A number of distinguished guests are recently invited to Tamkang University for speeches to share their unique experiences with all TKU students. The first of the list of guests was Vice Minister of MOE, Lin Tsong-ming, who held a speech in a College of Educational initiated course “Issues on Recent Development in University Education” on June 8. Lin’s speech focuses on important issues, such as Taiwan’s dropping birth rate, how to build brand image of colleges and universities, globalization, sustainable operation of educational facilities, as well as the most recent cross-strait issues. The speech was joined by a total of 42 PhD students. One of the participants, Chieh Wei-heng, a military instructor in Military Education and Training, said he has learned a lot with Lin’s speech. “Lin is an expert in education. I have learned from his experience that the TKU has to continue to improve itself in order to advance.”

Following Lin’s footstep came Minister of Finance, Lee Shu-der. Lee made a speech on financial policy and economic development on June 9 under the invitation of College for Business. Lee explains the middle and long term financial policies of his ministry. He noted that his ministry will set up a sound financial system with three core concerns, “financial management,” “tax management,” and “property management.” He also uses concrete examples to explain why the government would levy taxes on its people and how would that impact them. Chung Yu-chun, a first year MA student in the Department of Insurance, says he has more confidence to the country’s financial outlook after attending the speech. “I have learned that all decisions made by the government is made from the perspective of its people,” said Chung.

On the same day, the College of Business also invited Hsu Chung-jen, president of 7-11 to explain the operation outlook of Taiwan 7-11 and how it offers all kinds of innovative services based on the need of its customers. These services include i-cash. Hsu said he hopes his speech can inspire some students about their future. Hsu’s speech is a part of the course on “Financial and Business Management.” If you missed those interesting speeches on the course, you can still check on Department of Banking and Finance Dr. Ku Kuang-ping’s website at http://tsp.ec.tku.edu.tw/QuickPlace/108144qp/Main.nsf/h_Library/D146B0C74C1C80B04825772D000760E1/?OpenDocument.

Meanwhile, Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies together with Career Planning and Placement Section under the Office of Student Affairs, has invited Eric Liluan Chu, former Deputy Premier, to give a speech on “Global Vista and Taiwan’s Future” on June 10. Chu points out that Taiwan’s so-called 7th graders (those who born between 1981 to 1990) has to face a gloomy world because of three major challenges during the period, democratization, globalization and educational reforms. He encourages everyone to bravely face those challenges brought by globalization. He also explains that the educational reforms help everyone to have an equally chance to obtain a college diploma. He therefore advises everyone to find his or her own uniqueness and search for your own dream based on your university diploma. Yang Chih-hsun, a sophomore in the Chinese Department asked Chu to suggest what she can do after graduation. In reply, Chu said he envied Yang for studying the language that is most widely used in the world. “Never underestimate the power of Chinese language and what you can do with it in the future,” Chu added. ( ~Yeh Yun-kai )