VZCZCXRO2414
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHIN #3563/01 2910631
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 180631Z OCT 06
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2638
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 5789
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 8125
RUEHGP/AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE 6649
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 8168
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 0453
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 1454
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 5422
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 9632
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 7004

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