This year, a total of 78 Mainland students have arrived at Tamkang to pursue their studies. To help such students adjust to their new environment, on Sep 6 TKU held the 2011 Seminar for New Mainland Students. The seminar was hosted by Dr. Wan-chin Tai, the TKU Vice President for International Affairs. It was designed to help Mainland students navigate the process of course selection and acclimatize to the local surrounds.

The majority of Mainland students are enrolled in departments related to information processing (31 students). At present, 17 Mainland students are enrolled at TKU’s Lanyang Campus. The department with the highest number of enrolled Mainland students is the Department of English (15 students), followed by the Department of Japanese (11 students). The Chairman of the Department of Chemistry, Lin Jyh-shing, recalled how “a student from Mainland China once commented that the chemistry building has leading edge facilities. That may be one reason as to why our department recruits the largest number of Mainland students out of all private universities in Taiwan”.

First year mainland student Liu Ruixin from Guangdong observed that “Taiwan’s education system is much freer than that of Mainland China. The teacher’s are very diligent and there’s a huge choice of student clubs and societies, such as equestrian, tennis, and softball clubs. These are things that we don’t have in Mainland China. The dormitories are very good and my classmates are all very friendly. It really is a student paradise”.