In the Republic of China, the higher learning institutions may be grouped into three categories, namely, universities, independent senior colleges, and the degree─Granting military, and police officer academics. Universities and independent senior colleges may be either public of private institutions while military and police officer academics are all government─supported ones under the supervision of both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of National Defense. All the institutions of these three categories admit only senior high school graduates, except for a small number of departments that provide programs for junior college graduates.
The establishment of a new public university or an independent senior college, according to the University Law, is up to the Ministry of Education for decision and execution including the appointment of a president and the allocation of funds for capital outlay and current expenditures. In the past, the provincial government was authorized to support and operate public universities and colleges. Due to the provincial financial difficulties and the change of policy, however, the provincial government is no longer maintaining any public higher learning institution, and all those originally─supported institutions were transferred, during the past twenty years, to the Ministry of Education and turned into national universities and colleges.