The group led by kao Po-yuan, the Vice President for the Administrative Affairs, returned from Japan on May 14. The purpose of their trip was twofold: First, to look into the administrative operations of the four Tamakang partner universities ,Heisei International University, Reitaku University, Chuo Gakuin University and Aoyama Gakuin University and secondly, to visit our exchanged students and TKU alumni in Japan.

Every member on the group was deeply impressed by what they had seen and experienced during the trip. For instance, they were amazed by the excellent sport facilities at Heisei Int’l University, who has its own baseball stadium and golf driving range. Due to such devotion to sports, the university has produced several outstanding athletes throughout the years. They also expressed great interest in promoting exchanges through sport events, which in turn will lead to further cooperation in academic and administrative affairs.

Vice President Kao and his group made their second stop at Chuo Gakuin University, whose President received them personally. Such hospitality is equally extended to all exchange students from TKU every year. They not only provide generous stipend, but free accommodation to our students. Chen Hwei-mei, the Director of TKU’s Office of International Exchanges and International Education, is particularly appreciative of their sincere assistance and the drive to tend to all details. She joked that TKU students only needed to bring their toothbrush when they go there for study.

Similarly, Aoyama Gakuin University is equally fond of TKU students. They find our students very diligent and caring. The Director of their Office of International Exchanges, for example, showed TKU’s delegates some greeting cards from our students and in particular, the cards sent by Chen Yuan-kwei, who was one of the first TKU exchange students to Aoyama some years ago. He keeps in touch with the university by sending his concerns or condolences whenever a natural disaster, such as a typhoon or earthquake, strikes Japan.

However, there have not been too many students from their university to TKU recently as most Japanese students prefer to study either in Europe or Northern America. The Director admitted that there was indeed an imbalance in the supposedly two-way exchange program and vowed to encourage more students to come to Taiwan just for learning the beauty of Chinese complex characters in the near future. (~ Ying-hsueh Hu )