To accord with the tendency of industrial and entrepreneurial development, train students’ competencies for future employment, and raise competitiveness, TKU has implemented the system of external reviews of curriculum structure and new courses. Meanwhile, all colleges are required to gradually reduce the ratios between compulsory courses and graduation required courses from the present 76.11 to the maximum of 70% (except 75% for the College of Foreign Languages and Literatures) in 2011. The minimum ratio of departmental selective courses will be 15%.
President Flora Chia-I Chang has pointed out that along with the vicissitude of the time, TKU needs to thoroughly review the curricula and eliminate unseasonable courses. The curriculum committees of every department and institute should consider enhancing students’ future employment competitiveness, including the opinions of students, alumni and representatives of enterprises, and continuing to adjust the contents of the academic curricula. For the same reason, according to its standards, every department and institute should review every discipline, every compulsory course and every elective course to see if it can meet the educational goal and if it can help students obtain the basic capacity goals. After properly planning the curriculum structure and suitable contents, the department or institute will send them for external reviews. The purpose for external reviews is to examine and adjust the curricula objectively. The key point is that every department and institute should carefully and thoroughly examine the curriculum structure and make it in keeping with the trend of the time, benefiting students who can smoothly apply what they have studied in their work after graduation. Also TKU will necessarily hire new faculties according to the new curriculum structures.
The Dean of the Academic Affairs Office, Huan-chao Keh has pointed out that in order to carry out the curriculum reform, his Office has especially set “The TKU Curriculum Reform and Review Regulations,” explicitly stipulating that the undergraduate curriculum structures and new courses need external reviews. The Regulations, which have been discussed and passed in the Academic Affairs Meeting, have been implemented this semester. TKU has a budget of NT$1,080,000 for the implementation this academic year. The maximum new courses for every department are 5, and the procedure for external reviews of curriculum structure and new courses is as follows: the coordinator of the departmental curriculum committee recommends 5 external scholars and specialists as reviewers to the dean of every college. If the dean agrees, he/she will recommend them to TKU president. Among the 5 recommended, the president will select 2 external reviewers. After the external reviews, the curriculum committees at different levels will discuss and consider accepting them. Huan-chao Keh has stressed that when planning the curriculum structure, every department should consider the ratio between compulsory and selective courses, broadening students’ selections and adding more cross-discipline courses to enable students to obtain competitiveness in the multi-dimensional job market after graduation.
The Chair of the Department of International Trade, Yi-nan Lin has said that multi-dimensional studies are the current of our society. Decreasing compulsory courses enables students to have more choices in studies. Students can freely choose not only a minor but also other credit courses. As some departments with too many students worry that the time for reducing compulsory courses is too short to accomplish the reform, Huan-chao Keh has responded that his Office will give 3 years for them to buffer, and hopefully every department will try to cooperate. Mass Communication senior Yi-peng Wu believes that the external review system is macroscopic and very helpful for students to apply what they have studied in their work after graduation.
In addition, the Office of Academic Affaires has actively promoted credit courses across disciplines. So far some departments have offered 11 such credit courses, including “Chip System and Business Administration Credit Course” and “French and Business Management Credit Course.” But this academic year, there aren’t any more such courses as no department has applied to offer any new ones. Huan-chao Keh hopes that every college will actively promote such courses to provide students with a second specialty, enhancing their competency in future employment. ( ~Dean X. Wang )
