In order to reflect market needs and improve the quality of teaching, TKU had decided to restructure some of its departments and institutes. These new changes were approved at the 59th meeting for university affairs that was held in June, and they would be presented to MOE on June 30 for final approval. Once that is done, the new organization will become effective from 2009 academic year onward.
The first change is to close down Instrument and Experiment Center, replacing it with Center for Digital Language Research. The second change is regarding merging and closing down some departments and institutes in various colleges. In the College of Liberal Arts, the Graduate Institute of Chinese Linguistics and Documentation will be merged to the Department of Chinese and will be further divided into two programs: Linguistics and Literature. In the College of Sciences, the Graduate Institute of Life Sciences will be merged into the Department of Chemistry, and once again there will be two program under this new structure: Chemistry and Life Sciences. The In-service Master’s Program of History under the College of Liberal Arts will be closed down, so will the Department of Information and Communication Technology Management under the College of Entrepreneurial Development. In the same college, the Department of Software Engineering will be renamed as the Department of Information Innovation and Technology and divided into two programs: Software Engineering and Communication Technology.
In the College of International Studies, the shake-up is even more obvious. First of all, the Graduate Institute of Latin American Studies will be merged with the Graduate Institute of American Studies into the Graduate Institute of Americas, where as the Graduate Institute of Japanese Studies and the Graduate Institute of Southeast Asian Studies will be merged into the Graduate Institute of Asian Studies. Naturally the Graduate Institute of Americas will be divided into two programs: Latin American Studies and American Studies. In similar vein, there will be East Asian Program and Japanese Program under the newly merged Asian Studies. The same restructuring is occurring at the Graduate Institute of Slavic Studies and the Graduate Institute of European Studies. They will become two distinct programs under a bigger institute that will be renamed as the Graduate Institute of European Studies.
With the new structure, TKU will adjust its recruitment policy accordingly. ( ~Ying-hsueh Hu )
