Policy Changes on Legal Education Delivery

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 TAIPEI 003563 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON DEPT FOR EAP/TC, INR/EAP, EAP/PD FROM AIT KAOHSIUNG BRANCH OFFICE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL SCUL TW SUBJECT: Policy Changes on Legal Education Delivery Affect Development of Southern Taiwan's Law Schools REF: TAIPEI 2056 ¶1. (U) Summary: Since the 1992 establishment of southern Taiwan's first law degree program at National Chung Cheng University (NCCU) in Chiayi, law programs offered in southern Taiwan have never equaled in number or prestige the law programs offered in northern Taiwan, the center of the island's legal academia for the past sixty years. Instead, southern law programs, which were established in response to the public's outcry for the development of legal education in the region, now face further difficulties. Besides a chronic shortage of teachers, Taiwan's educational authorities will regulate and limit the number of additional law degree programs that universities can offer in this academic year. The region's only hope for additional educational resources may be the exchange opportunities that will accompany the introduction of the U.S. legal educational system into Taiwan's law school instructional methods. End Summary. THE STATUS OF LAW SCHOOL EDUCATION IN SOUTHERN TAIWAN -------------- -------------- ¶2. (U) There are currently five universities offering law degree programs in southern Taiwan, but only one university has an actual law college. National Chung Cheng University (NCCU) in Chiayi County founded its Graduate Institute of Law in 1992, offering the first law degree program in southern Taiwan. NCCU subsequently established its Department of Law in 1993. In 2001, the NCCU Graduate Institute of Financial and Economic Law created the first and the only Ph.D. program in law in southern Taiwan. National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) in Tainan City launched its Graduate Institute for Legal Sciences in 1995 and its Department of Law in 2003. National University of Kaohsiung (NUK) in Kaohsiung County opened the only law college in southern Taiwan in ¶2002. National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) in Kaohsiung City opened its Graduate Institute of Law in ¶2001. National First Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NFKUST) introduced its Institute of Law and Technology in 2002. ¶3. (U) NUK, founded in 2000, created the first College of Law in 2002 from three previously established law programs, including the Department of Law, the Department of Government and Law, and the Department of Financial and Economic Law. NUK established its College of Law in response to the public's desire for a legal academic program in southern Taiwan?s universities that could support the need for legal professionals in the region. Its major research fields include civil, criminal, commercial, business, labor, social, and administrative law. NUK also attempted to create a Ph.D. law program, but the Education Ministry rejected its 2006 application because the university's library collection does not meet current criteria to support a doctoral program in the field of law. ¶4. (U) In order to provide an opportunity for working adults to study law, NUK also opened two evening law programs in 2001. According to Professor Chi Chen-ching of National Kaohsiung University, the majority of the students enrolled in the evening programs are city/county government employees, court clerks, police officers, state-run business employees, and a small number of medical and engineering professionals. Chi believes that NUK law graduates working for government agencies have made substantial contributions to improving the effectiveness of the local government?s administration of the rule of law. PROBLEMS FACED BY SOUTHERN LAW SCHOOLS -------------- ¶5. (U) According to a white paper on legal education reform drafted by National Taiwan University, the total number of colleges offering law degrees increased from TAIPEI 00003563 002 OF 004 eight to thirty-two between the early 1990s and 2004. Since 2005, the total number of legal programs in Taiwan has exceeded ninety; sixty-one of these have been initiated within the past decade. The white paper also indicated that while the number of law students has increased significantly, the number of law professors has simultaneously declined. As a result of this imbalance, Taiwan?s educational authorities have decided to regulate and limit the number of additional law degree programs that universities can offer in school year 2006. In response to this new stipulation, Professor Chi said that the measure will not adversely impact universities located in northern Taiwan, since most of them already have a substantial number of pre-established legal programs. However, Chi stated that the measure will adversely affect the universities located in southern Taiwan where legal education has yet to progress beyond its initial stages. ¶6. (U) Chi stated that the Ministry of Education's financial support for southern Taiwan's law schools is not sufficient to maintain an adequate number of legal professors. Since the northern region possesses the majority of Taiwan's prestigious law programs, the area naturally attracts law professors with its diverse academic resources and business opportunities. This causes the law programs in southern Taiwan to have an insufficient supply of teachers, which hinders the advancement of legal education in southern Taiwan. Chi noted that many law professors, after teaching for a few years at NUK, choose to return to northern Taiwan. Chi admitted that the low retention rate of law professors in southern Taiwan's universities is a major obstacle for the advancement of the region?s legal education. ¶7. (U) In 2004, the National Taiwan University College of Law held a seminar on how to reform Taiwan's university law programs. Scholars from the U.S., Japan, Korea, Germany, and Singapore attended the seminar and participated in panel discussions. In November 2005, the legal education reform committee passed a resolution to adopt the U.S. legal education system, including its teaching styles, lecture materials, case studies, and internship training. The resolution requires the elimination of existing classroom law curriculums by ¶2008. It also includes a sunset clause, which allows undergraduates who enter law school before 2008 the opportunity to take the bar examination under the rules of Taiwan's traditional legal educational system. THE NEED TO INTRODUCE THE U.S. STYLE -------------- OF LEGAL EDUCATION -------------- ¶8. (U) According to Chi, Taiwan's undergraduate law degree programs are designed as four-year academic courses. Law students in Taiwan are selected based on their joint university entrance examination results and are required to have only 20 credits before taking the bar examination. Chi pointed out that with limited real- world experience, Taiwanese law students will find it challenging to begin their legal education at the age of ¶18. Chi said that this lack of experience puts them at a disadvantage when studying complex issues such as equality, justice, and societies' political/legal perspectives, which are integral aspects of law. He stated that young, inexperienced law students will have difficulties in resolving complicated legal issues that require high intellectual capability, insight, and comprehension of complicated legal verbiage, concepts, and technicalities. ¶9. (U) Chi went on to say that Taiwan's legal education emphasizes academic lecturing on legal theory and jurisprudence, rather than case studies and legal precedents. Chi stated that most textbooks and classroom curriculums do not reflect real world problems. Chi also TAIPEI 00003563 003 OF 004 pointed out that classroom interaction is limited because lecturing is the preferred teaching method, noting some professors' dislike for interactive teaching. Their preference for lecturing derives in part from Taiwan's legal system being rooted in the European Continental legal tradition. Chi noted that local universities' legal graduate programs are similar to U.S. law schools in that they recruit more mature students who possess skills acquired through work experience that average undergraduates lack. However, Taiwan's postgraduate teaching styles are similar to the instruction methods used in regular four-year academic law degree programs. ¶10. (U) According to Chi, many undergraduates choose to pursue legal graduate school to better their chances of passing the bar examination. Chi pointed out that since legal textbooks have a long history of including bar exam preparation materials, Taiwan's university law professors primarily focus on teaching students how to take the test. Nevertheless, law students spend most of their time and money practicing for the highly-competitive examination at private preparatory schools. Chi said that over 7,000 applicants take the test each year, but only 5 percent actually pass it. ¶11. (U) Professor Chi also noted that Vice President Annette Lu ordered the replacement of Taiwan's current legal educational structure with the U.S law school system before her tenure expires in 2008. Chi is optimistic that this reform timetable can be implemented within two years. Aside from integrating the U.S. law school system into local Taiwanese legal degree programs, the educational committee proposed modifications to the bar examination in order to harmonize its evaluation and certification procedures with Taiwan's new legal education reforms. The committee also recommended the inclusion of international exchange programs within professors' legal and English language teaching curriculums. The suggestions made by the committee are designed to facilitate and enhance the global competitiveness of Taiwan's legal professionals. Chi argued that Taiwan must reform its judicial system in order to provide better legal services with well-trained professionals who can help local entrepreneurs survive and compete in a global business environment. ¶12. (U) Chi also told AIT/K that he hopes to invite U.S. law professors to National Kaohsiung University to participate in a one-year exchange program to lecture to local law professors on international investment law. Chi believes that as cross-Strait economic activities continue to grow, international investment law will dominate local legal practices in the future. Taiwan's adoption of the U.S. law school system follows similar reforms in Japan, South Korea, and the PRC. Chi mentioned that during an exchange program with four PRC universities, including Beijing University, he was surprised to see the PRC taking measures to reform its academic law programs in ways similar to Taiwan's reforms. Chi optimistically said that the cross-Strait tension may be improved after both sides adopt the same legal academic system as the U.S. Local scholars in southern Taiwan hope that the moratorium on new legal programs in Taiwan will not diminish the region's ability to attract more educational resources for law schools via the educational exchange route. ¶13. (U) Comment: Southern Taiwan, which has long been a stronghold of the DPP, traditionally has lagged behind the north in educational resources and business opportunities. The Ministry of Education has recently bolstered funding for southern Taiwan's universities to promote global competitiveness (see reftel),which is helping regional universities to attract foreign professors and students. Promoting the development of the rule of law and anti-corruption efforts in East Asia is high on the agenda for the U.S. State Department's overseas posts as well as for the educational and TAIPEI 00003563 004 OF 004 cultural exchange offices. Accordingly, the proposed introduction of the U.S. style of legal education to Taiwan by 2008 may offer a critical opportunity for the addition of value-added programming in southern Taiwan's universities. End Comment. THIELE YOUNG