To propel abroad study counseling, Office of International Exchanges and International Education has purchased website services--“Tick Off to Take Off” (TOTTO). This website will be launched on July 1. In addition to the existent system of abroad study advisor, it provides more info for the participants to prepare for the abroad study. Besides, the “2010 Academic Year Flag-giving Ceremony for Junior Abroad Program and International Youth Ambassadors” will be held at 2:30 P.M. of the same day at Student Activity Center. There are totally 460 students in the abroad study program—the highest amount in recent years. The “Delegation of International Youth Ambassadors” consists of 28 students from Department of Spanish and Institutes of the Americas.

TOTTO is an award winning online pre-departure program, designed by Keele University, England, to guide the participants for short-term abroad studies through the administrative journey prior to the departure, including providing info about the school, application procedure, course registration, expense, application form. In addition, it also provides info about the procedure, necessary documents, and insurance when applying for VISA for the target country. Dr. Tai Wan-chin, Vice President for International Affairs, explains that TOTTO can also be used by parents and teachers to interact with the students about the going-on in the foreign country.

Yu Tsai-ling, a sophomore of Dept. of Spanish, who will go to Universidad de Navarra, Spain, this summer, expresses her eagerness to use the web-service to familiarize with the new environment. Liao Po-we, a sophomore of Dept. of Global Politics and Economics, who will go to California State University, Long Beach, is very excited about the useful website, but expects the school to update the info regularly to inform the user the latest information. Dr. Tai replied that the website will update information regularly and respond to the user’s need for more services.

Participants for abroad study programs, who will all join the ceremony, include 232 students from Tamsui campus, 157 from Lanyang campus, and 71 exchanges students. They will go to 57 universities separated in 18 countries. The amount of participants in abroad study programs increases yearly, and this year is no exception. The flag-giving ceremony will be hosted by President C. I. Chang. Founder Clement Chang will personally give the flags and encourage the participants. According to the “Statistic of Amount of Students Who Join Short-Term Abroad Study” conducted by Global View Magazine, TKU’s amount outnumbers that in any university in the country. Dr. Tai points out that TKU has proposed the abroad study programs decade ago, and persistent practice of such a system has made internationalization a unique characteristic of our university. ( ~Chen Chi-szu )