The 55th anniversary celebration ceremony was opened with a traditional Chinese Lion Dance and drum performances at the university’s stadium in the morning of November 5th. Dalai Lama sent a greeting card with his personal handwriting to bless such an auspicious occasion. He also expressed his delight in the inauguration of TKU’s Center for Tibetan Studies this year and hoped that such an organization would bring a closer tie between Taiwanese and Tibetans.

In a sense, TKU has been blessed in many ways this year. Firstly, at the opening ceremony, Dr. Clement Chang proudly announced that TKU shone brightly in this year’s pan-university evaluation organized by the MOE and voted by enterprises consecutively to be the most favorite university among all private universities in Taiwan. Following that, Dr. Flora Chang, the President, pointed out this remarkable year had seen the arrival of the Fourth Wave, and successful first year student recruitment for Lanyang Campus. On top of that, the overwhelming attendance of the dignitaries from TKU’s sister universities, and world renowned scholars in Future Studies, a total of over 100 international guests, together with 200 strong alumni, she said that TKU had a lot to celebrate for.

In this ceremony, Prof. Lance Twomey, the President of the Curtin University of Technology, Australia, gave a speech on behalf of all the dignitaries to congratulate TKU. Mr. Hou Teng-chien, the Chair of TKU’s World Alumni Association, also sang a song of praise to TKU of its future vision in Higher Education, and an aesthetically shrewd sense of picking the most scenic spots in Taiwan as campuses. For example, the Tamsui Sunset and Kuei-shan Sunrise (in I-lan, by the Lanyang Campus) are the two of eight most mesmerizing sceneries in Taiwan! (~Ying-hsueh Hu )