President Chen Shui-bian met with the guests of TKU, who came specifically for the 55th anniversary of Tamkang, at the Presidential Office on November 8th. TKU guests that attended this reception were the over 30 scholars in Future Studies, and another 30 strong presidents and vice presidents of Tamkang’s sister universities. Upon receiving them, President Chen praised Dr. Clement Chang, the Founder of TKU of being future-oriented who had always known the value of human resources and the importance of internationalization in our current and future world. Furthermore, he commented to the guests that due to Dr. Chang’s leadership, TKU had educated over 200,000 people over the years, and had thus contributed a great deal to the society.

Dr. Clement Chang, who is also the senior presidential adviser to the government, introduced his guests to President Chen one by one, whereas Dr. Ing. Ivan Wilhelm, the President of the Charles University in Prague, made a speech of gratitude to President Chen on behalf of all TKU’s dignitaries. A photo op with President Chen was available after that.

The night before this, TKU’s guests were entertained by the Minister of Education, Mr. Tu Cheng-sheng at the Howard Plaza. On this occasion, Mr. Tu thanked Tamkang’s effeorts in promoting internationalization in the higher education in Taiwan. Dr. John Cavanaugh, the President of the University of West Florida, at the same time, spoke to the host and other guests on behalf of all TKU dignitaries, emphasizing the imperative of having international cooperation among universities world wide, and he thanked Tamkang for playing a vital part in realizing such a vision. (~Ying-hsueh Hu )