The fifth seminar on overseas Chinese education, sponsored by the Ministry of Education and TKU’s College of Education, was held in Chung-cheng Conference Hall at TKU’s Taipei Campus last week. In addition to the presentation of research papers, Huang Jong-Tsun, Minister of MOE, gave awards of merit to schools, consultants, and specialists who have achieved success and distinction in caring for and providing good service and counseling for the overseas students studying in Taiwan. Chiu Tzu-lin, secretary of Students Affairs of TKU, and Lei Chu-shien, staff member of TKU’s Overseas Chinese Consulting Section, were awarded for outstanding achievements. The opening ceremony was presided over by TKU’s president Dr. Chang Horng-jinh.

In his speech, Huang Jong-tsun stressed, “The number of expatriates returning to Taiwan has surpassed 150,000. As far as the overseas Chinese education is concerned, we can’t do it one way. We must pursue a two-way policy for studying abroad in cooperation with other foreign universities.” For example, we can establish a dual degree policy with the foreign universities to attract more foreign students to come to Taiwan to study. Since 2002, university graduates have been sent overseas to work at the Chinese schools in foreign countries to substitute for their military services. Many of those who did a good job were recruited to teach at local schools. Huang noted that it is a policy worthy of promoting.

In his award-receiving speech, Shiong Shen-gan, president of Chung Yuan Christian University, said that a new policy being implemented at CYCU allows overseas Chinese students to be exempted from paying tuition and miscellaneous fees for the freshman year. Those whose grades are ranked at the top 25% of their department can pay only one-third of the fees; those who are ranked at the top 50% need only pay half of the fees, a policy which may account for the reason why CYCU was given an award. Besides, Chang Ching-fu, president of National Chi Nan University, also said, "The total capacity of expatriate students islandwide is about 7,000, but the actual number of the students who have come to Taiwan is nearly 4,000. So there is obviously still much room for progress."

Two keynote speeches, entitled "The Globalization Trend for Overseas Chinese Education," and "Success, Problems and Strategies for Overseas Chinese Education Pursued by Our Government," were given by Dr. Tzeng Chih-lang, vice dean of Academia Sinica, and Kao Chung-yun, director of the Overseas Chinese Association Committee. Research papers were presented in four sections. More than 150 scholars and specialists were invited to attend, including those who were outstanding in overseas Chinese education. Innovative concepts and strategies were introduced and discussed to contribute to our future overseas Chinese education projects.