The Conference on University Evaluation and Improving of Educational Quality was open at 9:30, March 23 at the Chueh-sheng International Conference Hall. Eminent experts on higher education from the US, UK, and China were invited for keynote speeches. They were Robert J. Morse, Director of Data Research at the US News and World Report, Martin Ince, editor at the Times Higher Education Supplement, and Liu Cheng-tien, the Director at the Collegiate Teaching Evaluation Division of the Center for Academic Reviewal and Evaluation for Higher Education (MOE, China). Apart from their speeches, there were 8 presentations addressing the evaluation and development of higher education.

The event organizer, Dr. Yang Yin, Chief of the Educational Evaluation Section cum the Chair of the Graduate Institute of Higher Education at TKU, said that apart from these three international keynote speakers, they had experts and core persons in charge of Taiwan’s higher educational evaluation, such as the Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan, attending the conference as presenters and moderators. One of the aims of the conference was for these participants to understand how the university ranking systems in the UK, US and China work, and how they set criteria and deal with key statistics. Such a discussion is crucial for Taiwan’s higher educational institutes, should they wish to find effective measures to improve their quality.

The importance of the event can be seen through the eminent guests among the audience. Several former ministers of Ministry of Education (MOE) attended, such as Huang Jong-tsun, the current President of the China Medical University and Yung Chaur -shin, who teaches at TKU presently. Other guests included Yang Kuo-shih, a former Deputy Minister of MOE, who is teaching at TKU, Ho Chou-fai, the current Director of the Education Ministry’s Higher Education Department, Dr. Flora Chang, the President of TKU, and Dr. Wang Ru-zer, the Vice President of Diwan University. ( ~Ying-hsueh Hu )