The Division for Educational Evaluation and Development, host of Tamkang Quality Award, announced last week that five units, including Carrie Chang Fine Arts Center; Office of Research and Development; Curriculum Section, Office of Academic Affairs; Student Housing Guidance Section, Office of Student Affairs; and Documents Section, Office of General Affairs, have passed the document evaluation, and hence can join the second stage evaluation. The committee will proceed the evaluation by interviewing and rating in person, and select the only award-winner.
The five units that enter into the second stage evaluation contain two secondary units and three primary ones. In the morning of January 5, each of them will give a 20-minute briefing respectively to the evaluation committee, and then in the afternoon the 11 committee members will visit the five units in person to look over their hardware as well as software and to interview with the staff of these units. Totally, there are six units joining the contest, and the only one eliminated from the first stage evaluation is Operation Management Section, Information Processing Center. The final result will be revealed in mid-January, and the winner can get 150 thousand NT dollars.
Chen Kan-nan, Director of Office of Research and Development, indicates that Tamkang Quality Award is a good and fair contest. Through the competition, different units can stimulate mutually and learn the advantages from one another to raise the overall quality. Dr. Chen also points out that the evaluation should be proceeded in an open and clear way with no partiality. He has confidence in Office of Research and Development: “We have always been the communicational channel between the government and our teachers. In addition, we also ask our staff to work with caution and for perfection,” said Dr. Chen.
Documents Section is recommended by Office of General Affairs to participate in this contest. Lo Yunn-chyr, Dean of Office of General Affairs, indicates that the condition of preserving documents over the years in Documents Section is very good and the records are complete. Moreover, every fellow worker willingly follow the school policy to use digital official documents with detailed records of reception. Most important of all, there is a very strict administration to use of the official school seal in Documents Section.
Curriculum Section represents Office of Academic Affairs to join the competition. Keh Huan-chao, Dean of Office of Academic Affairs, said,“ Our goal is National Quality Award.” He indicates that the purpose of Tamkang Quality Award is to encourage each unit to place importance on management and achievement so that the average competitiveness of not only Office of Academic Affairs but the whole school cab be raised, which will help TKU get National Quality Award one day. Keh makes approving comments on the staff of Office of Academic Affairs because they have already well prepared themselves to pursue the Quality Award. They even attend related classes outside of school with their own expense. Therefore, they not only have good performance in the aspect of TQM (Total Quality Management), but also apply those theories into practice, such as editing SOP (Standard Operation Process) manual and work-checking list. After knowing that the school would hold the contest for Tamkang Quality Award, a particular group was established in April, responsible for regulating and reviewing the operation of the whole Office.
Li Chi-Mao, Director of Carrie Chang Fine Arts Center, expresses that the purpose of the Center is to bring the function of art education into full play, popularizing the fine arts for all the people to foster a culture of leisure. Hence, each of the activities held by the Center is planned and executed with caution. Carrie Chang Fine Arts Center has hold many excellent exhibitions with international quality and multi-cultural perspective. It has also hosted such big event as Tamsui Art Festival for three years. Carrie Chang Music Hall holds at least 20 music concerts every academic year, and both of the quality and maintenance of its facilities are of high standard. “E-Penmanship”, created and designed by Chinese Calligraphy Research Section, Distance Education Development Section, and Dept. of Computer Science and Information Engineering, unfolds a fresh style of penmanship for new generation. After Maritime Museum, the only one in Taiwan, is subordinated to Carrie Chang Fine Arts Center, not only the website and the marketing of the museum are renovated, but also the quality of them is raised, showing that the ability and quality of Carrie Chang Fine Arts Center are widely recognized.
Student Housing Guidance Section, established in 2005 academic year, is the youngest unit among the five, and is assigned to take part in the evaluation by Chiang Ding-an, Dean of Office of Student Affairs. Dr. Chiang indicates that Student Housing Guidance Section has improved the dormitory a lot since it was established. From facilities to the environment of bathrooms, the section has pretty nice performance in every aspect. Moreover, the quality of its members is very good, too. Among the present instructors, there are three with master degrees. They also use CRM (Customer Relationship Management) to manage dormitory affairs. In addition, Student Housing Guidance Section offers more help to some particular students. From this semester, there are some single rooms that could be used, in which the parents can live with their children in special case. The dorm instructors also participate in the task of counseling so that they can understand more about the life of the boarders. ( ~Shu-chun Yen )
