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[romanworld]

National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU, 台灣師範大學) declared yesterday that it will carry out a new training program in place of the old teaching assistant (TA) policy, which will soon be implemented in the coming semester and no TAs will be on campus in the future, said NTNU.

Students applying to this new program are still required to carry out the same tasks TAs did, such as working with professors on research, teaching and also helping slower students who find classes difficult to catch up, according to NTNU.

Only junior, senior and graduate students can apply for the program. They don't actually get paid, but will be offered two "bonuses" of NT$8,000 each semester. At the end of the semester, professors grade the applicants and give them bonuses accordingly, the school said.

To cut down on staff expenditure was the school's main concern when planning the program, according to local media. In June, the Ministry of Labor (勞動部) ordered that university TAs be covered by labor insurance, which worried many universities. Now under the new program, TAs are taking the role of "apprentice" in training, so they are not covered by insurance, said the school.

NTNU President Chang Kuo-en (張國恩) said that some TAs from low-income households used to get government reimbursement. If they are covered by insurance, their salary will be counted as part of their household income then they may not be counted as low-income households and therefore lose the reimbursement, said Chang.

On the other hand, the Taiwan Higher Education Union (THEU, 台灣高等教育工會) said that, by law, TAs should be covered by insurance. It pointed out that the basic problem is that universities don't have sufficient funding to support the TA program and universities are forced to reduce the number of TAs or to shut down the whole program, said the THEU.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2015/08/21/443839/University-cuts.htm