Four international students entered Tamkang’s doctoral programs this semester. Their enrollment raises the number of international doctoral students to six, and this number sets a new high in Tamkang’s history. The new students include Japanese citizen Uehara Kazuaki in the Chinese Department, Canadian citizen Carmen Boulter in the English Department, Indian citizens Thomas Joseph Palathi Alathinkal and Kotcherlakota Aravind in the Physics Department. The old international doctoral students are Cho Hwang Duk in the Chinese Department and Timothy Fox in the English Department.

“People at Tamkang have been very kind to me; the campus is also very beautiful, plus there are so many delicious foods…,” Uehara expressed his satisfaction at Tamkang University: “I like Tamkang University very much.” Uehara was invited to Tamkang as an artist-in-residence and taught courses on arts on a part-time basis last year. He started his doctoral program in Chinese this semester. Eight years ago, Uehara set his foot on Taiwan for the first time and fell love with traditional Chinese culture. His interest in Chinese grew deeper and broarder; his undeniable love of Chinese culture urged him to enter the doctoral program in Chinese.

Thomas Joseph Palathi Alathinkal and Kotcherlakota Aravind are the two new international doctoral students in the Department of Physics. They live in Tamkang Garden, sharing their experiences of school life and learning Chinese with other international students from Reitaku University, Japan. They try hard to get used to Taiwanese food and to memorize their Chinese names. They still wear long-sleeve shirts even during summer season; they joked, “India is hotter than Taiwan.”

The new student Carmen Boulter in the English Department is an experienced writer; she has published books in English. Last year, she met a faculty member of the TKU English Department at an international conference. Tamkang’s academic reputation attracted her to apply for the doctoral program in English. She is now the only female international doctoral student at Tamkang University.