“Because I grow up in Taitung, without any hesitation I decided to work for National Dong Hwa University in eastern Taiwan once I got back from overseas studies,” says with a smile by Chu Jing-pong, current Secretary General of National Dong Hwa University. Chu graduated from the Graduate Institute of European Studies in TKU in 1988. Most of students usually took 3 years to finish the program at that time; however, Chu took only 2 years with the best record in that institute.

“The knowledge and skills learned in the graduate program help us to grasp all the movements and situations of European economics and political policy. Five PhDs. were produced from the institute at my time. There are 7 or 8 graduates working for the government now. Celebrity such as news anchor of FTV, Hu Wan-Ling, also graduated from this program” Chu remarks.

Chu Jing-pong successfully got in the study-abroad program, funded by the Ministry of Education, after he finished military in 1990, and he went to study in Germany in the next year. With both his undergraduate background in Dept. of German and his training in the Institute of European Studies in TKU, he got used to the life in Germany. Returned back to Taiwan in 1995, he was the first PhD. of political science returning to the hometown from Europe at that time. He chose to work for National Dong Hwa University in his hometown. He says, “There were two dozens of teachers, 70 graduate students in the whole school at that time because the University, the only comprehensive university in the eastern area, just began to recruit students.”

He successively served as the Director in the Graduate Institute of Mainland Studies, and in the Graduate Institute of Public Administration, in National Dong Hwa University. During his terms of service, he played the role of being a good communicative bridge between the school and local government, which enable to create a win-win cooperation. For example, in order to improve the general quality of education in eastern area, people and civil servants from Yilan, Hwalien, and Taitung could receive trainings in National Dong Hwa University. (~ Peiling Hsia )