According to the statistics announced by the Ministry of Education (MOE) last week, Tamkang University was ranked 14th of the 154 colleges and universities with a total of 327 papers listed in SCI, SSCI, EI. TKU won the first place among the private universities except for three private ones with medical schools－Chang Gung University, Kaohsiung Medical University, and China Medical College.

The MOE has introduced this international evaluation standard to raise the competitiveness of all universities, to encourage efforts in internationalization and to stimulate the research and instructional innovation in Taiwan's higher education. Controversy has been raised as some universities have argued that it is not fair for the MOE to evaluate all of the universities by directly quoting the three following indexes－SCI (Science Citation Index), SSCI (Social Sciences Citation Index), and EI (Engineering Index). In the future, it is hoped that A＆HCI (Arts＆Humanities Citation Index) and TSSCI (Taiwan Social Sciences Citation Index) will be added to achieve a fairer assessment.

With an outstanding academic achievement of publishing 327 articles listed in prestigious international SCI, SSCI and EI indexes, TKU is ranked 14th, falling behind ten well-known national universities, including National Taiwan University, National Cheng Kung University, National Tsing Hua University, National Chiao Tung University and three other private medical colleges. As SCI and EI put a premium on science, engineering, and medicine, TKU's academic achievement is distinguished among the leading comprehensive universities in Taiwan.

President Horng-jinh Chang stressed that our professors are so devoted to doing research that we can accomplish such a great honor. Dr. Clement C.P. Chang serving as former president of TKU has set up regulations to encourage the faculty to apply for research awards and grants, a policy which has brought about this distinguished success. A professor can apply for an NT$ 140,000 research grant each year and can be awarded another NT$30,000 for publishing an article in an international journal, with the maximum award of three articles, earning a research grant amounting to NT$230,000 annually. President Chang hoped that TKU's Tamsui campus could become a research-oriented institute in the coming year, incessantly improving both the quality and quantity of research papers to be recognized as an international first-class university.