The 66th Conference on Administrative Affairs was held on the 4th November at the Chueh Sheng International Conference Hall. The conference incorporated webcam technology to link the Lanyang and Tamsui campuses.

The first item on the conference agenda was the distribution of ‘outstanding teacher’ and ‘outstanding research team’ cash prize subsidies. Recipients of the former include Department of Mathematics professor, Dr. Wei-hou Cheng (who received NT$500,000); while recipients of the latter include the Water Resources Management and Policy Research Center (NT$1.2 million), the Center of Resources for the Blind (NT$500,000), and the Wind Engineering Research Center (NT$300,000).

Amendments to teaching hours were also made during the conference. Teachers’ minimum teaching hours per week are now set at 8 hours for full-time professors, 9 hours for associate professors, and 10 hours for assistant professors.

During the conference, the President of TKU, Dr. Flora Chia-I Chang explained that based on the results of a TKU ‘learning and teaching’ survey, Tamkang is soon set to establish a new administrative team in charge of enhancing learning efficiency at TKU. She also urged related departments to closely observe foreign and Mainland students’ academic grades and to offer help and counseling when necessary.

Another major focus of the conference was an explanation of the soon-to-begin Honors Program. The program is designed to encourage the option of graduate study among outstanding TKU students by offering incentives, such as tuition scholarships.