Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense has amended the organisational regulations of the National Defense University to allow civilian faculty members to serve as deputy deans of three of its colleges, a neutral-to-positive step towards raising academic standards at military academies.

• The Ministry of National Defense has amended Article 8 of the "Organisational Regulations of the National Defense University", specifying that each college shall have one dean and one deputy dean.

• The deputy deans of the three colleges of Science and Engineering, Management, and Political Warfare will instead be held concurrently by civilian faculty members qualified as full-time associate professors or above.

• In the past, the deans and deputy deans of each college were all military personnel; the change therefore marks the first time civilian faculty have been brought into college leadership.

• The stated reason is that, in addition to basic education, these three colleges also run master's and doctoral programmes, and need stronger academic development and more efficient institutional operations.

• These civilian deputy deans will serve fixed terms, selected by the university president and appointed on a concurrent basis after approval by the Ministry of National Defense.

Outlook: The National Defense University will now select civilian deputy deans under the new regulations, and the trend towards greater academic orientation in the military education system may expand further.