The President of the University of Vienna, Prof. Georg Winckler, the Deputy Dean of their College of Philosophy and Culture, Prof. Mag. Dr. Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzika, and the Vice Director of the East Asian Studies Program of the same university, Prof. Richard Trappl, accompanied by Chen Hsiu-chuan, the Secretary of the Bureau of International Cultural and Educational Relations of the Ministry of Education, arrived at Tamkang last Wednesday for the possibility of establishing the recognition of a dual degree system and research exchanges in Sinology between these two universities.

Among one of the oldest universities in German-speaking region in Europe, University of Vienna was founded in 1365, currently consisting of 15 colleges and 65,000 of students. Among which, approximately 10,000 of them are foreign students from nearly 130 different countries. Tamkang signed a partnership agreement with the university in the year 2000 and both institutes have been in close contact ever since. Prof. Winckler has always been an avid supporter of a further tie with Tamkang and is very upbeat about establishing substantial cooperation. This time, during the meeting set up for his visit, he and Chen Hwei-mei, the Director of the Office of International Exchanges and International Education, discussed concrete plans for exchange students and issues of a dual degree system. After the meeting, Flora Change, TKU’s President presented him with a Chinese vase and several journals published by Tamkang’s Chinese and History Departments. The visit was closed by a tour to the Carrie Change Fine Arts Center and Chueh Sheng Memorial Library. (~ Ying-hsueh Hu )