Five commissioners of Ministry of Education visited TKU last Monday (May 8) to survey the Office of Physical Education and related facilities. TKU President C. I. Chang announces that the 2006 Academic Year will be termed as “the Year of Physical Education” and the physical fitness quality of every TKU student and faculty member will be assessed in the mean time, and it is upheld that everyone will keep at least one exercise as a habit. “Last year, we invited experts out of campus to assess our physical fitness; we will do everything we could to strengthen our physical education,” President Chang adds.

After surveying the sport fields and other facilities, the five commissioners joined a forum with 50 TKU students and some teachers of physical education. They gave some recommendation during the forum. Commissioner Huang Tien-you, a professor of Tainan Woman’s College of Arts and Technology, suggests that by reducing the class size to 40, and scheduling the class program more carefully the learning efficiency will be much better. Prof. Huang praises the conscientious consideration revealed in the setting of the disable area in the Natatorium, in modifying the height of the basketball and volleyball setting for female students, and in arranging sports events for female faculty.

Commissioner Huang Yueh-kuei, professor of Taipei Physical Education College, recommends that “every student and faculty member should have the necessary amount of exercise for 30 minutes per day, three days per week.” In the forum, some students complain that, the sport fields in our school are not enough; hence they have to go somewhere else or do exercise during the night. President Chang responds that the TKU sports fields are designed mainly for education; they are also open to the public, however, if the exercise events last after 10 p.m., the local residents will complain. Commissioner observes that comparing the assessment of freshman in two semesters, the scores in the second semester are usually lower than those in the first semester. She thus recommends the school to direct students to keep at least one physical exercise.

Coordinator of the commission, Dr. Lin Tsung-ming, President of National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, praises the quality of the journal, Tamkang Physical Education. He suggests the Office to apply for grant to subsidize the publication. He also gives high remarks on the quality of the physical education teachers as well as the cooperation among them. However, Dr Lin points that the number of the teachers is obvious not enough, and recommend school to hire more teachers. President Chang responds that TKU will try to do so. (~ Chen Chi-szu )