2012 Annual Report

HEEACT

2012 

Annual Report


Annual 

Report 

Contents 

Preface by Board Chairperson 76 

Preface by Executive Director 77 

Organization Profile 78 

Brief History 79 

Vision and Mission 80 

Organization and Administration 80 

Major Tasks 83 

Institutional Evaluation 84 

The Second Cycle Program Evaluation 87 

Follow-up Evaluation and Re-evaluation of the First Cycle 

Program Evaluation 89 

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Medical Education Evaluation 90 

Nursing Education Evaluation 92 

Teacher Education Program Evaluation 93 

Research Projects 95 

Teaching and Training 96 

International Academic Exchange and Collaboration 98 

Publications 102 

ISO Certification 103 

Contributions and Prospects 104 

Contributions to Society 105 

Future Prospects 106 

Financial Report 107 

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Preface by 

Board Chairperson 

The accomplishments of the HEEACT in 2011 consist of three aspects. Firstly, in respect of 

management and administration, the Board of Trustees elected 5 standing trustees to facilitate the 

administration. In addition, the two divisions located out of HEEACT’s main office, “Evaluation Affairs” 

and “Research and Development,” moved back to stay together at the end of December 2012. 

Secondly, in terms of evaluation and accreditation affairs, HEEACT conducted the follow-up 

evaluation and re-evaluation of the first cycle (2006-2010) program evaluation. Simultaneously, the 

first year of general education evaluation and the second cycle program evaluation were launched 

and 2012 teacher education program evaluation was also conducted. In 2012, 16 universities/ 

colleges completed site visits and 25 teacher education institutions completed teacher education 

program evaluation. In addition, Taiwan Medical Accreditation Council (TMAC) conducted the 

follow-up site visits to seven medical schools and newly established medical schools. Taiwan Nursing 

Accreditation Council (TNAC) conducted site visits toward 12 nursing programs in universities/colleges 

and universities/colleges of technology. 

With regard to research and development in 2012, HEEACT completed the following projects: 

“Enhancing University Self-Evaluation Mechanism,” “Planning HEEACT Positioning and Transformation ,” 

“Enhancing Higher Education Evaluation Practices,” “Planning Supporting Measures of Accreditationoriented 

Evaluation for Universities/colleges of Technology,” and “2010 Meta-evaluation of Universities/ 

colleges and 2011 Pilot-study of Institutional Meta-evaluation of Universities/college,” and so forth. In 

regard to international cooperation, HEEACT signed a Joint Statement of Confidence with Malaysian 

Qualifications Agency (MQA). Based on the statement, Taiwan and Malaysia mutually recognize 

their bachelor's degrees awarded by registered/accredited programs. The website TWHEIAR (http:// 

twheiar.heeact.edu.tw) was established to provide information of the programs accredited in 

Taiwan. In addition, HEEACT will host the 2013 Biennial Conference of International Network for Quality 

Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) in April 2013. 

HEEACT’s accomplishments in 2012 have positive influence on higher education in Taiwan. For the 

details of the accomplishments, please refer to the content of this annual report. 

Without the contribution and collaboration of many other organizations and people, the 

achievement of the HEEACT in 2012 would never be possible. We are grateful for the dedication of 

every organization or person that has helped HEEACT. 

This annual report is a journal recording the collective efforts of those who strive for the continuous 

improvement of the quality of higher education in Taiwan. I would like to express my greatest respects 

and appreciation to those who contributed their time and efforts towards HEEACT. Comments and 

supports are welcome. 

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Preface by 

Executive Director 

The mission of the Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan (HEEACT) 

is to assure and enhance the quality of higher education in Taiwan through institutional and 

program evaluations, research and development, as well as international exchanges and 

cooperation. This report briefly introduces what the HEEACT has done in 2012. 

In 2012, the HEEACT has undergone at least two major transformations which have helped 

shape a sustainable organization. The first was the shift of the program evaluation focus from 

quality assurance-oriented to quality enhancement-oriented by adopting newly revised 

evaluation criteria. The second change involves the try-out of university’s self-conducted 

external evaluation. In the first half of 2012, the Ministry of Education (MOE) required 34 higher 

education institutions to try out self-conducted external evaluation to replace a third-partyconducted 

external evaluation, such as the one conducted by HEEACT. In response to this 

change, HEEACT has reorganized itself to work on not only conducting third-party evaluation 

but also facilitating MOE and higher education institutions to promote/execute self-conducted 

external evaluation. In addition, research and development completed in HEEACT in 2012 

strongly supported the two major transformations mentioned above. 

For additional information, please visit the HEEACT web site at http://www.heeact. edu.tw or 

contact us at +886-2 3343-1200 (phone) or 3343-1211 (Fax). 

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Organization Profile

Brief History 

As the number of higher education institutions increases at a speedy rate, the number of 

incoming students is decreasing drastically, due to the dropping birth rate. This phenomenon 

has led to an escalating admission rate year after year. People began to concern about the 

quality assurance (QA) as well as quality enhancement (QE) of higher education, and there 

was an urgent need for the establishment of an impartial and objective evaluation mechanism. 

In order to meet these needs, the foundation, Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation 

Council of Taiwan (HEEACT), was then established jointly by the Ministry of Education and all 

the higher education institutions in Taiwan on December 26, 2005. Ever since 2006, HEEACT has 

conducted higher education quality assurance evaluations to assist the universities to contribute 

to society through the pursuit of quality education as well as research. 

As a third-party and professional organization specializing in higher education evaluation 

and accreditation, HEEACT’s tasks include two major areas: to conduct institutional and 

program evaluations on all Taiwan’s universities and colleges in the higher education system; to 

conduct quality assurance and enhancement research and development projects on higher 

education. 

With the aims of facilitating the internationalization of Taiwan’s higher education quality, 

and to continuously grasp on the most current developments of quality assurance and 

enhancement in higher education, HEEACT has been actively participating in numerous 

international organizations, networks and activities. By doing so, HEEAT has not merely outputted 

the Taiwanese higher education evaluation experiences, but brought Taiwan’s higher education 

into a greater international visibility. 

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Vision and Mission 

With the purposes of ensuring the quality of Taiwan’s universities and colleges and enhancing 

Taiwan’s higher education, HEEACT conserves its vision of “Impartial, Professional and Striving for 

Excellence”; actively and cautiously evaluates each higher education institution and program 

as well as participates in various international higher education evaluation organizations 

and events. HEEACT has developed itself into a respectable and reliable professional QA 

organization in Taiwan to help the higher education institutions strive for excellence. 

HEEACT's main missions are as follows: 

1. To develop a set of indicators and mechanisms for higher education evaluation. 

2. To implement higher education evaluation and accreditation commissioned by the 

Ministry of Education and make suggestions to the Ministry of Education on policymaking 

based on evaluation reports. 

3. To conduct training workshops and programs for reviewers, and to create a talent pool of 

higher education evaluation practitioners. 

4. To publish journals, magazines, and books on higher education evaluation to disseminate 

the knowledge and techniques of evaluation. 

5. To promote international collaboration and exchange in higher education evaluation, and 

to raise the quality of Taiwan’s higher education evaluation. 

6. To participate in international professional quality assurance organizations networks to 

enhance Taiwan’s visibility in the global context of evaluation. 

7. To assist universities and colleges to establish the self-improvement mechanism. 

8. To conduct research studies on the trends and development of higher education 

evaluation. 

9. To hold international academic conferences regarding higher education evaluation. 

Organization and Administration 

Board of Trustees and Supervisors 

There are 19 trustees, including 5 standing trustees, and 3 supervisors in the Board of HEEACT, 

responsible for election and dismissal of chairperson of the board; selection and appointment 

of executive director; fund raising and management; reviewing on protocols, annual budget 

and final accounting of revenue and expenditure; examination and supervision on designated 

agendas and plans of HEEACT. 

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Steering and monitoring all functions of HEEACT, presiding over board meetings, and 

represents HEEACT to the public. 

Advisory Committee 

There are 13 advisory committee members providing consultation on higher education 

evaluation. 

Appeal Committee 

There are 9 appeal committee members examining and arbitrating the appealing cases. 


Directing all administrative functions of HEEACT. 

Office of General Services, Office of Evaluation Affairs, Office of 

Research and Development 

Office of General Services 

Functions include human resources, general affairs, accounting, cashier, publication, and 

public relations. 

Office of Evaluation Affairs 

Functions include planning and practice of evaluation and accreditation. 

Office of Research and Development 

Functions include construction of evaluation mechanisms and evaluation standards, 

international exchange, and performance statistics. 

Taiwan Medical Accreditation Council (TMAC) 

The Taiwan Medical Accreditation Council (TMAC) was established in August 2000 within 

the National Health Research Institute. After the establishment of HEEACT in 2005, TMAC was 

officially transferred to the HEEACT office. Due to the unique professional features of medical 

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education, TMAC remains as an independent accrediting agency. 

In 2002, TMAC attained the “comparable” qualification granted by the US National 

Committee on Foreign Medical Education and Accreditation (NCFMEA). This means that the 

TMAC’s evaluation is comparable to the US evaluation. 

The accredited credential of comparability was valid for six years until 2008. TMAC President 

Dr. Chi-Wan Lai and Commissioner Dr. Chi-Ho Lin consequently attended the NCFMFA Assembly 

to go through the re-determination process on March 30~31, 2009. TMAC was reaccredited and 

its comparable status was extended for another six years from September 2009. 

Taiwan Nursing Accreditation Council (TNAC) 

In consideration of the features and professionalization of the nursing education, the Ministry 

of Education established the Taiwan Nursing Accreditation Council (TNAC) in May 2006. TNAC 

conducts nursing program evaluation to improve the quality of nursing education at the postsecondary 

level. 

Board of Trustees 

Supervisors 


Advisory Committee 

Expound and Arbitrate Committee 


Taiwan Medical Accreditation Council 

Taiwan Nursing Accreditation Council 

Office of General Services 

Office of Evaluation Affairs 

Office of Research 

& Development 

Figure 1: Organizational Structure of HEEACT 

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Major Tasks




Institutional Evaluation 

Idea and Objectives 

HEEACT started to launch institutional evaluation in 2011 with an aim to ensure that higher 

education institutions can position themselves, find their own roles and features, draw up 

developmental strategies, carry out management and administration well and establish internal 

self-evaluation mechanisms for quality improvement. Institutions should be able to collect and 

analyze data on their development to map out and implement their action plans to improve 

quality, establish an assurance of continuous quality improvement, and gain accountability 

by guaranteeing excellent student learning outcomes and faculty academic performances. 

Hopefully, through the internal self-evaluation and site visits, HEEACT can facilitate their selfimprovement, 

and submit the evaluation result to the Ministry of Education to be the reference 

for making or modifying related education policy in the future. Substantially speaking, the 

evaluation goals include: 

1. Scanning the competition environment and trend 

It focuses on propelling universities/colleges to analyze their own strengths, weaknesses, 

opportunities and threats (SWOT) in the competition of the world universities and position their 

own education and research focus with the consideration of the trend of low birth rate and 

industrial development. 

2. Implementing institutional development plan 

This requires universities/colleges to map out their institutional development plan and renew 

it based on their self-evaluation to establish a quality assurance mechanism for continuous 

improvement. 

3. Accrediting the performance of education and research 

It is to accredit universities/colleges performance based on the aspects of administration 

and organization, faculty and teaching, research, promotion, as well as student learning 

outcomes. 

4. Awarding excellence and establishing benchmark universities 

It is to encourage universities/colleges to demonstrate their excellent performances or 

features along education, research, or administration and management, and establish 

benchmark ones to share their experiences for the benefit of other institutions. 

5. Correcting development diversions 

Institutions listed as inadequate in either education and research or administration and 

management are required to improve within a period of time; and 

6. Providing recommendations for policymaking 

The evaluation result is analyzed as a whole to offer opinions on higher education 

development for policy makers to consider. 

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Evaluation Targets and Methods 

For 2011, the targets for institutional evaluation were 81 universities and colleges. It took 

one year to complete site visits of all institutions. The two-day site visits were planned to be 

conducted separately in the first half and second half of 2011, and 4 to 5 universities/colleges 

were visited each week. The site visits were conducted from March 28, 2011 to December 29, 

2011. 

Institutional evaluations adopt a policy of accreditation from certified organizations, 

emphasizing an accreditation mechanism that meets professional evaluation criteria. 

Professionals who are familiar with institutional management and administration served as 

reviewers to undertake qualitative evaluation judgment rather than adopt quantitative 

indicators to rank universities/colleges. 

Evaluation Domains and Indicators 

Under the premise of ensuring the institutional evaluation mechanism to keep up with the 

international standards, the evaluation standards of this institutional evaluation plan are formed 

after reviewing the higher education institutional evaluation mechanism adopted in the major 

countries of the world. In the spirit of quality assurance, institutional evaluation integrates the 

total quality management (TQM) with the concept of PDCA -- Deming Cycle of Plan-Do- 

Check-Act to launch a series of actions to pursue the improvement of institutional evaluation. 

The five domains of institutional evaluation are: 

1. Institutional self-positioning; 

2. Institutional governance and management; 

3. Teaching and learning resources; 

4. Accountability and social responsibility; 

5. Continuous improvement and quality assurance system. 

Evaluation Standards 

Another core spirit of 

this institutional evaluation 

was to guide institutions to 

establish their own quality 

assurance mechanism to 

guarantee their student 

learning outcome. The 

following four important 

spirits must be emphasized 

in a sound quality assurance 

mechanism to guarantee 

student-learning outcome: 

1. What to learn 

2. How to learn it 

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3. How to evaluate learning 

4. How to improve 

Institutional Evaluation Accreditation Procedures and Processes 

The entire institutional evaluation process is composed of five stages: 

1. Preparation, 

2. Self-evaluation, 

3. Site visit, 

4. Decision-making, and 

5. Post-evaluation. 

Evaluation Accreditation Results 

Institutional evaluation results adopt the spirit of accreditation. The handling of the 

accreditation result focuses on each evaluation domain. The results can be categorized into 

three statuses: “accredited,” “accredited conditionally” or “denial.” 

Objection and Appeal Mechanism 

To ensure the opinions and rights of the institutions evaluated are respected and protected, 

the design of the complete evaluation mechanism provides two options for programs to take 

to keep good standing. One is to raise objection after site visits, and the other is to submit an 

appeal after the accreditation status has been announced. 

Objection 

After the draft of the site visit report is completed, HEEACT sends a copy to the institutions 

evaluated. If they regard those comments or suggestions in the report are inconsistent with fact, 

or think reviewers violated procedural due process during the two-day site visits, or have other 

requests of correction on the report draft, they can then file an objection to make sure the 

fairness of this evaluation. 

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Appeal 

To protect the rights of universities/colleges under evaluation, HEEACT established “Principles 

for Appeals of Evaluation in Universities/Colleges.” According to these principles, HEEACT 

invites nine experts or scholars having expertise in either Law or Higher Education Evaluation to 

organize the “Appeal Committee.” This Committee deals with all the appealing cases filed by 

the universities/colleges. An institution can file an appeal if the evaluation result is “inconsistent 

with fact” or “violating procedural due process.” An appeal review meeting is held within one 

month after receiving the appeal. The committee will decide that the outcome of the appeal 

is “rejected,” “admissible,” or “revoked,” and complete the “Resolution Report on Appeals” 

within four months to the universities/colleges. 

The Second Cycle Program 

Evaluation 

Evaluation Idea and Objectives 

General education and the second cycle program evaluation aims to continue the spirit 

of “ensuring institutions to provide students with an excellent learning environment” of the first 

cycle program evaluation, emphasizing the main idea of “ensuring student learning outcome”. 

Substantially speaking, the objectives of this evaluation include: 

1. Understand the mechanism and practice of each program in ensuring their studentlearning 

outcome. 

2. Judge and recommend the accreditation status and validation period of programs of 

universities in their evaluation mechanism on implementing student-learning outcome. 

3. Facilitate the quality improvement mechanism of programs. 

4. Assist programs to develop 

their own educational 

features, moving toward 

excellence; help inservice 

master’s degree 

program to develop 

their own features and 

strengths to meet the 

needs of the business 

world. 

5. Provide the government 

with the evaluation 

results for their reference 

in mapping out their 

higher education policy. 

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Evaluation Standards and Indicators 

Program evaluation is based on the concept of systematic evaluation, aiming to assist 

programs to improve their evaluation mechanism on student learning outcomes and establish 

their self-improvement mechanism to undergo continuous quality improvement through the 

information feedback system. The design of standards adopts the principles of systematization 

and integration to set benchmarks for programs. The domains of general education evaluation 

include: 

1. Idea, goals, and features. 

2. Curriculum design. 

3. Faculty capabilities and instructional quality. 

4. Learning resources and environment. 

5. Organization, administration management and self-improvement mechanism. 

The domains of the second cycle program evaluation include: 

1. Objectives, core skills and curriculum design. 

2. Faculty teaching and student learning. 

3. Student guidance and learning resources. 

4. Academic and professional achievement. 

5. Performance of graduates and self-improvement mechanism. 

In addition, “The integration of the entire development and resources of the college” will be 

added to the above ones if college evaluation is selected to replace programs evaluation. 

Focusing on student learning outcome, the second cycle program evaluation aims to: 

1. Understand the development of student learning outcome assessment mechanism of 

programs; 

2. Decide and suggest the accreditation status and period of time of validity for programs; 

3. Assist programs to establish quality improvement mechanism; 

4. Help programs develop their strengths and features towards excellence, and promote the 

characteristics of in-service master’s programs in response to the need of industry; and 

5. Suggest strategies in higher education for the government according to the evaluation 

results. 

The design of each standard includes its core mission, best practice and reference 

indicators. Considering the characteristics of each academic discipline, the discipline Planning 

Committee on general education and 49 academic fields of HEEACT makes adjustments on 

the core mission, best practice and “reference indicators” in accordance with the evaluation 

standards of the evaluation plan. 

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Follow-up Evaluation and Reevaluation 

of the First Cycle 

Program Evaluation 

The Idea and Objectives of Follow-up Evaluation and Re-evaluation 

To help institutions establish a mechanism of quality assurance to continue their 

improvement, HEEACT, entrusted by the Ministry of Education to undergo universities and military 

and police academies evaluations from 2006 to 2010, has completed programs evaluation in 79 

institutions. The institutions that received the results in the categories of “denial” or “accredited 

conditionally” in the first cycle of program evaluation should submit their “self-improvement 

plan and outcome” or “self-evaluation report” and be ready for the follow-up evaluation or reevaluation. 

Program evaluation aims to use self-evaluation and site visits to understand the current 

teaching and learning quality of universities and thus assist each institution to establish its 

own quality improvement mechanism. In order to strengthen the competitiveness of higher 

education, and facilitate the development of universities, HEEACT will submit the results of 

follow-up evaluation or re-evaluation on the first cycle institutional evaluations to the Ministry of 

Education to serve as reference for policy formulation and actions. 

The Process of the Follow-up Evaluation and Re-evaluation and the 

Handling of the Result of Accreditation 

The follow-up evaluation is undertaken by reviewers who have the similar professional 

background to offer advice over the improvement conditions of the suggestions from the initial 

on-site visits report and grant the undergraduate or graduate programs “improved,” “partly 

improved,” or “not improved” evaluation; re-evaluation is to undergo the site visits again and 

compose a new report. The followup 

evaluation and re-evaluation 

results can be categorized into 

“accredited,” “accredited 

conditionally,” and “denial”. 

Moreover, it is valid through the rest 

of the five-year evaluation period. 

Objection and Appeal 

Mechanism 

Objection 

After the draft of the improvement 

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condition checklist and on-site visit report are completed, HEEACT will send a copy to the 

institutions evaluated. If they regard those comments or suggestions in the report as being 

inconsistent with fact, or believe reviewers violated certain procedures during the site visits, or 

have other requests on the report draft of improvement condition checklist, they can then file 

an objection to ensure the fairness of this evaluation. 

In response to the objections from the institutions evaluated, HEEACT will invite the on-site visit 

team to review the opinions on the objections and make sensible decisions, and then mail the 

result to the institution concerned. 

Appeal 

To protect the rights of schools under evaluation, HEEACT established “Principles for Appeals 

of Evaluation in Universities and Colleges.” According to these principles, HEEACT will invite 

nine experts or scholars with backgrounds or experiences in either Law or Higher Education 

Evaluation to organize the “Expound and Arbitrate Committee.” This Committee deals with all 

the appealing cases filed by the schools. A school can file an appeal if the evaluation result 

is “inconsistent with fact” or “violating procedural due process.” An appeal review meeting 

should be held within one month after receiving the appeal. The committee will decide that the 

outcome of the appeal is “rejected,” “admissible,” or “revoked,” and complete the “Resolution 

Report on Appeals” within four months to the school. 

Medical Education Evaluation 

Mission and Goals 

The goal of medical school evaluation is to assist Taiwan’s medical programs to ascertain 

their directions and characteristics of development, improve the quality of medical practice, 

raise the academic research competency of medical colleges, enhance teaching and 

administrative quality, and reinforce school performance. Therefore, via medical accreditation, 

the 12 medical schools in Taiwan can provide and maintain the best educational quality for the 

students and the public, follow the benchmarking of the top medical schools in the world, and 

prepare qualified doctors to offer more-than-qualified health care for the public in Taiwan. 

The missions of TMAC are to: 

1. Improve evaluation procedure and standards, conduct on-site visits, and write evaluation 

reports; 

2. Ensure that medical school graduates are capable to provide patients with a certain basic 

standards of medical treatment services; 

3. Ensure that the standards of medical education can keep up with the trends and improve 

continuously; 

4. Keep close association and collaboration with international medical school evaluation 

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agencies; and 

5. Undertake any 

other matters 

related to medical 

school evaluation. 

Evaluation Targets 

The medical school 

evaluation targets all 

medical programs in 

public and private 

medical schools, 

including the National 

Defense Medical 

College’s medical 

programs and postbaccalaureate 

medical 

programs, but Chinese 

medicine programs and 

post-baccalaureate Chinese medicine programs are not included. Tentatively, medical school 

evaluations take place once every seven years. However, new medical schools must receive 

smaller-scale evaluations every academic year, and the number of days for on-site visits shall 

increase year by year until the schools produce their first graduate. Once those new programs 

are regarded as qualified medical education, the frequency and days of on-site visits will be the 

same as other schools. 

Revision of Evaluation Guidelines 

In March 2010, TMAC invited Dr. Michael J. Reichgott, the former chair of the Subcommittee 

on Standards, Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) to visit TMAC. Dr. Reichgott 

worked for two weeks together with the Sub-Committee on Standards of TMAC to draw up a set 

of new criteria as “TMAC Evaluation Guideline, New Edition.” 

The revision took over a year of discussion and in November 2010 TMAC held a seminar “New 

Evaluation Guideline for Medical Schools,” inviting scholars and representatives from each 

medical school of Taiwan, to discuss the standards. While TMAC was having the on-site visits 

for five schools from October to December last year, the trial assessment of new standards was 

processing at the same time. 

Evaluation Results 

After examining each school’s self-evaluation report and the on-site visit reports, TMAC 

will make a final report, which lists the advantages and deficiencies by the six evaluation 

categories: teaching, research, service, resources, administration, and counseling. In addition, 

only schools of medicine will receive evaluation results of “Fully Accredited,” “Conditional 

Accredited ’’ “On Probation,” or “Not Passed.” The final results are submitted to the Ministry of 

Education. 

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Nursing Education Evaluation 

In consideration of the features and professionalization of the nursing education, the Ministry 

of Education established the Taiwan Nursing Accreditation Council (TNAC) in May 2006. TNAC 

conducts nursing program evaluation to improve the quality of nursing education. 

Mission and Goals 

The goal of the nursing education evaluation is to assist all nursing programs to establish their 

missions and goals; improve their teaching and research quality; enhance their performance; 

and consequently raise the level of medical care. Through peer review, nursing education 

evaluation promotes self-management and self development of programs. Therefore, the main 

missions of TNAC are to: 

1. Integrate evaluation indicators and publish evaluation handbook; 

2. Invite reviewers and set up pool of reviewers; 

3. Hold seminars or workshops for reviewers; 

4. Assist institutions to complete data collecting process for the evaluation handbook, and to 

provide consultations; 

5. Draft evaluation reports; 

6. Announce the evaluation results with the Ministry of Education in; 

7. Research on and conduct nursing education evaluation. 

Evaluation Targets 

Nursing education evaluation is conducted on all the nursing programs in 40 public and 

private universities, colleges, and junior colleges. Since 2006, evaluations were conducted on 

nursing departments of junior colleges, nursing programs of technical colleges and of universities 

of technology, and nursing programs and graduate schools in comprehensive universities. 

The cycle of nursing education 

evaluation is six years. To monitor 

the development of new nursing 

programs, TNAC will conduct 

smaller-scale evaluations each 

year until those new programs have 

produced their first graduates. If the 

evaluation result is affirmative, then 

the program will receive evaluation 

every six years. 

On-site visit teams should 

draft a report on each institution. 

The reports include: teaching 

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quality and standards of the institution, quantitative data and qualitative information of each 

evaluation indicator, and matters that need to be improved or strengthened. 

Reviewers will examine the institution’s self-evaluation report and onsite visit report to write 

a final report on nursing programs. The final report includes six major areas: education goals, 

management, faculty, student learning and counseling, curriculum and teaching, nursing 

education resources, and teaching outcomes. The final report is submitted to the Ministry of 

Education for policy consideration. 

Teacher Education Program 

Evaluation 

A low birthrate in Taiwan has led to a shift in its demographic structure. As a result, the supply 

of teachers in primary and secondary schools in Taiwan has exceeded the demand and needs 

to be adjusted immediately. Thus, in 2005, the Ministry of Education initiated teacher education 

program evaluation. In order to make sure the evaluation model and indicators can actually 

assess the quality of teacher education programs, strengthen the guidance practice before 

students take pre-service education programs, award excellent teacher preparation units, 

establish the phase-out or consultations mechanism, and facilitate the integration of teacher 

education resources to help them establish their self development features, the new cycle of 

teacher education and preparation evaluation will be designed in accordance with the 2012 

program evaluations. 

The goals of the teacher education program evaluation are as follows: 

1. To comprehend the 

performance of the 

teacher education units 

in universities (referred 

to as the cultivation 

units) of administration 

managing, teachers 

teaching and students 

learning, in order to 

ensure the quality of 

teacher education. 

2. To guide each teacher 

education program 

to integrate resources, 

enhance the cultivation 

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units education quality, reward the good and terminate the bad, and to establish a 

mechanism to advance and withdraw projects. 

3. To encourage the cultivation units to develop their professional features and reinforce 

their quality of teacher education, and to align with the professional philosophy and the 

demand from the education settings. 

4. To assist the cultivation units to analyze the teacher professional performance, and to 

establish self-improvement mechanism. 

5. To measure students’ extent of the teachers’ professional performance and the core 

competencies. 

6. To facilitate teacher collaboration on professional practice of interdisciplinary, and to 

develop cultivation units’ education research competency. 

Targets for Evaluation 

Targets include normal universities, universities of education, universities of technology, and 

other universities offering teacher education programs. 

Evaluation Standards 

Six evaluation domains in teacher education program evaluation in the academic year 2012 

are as follows : 

1. Goal, characteristic and self-improvement. 

2. Administrative Organization and operation. 

3. Student selection and learning environment. 

4. Teacher quality and professional performance. 

5. Curriculum design and teaching. 

6. Educational practicum and performance of graduates. 

Evaluation Stages and Procedures 

1. Information collection and submission stage 

Institutions submit their self-review reports to HEEACT (Its attachments should be burned onto 

a disc). 

2. Site visit stage 

Revivers review the information submitted by institutions. Onsite reviewers conduct site visit 

then draw up evaluation standards. 

3. Evaluation results 

Accreditation statuses are decided based on six evaluation standards. Institutions will be 

granted one of the following “accreditation results”: “Accredited,” “Accredited Conditionally” 

or “Denial.” 

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Research Projects 

HEEACT has undertaken several research projects to carry out the research and planning of 

higher education evaluation. They are listed as follows: 

Enhancing University Self-Evaluation Mechanism 

HEEACT proposed this project to support the Ministry of Education in promoting university selfevaluation, 

to help university develop perfect self-evaluation mechanism, and to facilitate the 

university self-management. This project has been completed on December 31, 2012. 

Accreditation Mechanism Development for Post-secondary 

Technological and Vocational Education Institution 

This project is to help technical and vocational universities realize the alternate way of 

comprehensive evaluation. There are many logical differences between assessment and 

accreditation, such as allowing each university to determine the direction of development 

based on the self-positioning, resource characteristics and presents educational achievements. 

The project used questionnaire surveys, documents analysis, focus group discussions, public 

hearings, and workshops to assist universities to adjust and change. This project has been 

completed on December 31, 2012. 

Transformation and Future Directions of the Quality Assurance System 

of Higher Education in Taiwan 

The context of the quality assurance (QA) system in Taiwan has been changed recently. 

Universities started to conduct self-accreditation and MOE tried to promote mutual recognition 

internationally. The higher education evaluation system is now facing a challenge of how to 

transform the old system into a new one with high quality. The purpose of this study is to analyze 

the best practices of the QA systems in several developed countries and compared the 

results with the QA system in 

Taiwan. Future directions and 

planning of higher education 

evaluation systems in Taiwan 

are proposed in this study. 

Analysis of the 

Objection Reports to 

Improve the Review 

Process of Higher 

Education Evaluation 

The objection of the 

draft of evaluation report is 

designed to protect the rights 

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of the programs under evaluation. To handle the submitted objection, HEEACT will invite the onsite 

team to review the objections and give a written reply to the program. The purpose of this 

study is to investigate the alignments and consistency among the on-site visit report, objection, 

and the written reply. It could help to understand the validity and reliability of the review 

process and design the training courses for the peer review in the future. 

Meta-Evaluation for Programs in 2010 and for institutions in 2011 

In order to understand the effectiveness of program and institution accreditation, HEEACT 

has conducted the meta-evaluation for 2010 program evaluation and 2011 institutional 

evaluation. Formative and summative meta- evaluation along with questionnaire surveys and 

seminars have been applied and to collect opinions from stakeholders. 

The Meta-Evaluation project for programs in 2010 has been successfully completed on 

August 30, 2012 and the Meta-Evaluation project for institutions in 2011 will be completed on 

August 3, 2013. 

Teaching and Training 

In order to enhance the understanding of quality assurance and evaluation in higher 

education from stakeholders, HEEACT conducted a series of lectures. In each lecture, HEEACT 

invited qualified experts and scholars to talk on particular issues. The interactions between 

scholars and participants were warm and meaningful. The brief summary of the lectures are as 

follow: 

Lectures on “Evaluation Practices” 

Lecture in January — 

Teacher Development 

and Evaluation 

In the lecture on January 

11, 2012, the speakers were 

Dr. Mei-Yau Shih, Professor 

and Associate Director of 

the Center for Teaching, 

University of Massachusetts 

at Amherst, America; and 

Dr. Chun-Chi Chih, Assistant 

research fellow of HEEACT. 

Dr. Shih talked about how 

to enhance teachers’ 

development and improve 

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the educational quality of universities. Dr. Chih discussed what technological and vocational 

universities should know about the accreditation. 

Lecture in June — Planning College Position 

In the lecture on June 29, 2012, the speakers were Dr. Jei-Fu Shaw, President of I-Shou 

University, and Dr. Hsing-Chiuan Chiang, Vice-president of Yuan Ze University. Dr. Hsiao first 

introduced the policy to characteristically international university, and Dr. Chiang introduced 

about the experiences of Yuan Ze University to plan the position and development of college. 

Lecture in July — Sexual Equality and Evaluation 

In the lecture on July 27, 2012, the speaker was Dr. Jeou-Shyan Hung, President of De Lin 

Institute of Technology. Dr. Hung introduced first issues about sexual equality on campus, and 

then talked about sexual equality in conducting university evaluation. 

Lecture in August — Institutional Self-Evaluation 

In the lecture on August 22, 2012, the speakers included Dr. Shu-Chen Cheng, Associate 

professor and the Dean of Research and Development Division, Ming Chuan University, and Dr. 

Di-Ching Bai, Associate professor and the Dean of Office of Quality Assurance and Audit, Tam- 

Kung University. Dr. Cheng talked about the theories and practices of institutional Self-Evaluation 

based on the experiences of Ming Chuan University, and Dr. Bai shared the experiences of Tam- 

Kang University on total quality management practices. 

Lecture in December — New Knowledge of International Evaluation 

In the lecture on December 7, 2012, the speakers were Dr. Wu-Hsun Yang, Associate 

professor, and Dr. Hsiao-Ping Chuang, Associate Professor. Both of them come from the 

Department of International and Comparative Education, National Chung Cheng University. Dr. 

Yang introduced the accreditation and quality assurance in Japan first; Dr. Chuang analyzed 

the effects of regional accreditation organizations on the evaluation of the Latin American 

countries. 

Lectures of “Accreditation in Post-secondary Technological and 

Vocational Education Institution” 

Lecture in July — Accreditation in Technological and Vocational Universities 

The lecture took place on July 18 in Taichung, and July 19 in Taipei. The speakers were Dr. 

Chun-Chi Chih, Assistant research fellow of HEEACT, Dr. Tzu-Hsiang Ko, President of Lunghwa 

University of Science and Technology, Dr. Chien Dai, President of Southern Taiwan University 

of Science and Technology, and Dr. Shu-Hui Tseng, Professor of National Taipei University of 

technology. At first, Dr. Chih discussed what accreditation was. Secondly, Dr. Ko and Dr. Dai 

talked about their strategies of school positioning and development. Finally, Dr. Tseng made the 

conclusion in the progress of self-evaluation. 

Lecture in September — Practices on Accreditation in Technological and Vocational 

Universities 

In the lecture on September 28, 2012, the speakers included Dr. Shu-Chen Cheng, Associate 

professor and the Dean of Research and Development Division, Ming Chuan University, and 

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Dr. Jei-Fu Shaw, President of I-Shou University. Dr. Cheng shared the QA processes and its 

implementation in Ming Chuan University. Dr. Hsiao shared the experiences of I-Shou University in 

conducting accreditation. 

Lecture in November — Accreditation and Self-evaluation in Universities of 

Technology 

In the lecture on November 30, 2012, the speakers were Dr. Hung-De Chang, Associate 

professor and the Dean of Office of Academic Affairs, Southern Taiwan University of Science and 

Technology, and Dr. Rong-Huay Juang, Professor and the Dean of Office of Academic Affairs, 

National Taiwan University. Dr. Chang talked about the strategies to enforce accreditation in 

Technological and Vocational Universities. Dr. Juang talked about how to conduct institutional 

self-evaluation. 

International Academic 

Exchange and Collaboration 

International collaboration has been one of the most important tasks. We have been actively 

involved in several key international higher education evaluation organizations, networks 

and academic conferences. With these involvements, we hope to elevate the international 

visibility and to enhance the academic and professional standards of the Taiwanese higher 

education evaluation. Through these activities, HEEACT has contributed insight from Taiwanese 

higher education evaluation developments to other accreditation bodies in the world, and 

grasped on the latest trend and developments of higher education evaluation system. The 

achievements of the 2012 international academic and cultural collaboration are as follow: 

98

2012 IREG-6 Workshop on “Using Data in Research Excellence and 

Institutional Strategic Plan” 

HEEACT held an international workshop entitled “Using Data in Research Excellence and 

Institutional Strategic Plan” on April 18, 2012 with the focus on how to make the most of data 

to improve research competencies by applying multidisciplinary approaches that encourage 

collaborations and research at the interfaces between disciplines, ideal breeding grounds 

for new ideas. Professor Ming-Yueh Tsai from National Chengchi University, Janet Chiew from 

Elsevier Taiwan, Nobuko Miyairi from Thomson Reuters, and Ms. Han-Wen Chang the analyst 

were invited to deliver speeches and share experiences. 

2012 IREG-6 Conference: The Academic Rankings and Advancement 

of Higher Education- Lessons from Asia and Other Regions 

HEEACT held an annual international conference entitled “Rankings and Advancement of 

Higher Education- Lessons from Asia and Other Regions” on April 18 to 20, 2012. It was HEEACT’s 

honor to invite scholars with great reputation, such as Dr. Jamil Salmi from WorldBank, Dr. Andrejs 

Rauhvargers from European University Association, and Dr. Jan Sadlak from IREG Observatory as 

well as experts and scholars in relevant fields. 

MQA 

Dr. Angela Yung-Chi Hou, former dean of Research and Development Office, signed an 

MOU with Prof. Zita Mohd Fahmi from Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA) on February 29, 

2012. After that, HEEACT and MQA signed Joint Statement of Confidence Higher Education 

Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan and Malaysian Qualifications Agency on Each 

Other’s Quality Assurance Outcomes on July 20, 2012. The website TWHEIAR (http://twheiar. 

heeact.edu.tw) has been established as a reference for Malaysian and other international 

students to study in Taiwan. 

International Exchange Activities 

HEEACT has been conducting international exchange activities by inviting international 

experts and scholars to our facilities with the intention of contributing the “Taiwanese Higher 

Education Evaluation Experience” to the world. These activities have mainly focused on the 

higher education evaluation system, quality assurance and ranking. Our visiting scholars in 2012 

are as follow: 

*On April 7, 2012, Dr. Ying Hu, Dean of Higher Education Evaluation at Shanghai Education 

Evaluation Institute had a meeting with HEEACT and visited other QA agency and 

institutions. They also took part in institutional Evaluation On-site visit as observers to further 

understand the practice during phase two. 

*On April 19, 2012, Dr. Paul Serban Agachi, Representative of The Romanian Agency for 

Quality Assurance in Higher Education, ARACIS, paid a visit to HEEACT to acquire Taiwanese 

experience in higher education and discussed over potential collaboration. 

*On April 26, 2012, Dr. Ying Yang from Graduate Institute of Educational Policy and 

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Leadership, Dr. Helka KEKÄLÄINEN, Vice President of ENQA, Dr. Sue Law, from The College 

of Estate Management, and Dr. James Earl Davis from Temple University visited HEEACT 

to discuss and share experiences regarding higher education, evaluation and European 

higher education. 

*On May 30, 2012, Dr. Lichia Yiu from The Center for Socio-Eco-Nomic Development, CSEND, 

Dr. Ng Gek Boo from International Labour Organization, ILO, and Dr.Bernard Hugonnier from 

OECD visited HEEACT to have better understanding of the development of Taiwan higher 

education. 

*On October 15, 2012, Macao Polytechnic Institute paid a visit to HEEACT to obtain the 

idea of structure and frame of HEEACT as well as evaluation systems. Great focus was put 

on evaluation goals, training system for evaluators, procedures of evaluation, and on-site 

evaluation. 

*On October 25, 2012, Dr. Yi-Ru Chen from The Department of International and 

Comparative Education at National Chi Nan University and 23 scholars from Mainland 

China visited HEEACT to enhance understanding of procedures of evaluator recruitment, 

processes of evaluation, on-site evaluation, and so forth. 

Participation in Overseas Academic Exchange Activities 

Apart from inviting international experts and scholars to HEEACT, the council also actively 

engages in many global higher education organizations to enhance its international visibility 

and to create exchanges and partnerships with international counterparts. International 

activities that HEEACT participated in 2012 are as follow: 

*February 1-March 15: The 4 th APQN online forum was taken place during this period. 

Researchers at HEEACT engaged in discussions with APQN Affiliations with the intention of 

elevating our international visibility in Asia-pacific regions. 

*February 20-22: HEEACT former executive director, Dr. George Jiang, and former dean of 

Research and Development Office, Dr. Angela Yung-Chi Hou, were invited to attend the 

Conference held by The Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities in the 

Philippines, AACCUP. Dr. George Jiang gave an opening remark while Dr. Angela Yung-Chi 

Hou delivered a speech on “Quality in Cross-border Higher Education and Challenges for 

Internationalization of National Quality Assurance Agencies in Asian Pacific Region.” 

*February 28-March 2: HEEACT former executive director, Dr. George Jiang and former dean 

of Research and Development Office, Dr. Angela Yung-Chi Hou, attended international 

conference held by Asia-Pacific Quality Network, APQN in Cambodia. Dr. Hou presented a 

paper titled “Measuring International Quality Review and the Impact on AACSB Institutions 

and IEET Accredited Programs in Taiwan” and assisted on workshops. 

*April 3-6: HEEACT former executive director, Dr. George Jiang, former dean of Research and 

Development Office, Dr. Angela Yung-Chi Hou, Research Fellow Dr. Karen Hui-Jun Chen, 

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Project Assistant Yu-Hsin Lin, and Ms. Ma from Ministry of Education visited Malaysia and 

participated in academic workshops. Moreover, visiting Taylor’s University and University 

Malaya enhanced understanding of differences regarding self-assessment and evaluation 

systems between Taiwan and Malaysia. 

*April 13-14: Dr. Chi, Assistant Research Fellow at Research & Development Office attended 

2012 Educational Evaluation Forum held by Shanghai Education Evaluation Institute (SEEI) 

as a representative of HEEACT and had a discussion entitled “Evaluation of Institutes 

Development in Multicultural Society.” 

*July 9: HEEACT former dean of Research and Development Office, Dr. Angela Yung-Chi 

Hou, attended APQN Workshop on Quality Information System held by Asia-Pacific Quality 

Network, with the theme of “College Navigator.” 

*October 29: HEEACT Executive Director, Dr. Lung-Sheng Steven Lee, visited National 

Institution for Academic Degrees and University Evaluation (NIAD-UE), Japan, and had a 

discussion about 7 evaluation questions. HEEACT had signed MoU with NIAD-UE and would 

keep carrying out collaborations. 

*November 9: HEEACT Executive Director, Dr. Lung-Sheng Steven Lee, had a with Dr. Tufan 

BUZPINAR from Council of Higher Education, CoHE while attending the conference held by 

Academy of Human Resource Development, AHRD and obtained the Higher Education 

Evaluation trend in Turkey. 

*December 16: HEEACT Dean of Research and Development Office, Dr. Li-yun Wang, was 

invited to the Workshop “Higher Education Quality Assurance” held by Tertiary Education 

Services Office in Macau and delivered a speech entitled “Higher Education Evaluation 

with the Focus of Student Learning- Taiwan Experience.” 

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Membership in International Organizations and Networks of Quality 

Assurance 

HEEACT has actively participated in International QA organizations and networks. In 2012, 

HEEACT continues to be an active member of Asia-Pacific Quality Network, APQN, International 

Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education, INQAAHE, IREG Observatory. 

HEEACT Researcher Dr. Angela Yung-Chi Hou served as APQN Vice President to enhance the 

global academic influence of Taiwan. 

TMAC – International Exchange Activities 

East Asian countries such as Taiwan, China, Japan and Korea with similar social and cultural 

background have been dealing with problems on medical education; therefore, at the annual 

meeting of Association for Medical Education in the Western Pacific Region (AMEWPR) in 2011, 

the medical educators of these countries had one consensus to bring about an international 

conference. On April 22, 2012, TMAC host a conference titled “International Conference on 

Medical Education in East Asian Contexts: Challenges and Opportunities.” Medical educators 

from China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan were invited to share the challenges on medical 

education and accreditation they encountered in their country and what strategies they 

took. Speakers from each country also presented their medical accreditation systems. We also 

invited the emeritus chairman of TMAC, the president and CEO of Koo Foundation Sun Yat- Sen 

Cancer Center, Dr. Andrew T. Huang gave a video presentation titled “Quest for Competence 

in Medicine: Tasks and Hurdles for Asia. ’’ 

Publications 

Evaluation Bimonthly 

In May 2006, the first professional magazine on Higher Education Evaluation in Taiwan 

published its inaugural issue. The magazine, Evaluation Bimonthly , has its features on the latest 

evaluation knowledge, newest trends, in hope of creating a “platform for sharing evaluation 

knowledge” with the aim of allowing the public to understand the importance of evaluation. 

Chinese and English Annual Report and the English Introduction of 

HEEACT 

To reveal HEEACT’s organizational operation, major projects and finance to the public 

and consolidate the transparency of evaluation system, HEEACT launches Annual Report in 

Chinese and English versions every year to update the related information. In order to promote 

internationalization of HEEACT and help foreigners and international QA agencies understand 

HEEACT at a quick glance, HEEACT also published the six-page English flyer of Introduction of 

HEEACT in 2012. 

Evaluation in Higher Education 

Published in July 2007, Evaluation in Higher Education is a biannual academic journal 

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eleased every June and December. The journal started an English academic publication in 

2010 and solicits contributions world widely. It aimed at encouraging the research on higher 

education evaluation, raising the standard of evaluation research, and promoting the results 

of evaluation research. In 2012, the journal published not only vol.6 1 and 2 but Special Issue in 

Chinese indicating results of academic research on Taiwan higher education evaluation. 

Higher Education Evaluation Book Series 

Higher Education Evaluation Book Series takes aim at promoting higher education 

evaluation information and knowledge circulating and sharing. HEEACT published “The 

Development and Practice of Higher Education Evaluation in Taiwan” in 2012, one of the 

Higher Education Evaluation Book Series, written by former President of National Academy for 

Educational Research, Ching-Shan Wu and HEEACT full-time and adjunct researchers. Issues 

related to higher education evaluation were broadly discussed in it. 

ISO Certification 

HEEACT was accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) and received 

ISO9001:2008 and ISO/IEC 27001:2005 certification at the beginning of 2011. In order to maintain 

our ISO9001:2008 international quality management system and ISO/IEC 27001:2005 information 

security management system, HEEACT undergoes one internal audits and management review 

inspections per year to examine our proceedings and seek improvement. On February 1, 2013, 

SGS Taiwan was brought in conduct the second regularly scheduled inspection. Hopefully 

through world-class quality management inspection, HEEACT may continue its improvement, 

innovation, and administrative efficiency, as well as create a reliable internet environment. 

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Contributions and 

Prospects

Contributions to Society 

Considering the fact that the quality of higher education will affect the future international 

competitiveness of the state and its society, Higher Education Development has become one 

of the most important issues for nation states. Ever since the first cycle of program evaluation 

in 2006 and institutional evaluation in 2011, HEEACT and all the university programs have 

contributed to the construction of a quality learning environment for students. Over past few 

years, HEEACT has successfully enabled Taiwan’s institutions and programs to develop wellestablished 

quality assurance mechanism, which lead Taiwan higher education to be more 

competitive in the global setting. 

Meta-evaluation showed that HEEACT’s accreditation indeed enhanced the quality of 

higher education institutions, assisted quality culture rooted on campuses and brought Taiwan 

higher education toward excellence. 

Along with this, HEEACT also contributed in the following issues: 

1. Promoting and taking into account student learning outcome assurance mechanisms 

during institutional evaluation. 

2. Increase the international visibility and participation of the Taiwanese higher education 

evaluation system, and collaboration with other QA Agencies. 

3. Establishing the TWHEIAR (Taiwan Higher Education Institutions Accreditation Results) 

website, which provides information of the accredited programs and institutions in Taiwan. 

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Future Prospects 

Based on its motto “Impartial, Professional, and Striving for Excellence, ” HEEACT will keep 

pursuing quality evaluation and accreditation through the following measures: 

1. Improving evaluation systems 

In addition to shifting the focus of program evaluation from “ensuring the provision of quality 

learning environment” to “ensuring student’s learning outcomes,” HEEACT is diversifying and 

simplifying its program evaluation indicators. 

2. Strengthening reviewer’s qualifications 

In addition to keep requiring all reviewers have to complete three courses, HEEACT is revising 

the qualifications for not only reviewers but also planning and accreditation committees. 

3. Facilitating institutional self-conducted external evaluation 

The Ministry of Education has required 34 higher education institutions to try out selfconducted 

and external program evaluation. HEEACT is assisting the Ministry of Education and 

the 34 universities to work out the try-out. 

4. Participating in international activities 

HEEACT will actively keep participating in international activities to facilitate the 

internationalization of higher education evaluation as well higher education in Taiwan. 

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Financial Report




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2012 Annual Report

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