President Flora C. I. Chang was elected as the 3rd Chairperson of the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) in July, and she pointed English Associate Professor Lily Hwei-Mei Chen as the executive director. Its office is on TKU Taipei Campus, and the tea opening ceremony took place on Sept. 29. The Director of the Bureau of International Cultural and Educational Relations, MOE, Ching-jen Liu and many university presidents took part in the ceremony.

As TKU achieved a great deal of excellent results and experiences in promoting international academic cooperation, the MOE assigned TKU to set up the Foundation in 2000. The purpose was to encourage experience exchanges, share resources, promote international cooperation and develop competitiveness for all universities in Taiwan. The FICHET completed registration after the contributions and donations by the MOE and member universities in 2005 and started to operate in 2006. President Flora C. I. Chang was elected as its 1st chairperson.

Elected as its chairperson again, President Chang thanked her predecessor, the 2nd chairperson Taiwan University President Dr. Si-Chen Lee who had completed and developed the Foundation’s organization and size with his striving efforts. She said, “There will be more work to do in 2010, so we’ll be busier. We feel the pressure because of the excellent performance under the leadership of President Lee, but we are confident to make it better!”

President Chang expected that the Foundation be the locomotive for internalization for all universities and colleges, hoping to run it with TKU’s TQM experience. She said, “The Foundation is a kind of service for over 100 member universities and colleges, so the very important task is to satisfy all ‘customers.’” Mr. Ching-jen Liu expressed that the MOE would continue to support the Foundation in financial terms and policy making to enable all universities and colleges to broaden their international horizons. ( ~Dean X. Wang )