Starting from the 2010 academic year, Tamkang students have had the option of taking a combined bachelor / master degree program, which allows them to obtain both bachelor’s and master’s qualifications in just 5 years. The participating institutes include the TKU College of Science as well as several departments from the TKU College of Management.

The Dean of the College of Management, Dr. Wang Chu-ching, said that finding talented graduate students from outside TKU is difficult. He hopes the new 5-year program will encourage students to remain at TKU for their master’s and even PhD degrees.

The deans of the two participating colleges also said that they hope to inject an international element into the program, with initiatives such as student and faculty exchange, jointly-held international symposiums, and joint academic research projects scheduled to take place with Tamkang’s overseas sister schools.

Huang Zhao-ting, a fourth-year TKU student currently enrolled in the 5-year program said that the program, although requiring a bit of juggling between bachelor’s and master’s subjects, has allowed him to save a great deal of money on tuition fees, and “will enable me to enter the workforce, or pursue other options, much earlier than I had originally planned”.