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Charter of the Association of National Universities of Taiwan |
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The following bylaws were passed by the first session of the first General Assembly of ANUT (Association of National Universities of Taiwan) on January 16th, 1998, and submitted to the Ministry of the Interior for review under file No. 8706030. Subsequently, they were revised and passed by the first session of the 4th General Assembly held on January 14th, 2005. Clause 2, Item 1 of Article 32 was revised and passed by the first session of the 5th General Assembly held on January 6th, 2006.
Chapter One: General Provisions Article One: The Association’s name is officially registered as The Association of National Universities of Taiwan (hereinafter referred to as The Association) Article Two: The objectives of The Association are to improve education quality, to upgrade the standards of research, and to promote international exchange. Article Three: The Association is a social organization established in accordance with the laws of the Republic of China. As a non-profit organization, its structural units are based on, and in compliance with, the administrative regions of the central government. Article Four: The premises of the Association are located within the jurisdiction of the governing authorities. The Association has the right to set up subsidiary branches, but the ordinances of governance of the subsidiary branches must be drawn up by the Board of Trustees of the Association and submitted to the governing authorities for approval. The addresses of the Association and its subsidiary branches must be filed with the governing authorities during registration and whenever a change occurs. Article Five: The missions of the Association are as follows: 1) To provide suggestions regarding education, science, and culture policies to the government. 2) To deliberate on matters of common importance to the development of universities and colleges in Taiwan. 3) To promote exchange and cooperation among domestic universities and colleges. 4) To promote domestic and international academic exchanges. 5) To carry out other related matters that comply with the objectives of the Association. Article Six: The governing body of the Association is the Ministry of the Interior, whereas the governing body of the Association’s target enterprises is the Ministry of Education.
Chapter Two: Membership Article Seven: All national universities or independent colleges, inasmuch as they endorse the objectives of the Association, and upon filling out the application forms for membership and paying the membership fees, shall become a member. Each member has the right to appoint three representatives (of which the incumbent President of the University is a charter representative) as delegates to attend the General Assembly to cast their votes. Article Eight: All delegates have the right to vote, the right to elect, the right to be elected and the right to recall. Each delegate has one vote. Article Nine: Members must abide by the bylaws of the Association and its resolutions. They are also obligated to pay their membership fees and safeguard the interests of the Association. Article Ten: When a member violates the laws of the country, the bylaws of the Association or fails to comply with the resolutions of the General Assembly, the Board of Trustees has the right to pass a resolution to give him warning or to suspend his membership. In the case of severe violations, the General Assembly has the right to annul the member’s membership rights by passing a resolution to do so. Article Eleven: A member is expelled from the Association when the following situation occurs: 1. When he loses his eligibility as a member, or forfeited his rights as a member. 2. When the General Assembly passes a resolution to have him removed from the Members’ list.
Article Twelve: A member can apply to withdraw his membership in writing to the Association. When the withdrawal is approved, it will become effective at the end of the fiscal year, but the Association needs to send out notices one month ahead. . .
Article Thirteen: When a member is expelled from the Association or applies to withdraw his membership, all the fees that have been paid will not be refunded .
Chapter Three: Organizations and Functions Article Fourteen: The General Assembly is the highest authority of the Association. When the General Assembly is in recess, the Board of Trustees will act in its place. The Board of Supervisors is the monitoring and supervising institution within the Association. Article Fifteen: The functions of the General Assembly are as follows: 1. To draft and to revise the bylaws. 2. To elect and to recall the trustees and the supervisors. 3. To decide by resolution the amount of the initiation fees, the annual membership fees, operation expenditures, and members’ contributions and the ways by which these fees are paid. 4. To decide by resolution the Association’s yearly work projects, its annual report, budget and final fiscal plan. 5. To decide by resolution whether a member is to be expelled from the Association. 6. To decide by resolution the disposal of the properties of the Association. 7. To decide by resolution whether the Association shall be disbanded. 8. to deliberate on other important matters related to member’s rights and obligations. The scope and contents of the eighth item listed above shall be prescribed by the Board of Trustees of the Association. Article Sixteen: The Association consists of 15 trustees and 5 supervisors elected by the delegates appointed by each member. These trustees and supervisors form a Board of Trustees and a Board of Supervisors which are the governing bodies of the Association. When the election is held for these two board members, five alternate trustees and two alternate supervisors will also be selected pending on their rankings in the vote count. In the event of a vacancy in either Board, the alternate candidates on the reserve list will fill up the vacancy in their proper order. (meaning the candidate with the higher vote count gets the priority) The Board of Trustees of the current year has the right to propose a reference list of the candidates for next year’s Board of Trustees and Board of Supervisors. The Trustees and Supervisors are elected via correspondence, but the elections cannot be held in succession (meaning they had to be held at the same time). The rules and regulations for the election process are to be passed by the Board of Trustees and submitted to the governing authorities for approval before they can be implemented. The same applies to the revisions of these rules and regulations,. Article Seventeen: The functions of the Board of Trustees are as follows: 1) To decide by resolution matters relating to the convening of the General Assembly. 2) To review member’s qualifications and decide upon their application for membership. 3) To elect or to recall permanent trustees and Chairman of the Board of Trustees. 4) To decide by resolution on the resignation of trustees, permanent trustees, or Chairman of the Board of Trustees. 5) To resolve after deliberation what kind of penalties are to be imposed on a certain member. 6). To hire and fire the working staff. 7) To draft the yearly work projects, the annual report, the annual budget and final fiscal plan. 8) Other matters that need to be put into action.
Article Eighteen: The Board of Trustees has five permanent members who are chosen by the trustees among themselves. The five permanent members will choose one person to become the Chairman. The Chairman of the Board of Trustees has the responsibility to take charge of the internal affairs of the Association, and to represent the Association externally. He is also by definition the Chairman of the General Assembly. When he is unavailable to carry out his duties for one reason or another, he shall appoint one of the permanent members of the Board of Trustees to act in his capacity. In the event that he is unable to appoint a replacement or has not done so, then the other permanent members of the Board of Trustees will have to choose a replacement among themselves. When the position of the Chairman or permanent member becomes vacant, an election should be held within a month’s time to seek a replacement. Article Nineteen: The functions of the Board of Supervisors are as follows: 1). To monitor the works carried out by the Board of Trustees. 2) To review and approve the annual fiscal plan. 3) To elect or recall permanent members of the Board of Supervisors. 4) To resolve after deliberation the resignation of Supervisors or permanent Supervisors. 5) Other matters that needs monitoring and review. Article Twenty: The Board of Supervisors will have a permanent Supervisor, who is chosen among the supervisors, and whose duty is to monitor the daily operations of the Association and to serve as the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors. The meetings of the Board of Supervisors are normally convened by the Chairman. When the permanent Supervisor is unable to carry out his duties for one reason or another, he shall appoint another Supervisor to act in his capacity. In the event that the permanent Supervisor is unable to appoint a replacement or has not done so, the other members of the Board of Supervisors shall select a replacement among themselves. When the position of the permanent Supervisor becomes vacant, an election should be held within a month to find a replacement. Article Twenty-One: All the Trustees and Supervisors are gratis appointments. They do not get paid by the Association. They each serve a two-year term, and can be reelected consecutively. The Chairman of the Board of Trustees, however, can only be reelected once. Article Twenty-Two: When anyone of the following situation happens, a Trustee or a Supervisor should be removed from office immediately: 1) When he loses his qualification or eligibility as a member; 2) When he tenders his resignation and his resignation is approved by the Board of Trustees or the Board of Supervisors; 3) When he is recalled or removed from office; 4) When he is suspended from his job, and the period of suspension exceeds half of his tenure. Article Twenty-three: The Association will hire a Secretary General, whose duty is to process the affairs of the Association in accordance with the orders of the Chairman of the Board of Trustees. The Association needs also to hire a number of other staff members, and these members are to be nominated by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and appointed after their nominations are passed by resolution of the Board of Trustees. Before their appointment, the roster of the working staff should be filed with the governing authorities for review and inspection. If the Secretary General is to be fired, the Association must notify the governing authorities in advance. The aforementioned working staff members cannot be appointed directly by the Chairman. Article Twenty- Four: The Association has the right to set up various kinds of committees, panels, and other internal organizations, and the ordinances of governance of these internal organizations are to be drawn up by the Board of Trustees and submitted to the governing authorities for approval before they can be implemented. The same shall apply to their revision. Article Twenty-Five: Pending the resolution of the Board of Trustees, the Association may hire an Honorary Chairman of the Board of Trustees, several Honorary Trustees, and several Advisors. The tenure of their office shall be the same as those of the Trustees and Supervisors.
Chapter Four: Meetings and Conferences Article Twenty- Six: The General Assembly is divided into two types: regular meetings and ad hoc meetings. In either case, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees has the right to convene the General Assembly. When convened, with the exception of temporary emergency meetings, written notices should be sent out to the members at least fifteen days in advance. Regular meetings are convened once every year, ad hoc meetings are convened when the Chairman of the Board of Trustees deems it necessary, or when over one fifth of the members makes such a request, or when the Board of Supervisors puts in a formal request in writing. Article Twenty-Seven: When a delegate cannot attend the General Assembly in person, he may request in writing to have another delegate represent him. But, under any circumstances, a delegate can only represent one other person. Article Twenty-Eight: The resolutions of the General Assembly are considered to be legal and valid when over half of the delegates are in attendance, and when the majority of the attending delegates cast their votes in agreement. However, in the following instances, the resolutions of the General Assembly require more than two thirds of the attending delegates to cast their votes in agreement for the resolutions to be considered legal and valid: 1) The drafting and revision of the bylaws. 2) The removal or expulsion of a member. 3) The election of Trustees or Supervisors. 4) The deposition or removal from office of a Trustee or Supervisor. 5) The dissolution of the Association. 6) Other important matters relating to member’s rights and obligations. Article Twenty- Nine: The Board of Trustees holds its meetings once every six months, as does the Board of Supervisors. When necessary, both Boards may convene a joint meeting or temporary meeting. With the exception of temporary meetings, all meeting notices should be sent out to members in writing at least seven days in advance. The resolutions of the Board meetings are held to be legal and valid when over half of the board members are in attendance and when the majority of the attending members cast their votes in agreement. Article Thirty: The Trustees and Supervisors have obligations to attend their respective Board meetings. They cannot consign their attendance to someone else. When a Trustee or Supervisor is absent from the Board meetings two times in a row without sound reason, he is deemed to have tendered his resignation. Article Thirty- One: At least fifteen days before the General Assembly is called, and at least seven days before the Board of Trustees meeting or Board of Supervisors meeting are called, the Association must file in writing the type, time, venue, and agenda of these meetings with the governing authorities for review and inspection. The minutes of the meetings should also be filed with the governing authorities for review and inspections within thirty days after the meetings are held.
Chapter Five: Finance and Accounting Article Thirty- Two: The sources of income for the Association are as follows: 1) Membership Initiation Fees: All members must pay an initiation fee of N.T. 50,000 when they apply for membership. This money can be appropriated to set up a development fund, but the rules regarding its safekeeping and use will have to be drafted separately. 2) Annual membership fees: N.T. 15,000 for each member. 3) Operation Income. 4) Chairman’s contributions. 5) Commissioned receipts. 6) Funds and yields. 7) Other incomes. Article Thirty-three: The fiscal year of the Association conforms to the Calendar year. It starts from January 1st and ends on December 31st. Article Thirty-four: During every fiscal year, the Board of Trustees is responsible for mapping out the yearly work plan, the budget for income and expenditure, the payroll for employees, and submit these reports to the General Assembly for approval. (In the event that the General Assembly is not convened as scheduled, then these items should be submitted to the joint conference of the Board of Trustees and Board of Supervisors for perusal and approval ). In either case, within two months after the end of the fiscal year, the Board of Trustees is responsible for preparing the yearly work report, the fiscal account (both incomes and expenditures), the cash flow chart, the balance sheet, the list of properties and the income and expenditure account of funds and submit these to the Board of Supervisors for review. The Board of Supervisors is responsible for making comments on these reports and return them to the Board of Trustees, which in turn will hand over these reports to the General Assembly for approval. All the reports need to be filed with the governing authorities for review and inspection before the end of March. (In the event that the General Assembly is not convened as scheduled, then these reports need to be filed with the governing authorities first) Article Thirty-five: Once the Association is dissolved, its remaining properties shall be transferred to the local self-governing bodies or agencies designated by the governing authorities.
Chapter Six: Supplementary Provisions Article Thirty-six: Any item or matter not stipulated in the bylaws will be handled in accordance with relevant laws or meeting protocols. Article Thirty-seven: Once the Association completes its registration as a corporate entity, any revisions of the bylaws becomes effective only when over half of the members are in attendance at the General Assembly and over three fourths of the attending delegates cast their votes in agreement. And, the revisions of the bylaws become effective when over two thirds of the delegates cast their “aye” votes through correspondence. Article Thirty-eight: The bylaws of the Association are passed by the General Assembly, and submitted to the governing authorities for approval before they are implemented. The same applies to the revisions of the bylaws. Article Thirty-nine: The above bylaws were passed by the first session of the first General Assembly held on January 16th, 1998, and submitted to the Ministry of the Interior for review under file No. 8706030, dated February 20th, 1998. |