The 2002 TKU graduate student matriculation test is scheduled to be held on December 8 at the Tamsui campus. According to the Office of Academic Affairs, there are altogether 1321 students who have registered for the test, a little less than the record of last year in which we had had 1507 aspirants. 252 will be chosen to be TKU graduate students.

The reason why we didn’t have the sudden upsurge of graduate candidates as did last year was because we are holding the test on the same date as National Cheng Kung U., National Ocean U., Providence U., National Political U., Chung Hsin U., Chung Yuan U., and Yuan Ze U.

As the matriculation method may subject to change next year from the examination way to the recommendation way, resulting from the promotion of Ministry of Education,HsH TKU has already decided to accept 40% of her graduate students thru this way in 2003. So, 2002 may be the last year where we may see all graduate students are matriculated thru this clear-cut way.

Some of the “red-hot” institutes still holding a record number of 100 candidates are: Graduate Institutes of Information Management and Management Sciences. Both have 127 aspirants to apply and their success rate hovers between a meager 7% to 7.8%. As for the Graduate Institutes of Educational Technology and Information Engineering Section A, they also have 72 and 71 respective would-be students.

For Ph.D. aspirants, the record-holder goes to the Graduate Institute of Management Sciences for Ph.D. Studies, formerly Department of Management Sciences Ph.D. Studies. There are altogether 48 students who will vie for the occupancy of 2. Of all the doctorate institutes, this is so far the most popular and hence, the competition can be most grim.

As for the newly-implemented institutes, there are 3: the French, the Educational Psychology & Counseling and the Futures Studies. It would be too hectic for them to participate in the recruitment this year.

Dr. Chen Kuo-hua, Director, Center for Futures Studies, however, indicated that as of next year, they may be ready to join the race of inducting students.