Ministry of Education (MOE) has announced the results of the evaluation of universities’ Education Excellence Projects in 2007 academic year. 26 universities, including those already granted in 2006 academic year and those proposing new projects in the new academic year, pass the evaluation; universities and colleges in the fields of art and physical education are not included. Feng chia University wins the highest grant, with 186, 500, 000 NT, followed by Suchow University’s 130,000,000. TKU wins 86,520,000, 3% higher than last year’s 84,000,000.

The 2006 academic year’s project is coordinated by President Flora C. I. Chang, with former Vice President for Academic Affairs, Chao-kang Feng as the associate coordinator. After one year’s hard work, the new Vice President for Academic Affairs, Kan-nan Chen, takes the associate coordinator’s position and the director of the newly established Office of Excellence Projects, the headquarter of TKU’s excellence projects. Sub-projects and their supervisors are as follows: “reinforcing the function of center for learning and teaching” (Director of Center for Learning and Teaching, Hsin-yih Shyu), “constructing harmonious campus culture” (Dean of Student Affairs, Ding-an Chiang), “enhancing international competitiveness” (Vice President for International Affairs, Wan-chin Tai), “energizing general education and professional curriculum” (Dean of Academic Affairs, Huan-chao Keh, and Director of Center for General Education and Core Curriculum, Kuo-hua Chen), “solidifying the ‘cyber-campus’ of digital education” (Section Chief of Disatance Education Development Section, Ching-hua Kuo). Last year’s achievements will be solidly continued, and deans of various colleges will be recruited into the projects for improving the learning efficiency of professional curriculum.

According to Vice President for Academic Affairs, Kan-nan Chen, MOE suggests TKU to make more efforts in improving supplementary teaching, and language proficiency tests, interacting with alumni, increasing ratio of teachers and students, and reducing professors’ teaching hours. In the new academic year, departments and colleges will participate in reorganizing supplementary teaching. For enhancing English learning, more thorough environments for foreign languages learning will be created, more lab apparatuses and learning materials purchased, in anticipation of building a center for students’ independent learning; more speech contests will be held, and more professional teachers of foreign languages hired, in order to stimulate students’ motivations. Besides, standards and policies concerning foreign language proficiency tests will be delimited next year, teaching assistants’ training and function reinforced, evaluation of teaching, election of courses and class work counseling effectively practiced, and experts outside campus invited to join course committees to benefit students more. ( ~Han-yu Huang )