TKU’s College of Foreign Languages and Literatures recently concluded a cooperative agreement with local IT solutions company, Technical Seed Co. Ltd. The agreement will establish a new online college to assist current or aspiring teachers of Mandarin Chinese.

The formal signing ceremony for the agreement took place on November 13 at the Foreign Languages Building on the TKU Tamsui Campus. It was attended by the General Manager of Technical Seed, Mr. Tsao Jin-feng; the TKU Vice President for Administrative Affairs, Dr. Po-yuan Kao; the Chair of the Department of English, Dr. Tsai Chen-Hsing; as well as the Chairs of the departments of French, Japanese, and Russian, and the Director of the TKU Cham Pion Incubation Center, Dr. Shaw Reuy-Shiang. The Dean of the College of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Dr. Wu Hsi Deh, stated that “the biggest winners in this joint venture are the students, because it allows them to gain experience in the workplace and get a feel for market trends even before graduating.

Under the initiative:

1. Each department in the college will explore the needs and requirements of Mandarin learners in their own language of specialization

2. The College will equip Chinese teachers with skills necessary to teach learners from a variety of cultural backgrounds; and

3. Each department will help to develop innovative teaching resources for Mandarin instruction.