant in Taiwan. Keep clear lines of communication open with key support staff at your institution handing personnel affairsāthey will often know more than faculty about the ins-and-outs of the regulations concerning promotion.
I hope all this helps. Good luck with your meeting and do keep us posted.
Hi Guy, thank you for your answer. So are you a Spivak fan, or really post-Spivak ?
I am planning on visiting MOE because my school hasnāt taken a foreigner through this process and I have some questions, both general and specific to my situation. At my school it still sounds like the MOE exerts a strong role in the process (see the reluctance of senior faculty to seek associate or full status). Iām going to the States for the summer so I donāt want to come back and find out that there are five documents I should have had notarized while in the US.
I talked to the MOE guy on the phone and there were some areas he said they didnāt have rules, but other places might (labor, immigration).
With those you know who went through promotion twice at different schools, were they submitting twice to MOE? Part of my dilemma is I really canāt tell the danger in applying for different ranks. Maybe I could wait a year or two (since only a subsection of our faculty are going through the process) to get a monograph out and just apply at full professor rank? Being totally honest, I think if I visit MOE I have a better chance of getting direct answers and of getting referrals if there are questions they canāt answer. At the least I hope to distinguish school rules from MOE rules.
Part of the dilemma is exactly the different advice. What counts as an international publication? I have some that definitely count and some that are borderline and then I have the Taiwanese publications that werenāt peer-reviewed that my coworkers seem to be counting. In the States thereās usually a pretty specific answer on promotion (peer reviewed book by major university press; four articles in any peer-reviewed journal in your field; etc.). In Taiwan, Iāve heard different things. I have peer-reviewed articles of varying qualities, some chapters, edited books, national conferences, and things in the pipeline. This is a lot more than colleagues, but I donāt know what will count. I think publications all get uploaded to a database but I donāt know if itās everything Iāve ever done or only certain categories. Iāve also been an external reviewer and journal reviewer but I donāt know if things like this play a role. I donāt really trust my school to advise on this.
The only notarization I have done (and this was right at the beginning of the processāwhen I was first hired, not when I was up for promotion) was to ensure that my PhD diploma was properly recognized by the Taiwan Trade Office where I was living in North America. Without it, thereās no way to be an assistant professor in Taiwan. This process has caused grief for some folks from Germany as the degree system there does not easily line up with what the Taiwan authorities apparently will recognize.
The colleague that was forced down a rank (after changing universities)āno, there was no need in this case to deal twice with the MOE. Once they issue the certificate, youāre good (providing, of course, your school will recognize it).
For promotion, I doubt that conferencing will be relevantāother than as some evidence of professional activity. Peer reviewed articles are the keyāthough again the details here depend on the regulations of your institution. The vetting youāve done would I think be relevant insofar as it can count as a form of service to the larger professional community.
Once again I hope this is helpful. Good luck with your meeting!
For the certificate do you just mean the first teaching certificate, or doesnāt MOE also certify rank? MOE seems to have some role in receiving materials and awarding rank (because of external review?). The other school that was accredited in this field has basically all assistant professors, and I assumed it was because of (lack of peer-reviewed) publications.
I met a historian recently who said at his school itās four articles but that a book can count as two. As you probably know, fields vary widely (ābookā and āarticleā fields). Traditionally Iām in a book field but I have decent articles, so Iām trying to figure out if that counts. I could have a book out in 6-12 months if it matters.
It looks like external reviewers for promotion would all be Taiwanese, but I donāt know if this would be the case. In my field there are very few people in Taiwan who could evaluate my case, so Iād also like to know who can review and what role theyād have.
I am referring to teaching certificates issued by the MOE. And yes they specify rank.
As I mentioned before, the basic criteria for promotion varies widely from institution to institution in Taiwan. You really need to figure out what your institution requires. Thatās the key.
Just a quick note that the meeting went well. It helped with several of the oblique questions (about how my specific background is handled) as well as several process questions (thereās a rule that would let me apply for associate using different background experience). I learned some things: for evaluation I can use international scholarsāthey donāt have to be Taiwanese. I also probably need to track down someone to help me with translation of abstracts and other issues.
In Taiwan, it sure seems like journals count for almost everything. Itās a little annoying. In other systems they matter but you can usually get some credit for book chapters, reviews, or edited works. Anywayā¦ itās a step in the right direction.
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