Department of Civil Engineering and Department of electro-mechanical Engineering, together with other 35 departments of engineering and mechanics in 16 schools, received 94 academic year’s “accreditation for engineering and technological education” from the Institute of Engineering Education Taiwan (IEET). Because IEET will join international accreditation organizations in the near future, students could be benefited in both domestic and foreign job markets.

Dean of College of Engineering, Yu Gwo-hsing, expressed his satisfaction with the two departments’ efforts in improving teaching, but he indicated the importance of continuous improvement to certificate of engineering, as already shown by the eight departments in College of Engineering with respect to teaching environment, programs, and faculty. Department of Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science and Information Engineering, and Electrical Engineering will apply for accreditation in the 95th academic year, followed by Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Architecture, Water Resources and Environmental Engineering in the 96th academic year: hopefully, the eight departments can receive certification before the 97th academic year.

IEET, composed of presidents, deans and seniors from several universities, is the only institute of engineering accreditation recognized by Ministry of Education and National Science council. Currently there are about 500 departments of engineering in Taiwan. Last year, 7 departments of Chungyuan University were accredited, and Fengchia University worked hard to catch up: all the departments in the college of engineering in the two universities have passed the accreditation. Through the contact with international accreditation institutes, Tamkang can internationalize her engineering education and attract more foreign students to come.

Chair of Department of Civil Engineering, Chang Der-wen, indicated that the purpose of engineering accreditation is to monitor and enhance teaching quality; graduates passing accreditation and acquiring professional certificates can apply for the qualification of APEC’s international engineers. Chair of Department of Electrical Engineering, Kang Shung-wen, said that the graduates of the two departments could be benefited firstly. (~ Han-yu Huang )