Many Lanyang students spending their third year abroad in the US didn’t expect to see Dr. Tsai Jeng-yan, the Chair of the Dept. of Information and Communications Technology Management, for example, until they return home in the summer. Yet, not only him, these juniors also met with Dr. Tai Wan-chin, the Vice President for International Affairs, Dr. Lin Jyh-horng, the Director of Lanyang Campus, and Dr. Chen Hwei Mei, the Director for the Office of International Exchanges and International Education in late April when they toured four of TKU’s many sister universities in the US. The purposes of this tour were to enhance exchanges and understand how well TKU students are adjusting to US academic and campus life.

The four universities Dr. Tai and his team managed to see in their less than four day trip were Suffolk University, Winona State University, USC in Sacramento, and Wesley College. Despite the briefness, it was a successful visit as they reached both goals satisfactorily, according to Dr. Tai. In terms of exchanges, Suffolk would like to see more International Youth Camp held at TKU, and likewise, TKU would like Suffolk to send more students to study Chinese in Taiwan. Furthermore, during their stay at Wesley, they were shown how small classes work in the college, something Lanyang Campus can model on.

As for the fact-finding of TKU junior year abroad students, Dr. Tai and his team learned that students were happy with the courses and their own learning progress, except the fact that some of them did not get to share accommodation with local US students. Having an American roommate, these students believe, they could have a better understanding of life in their host country. Dr. Tai has taken these points to heart and will incorporate them into future planning so studying abroad will be a truly meaningful and enjoyable experience. ( ~Ying-hsueh Hu )