▎Features

NTU set up the Office of Legal Affairs in 2019 as the first university-level office dedicated to legal affairs among all colleges and universities in Taiwan. A dedicated team of legal counsels were hired to solve legal issues related to university affairs and provide legal advice, such as review contracts and related documents, act as the agent ad litem, maintain university property and the NTU trademark, solve labor disputes, and ensure the legal force of construction procurement contracts.

The missions of the Office of Legal Affairs include furthering legal compliance and overseeing the lawfulness of university affairs. The Office not only provides legal consultations for university employees regarding their day-to-day duties, it also engages in raising awareness of relevant laws and regulations for different departments — to ensure the concept of the rule of law is instilled among university faculty and employees. In the meantime, the Office regularly organizes internal education and training sessions to enhance the degree of legal professionalism in the context of higher education. In recent years, NTU has attached great importance to cases involving academic ethics and gender equality on campus. During its investigations, the Office upholds substantive due process by ensuring the investigation and deliberation comply with the law and legal procedures, as well as strengthening the awareness of respecting the laws in everyone involved.

Additionally, the tasks of the Office include unifying the legal terms used throughout the university. In the past, wording that was ambiguous, inconsistent, or did not follow the legal language was commonplace in university regulations. Since the foundation of the Office, however, standards have been formulated for reviewing NTU regulations on which the revision of existing regulations will be based. The Office also assists all units in drafting new regulations so that the wording of various policies and regulations remains clear and consistent so as to continuously improve NTU’s internal legal system.

Overall, the Office of Legal Affairs has brought many benefits to NTU. With the support of a team of legal counsels, NTU has been able to tackle legal challenges in a timely manner and ensure lawful operations of campus affairs. The Office will continue to work towards laying a solid legal foundation for the progress of NTU.