【Reported by An-jia Chen, Ya-ting Li, Qiao-ting Zhao, Tamkang Times】The beginning of this month marked Academic Administration Learning week and several Tamkang University departments travelled to Japan and Malaysia for an academic exchange. On March 31st Vice President of Administration, Po-yuan Kao, lead an expedition of five professors from the Department of Chinese to Waseda University in Japan to participate in the “2014 Waseda University International Social and Cultural Academic Conference.”
During the meeting, Po-yuan Kao, and Waseda University’s Professor from the Department of Chinese, Prof. Inahata Koichiro made opening speeches to begin the announcing of research dissertations. Also participating in the conference was Professor from Waseda University, Yumi Okazaki, Professor of the College of Literature of the Zheng Da University, Chi-ping Lin, Professor from the Department of Chinese Language of Beijing University, Yucai Liu, and Professor from Fu Dan University, Li-hua Zheng. Altogether there were 25 dissertations announced and educators were able to gain invaluable knowledge and information for the cross-cultural exchange.
The College of Foreign Languages and Literature signed an exchange agreement with Doshisha University in 2013. Last month on March 29th Dean of the College of Foreign Languages and Literature, Hsi-deh Wu, Executive Director Chun-Young Perng, Director of the Department of Japanese Language, Yaw-huei Maa, Director of the Department of French, Shu-chuen Yang, and Assistant Professor of the Department of Russian Language, Ching-gwo Chang went to Japan to participate in “Doshisha University Cultural Information and Tamkang University Foreign Language Exchange Conference.” Hsi-deh Wu stated, “Doshisha University is one of the most sought after universities for exchange programs for juniors. After the agreement, every semester students from Doshisha University can present their dissertations in Taiwan, widening the perspective of Taiwanese students.”
The Graduate Institute of Futures Studies (GIFS) co-sponsored a futures workshop, “Transforming Cities 2030,” with UNESCO and the World Futures Studies Federation (WFSF) on March 31 and April 1 in Penang, Malaysia. The 2-day workshop was facilitated by visiting professor Sohail Inayatullah and assistant professor Mei-Mei Song of GIFS and attended by more than 40 participants, including government officials, NGO members, and scholars from Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Australia, etc. The attendance by seven students from GIFS was made possible by the generous sponsorship of the Jan Lee Martin Foundation, which was set up in honor of futurist and educator, Jan Lee Martin. The event has tremendous significance to Tamkang as it was the first time that the university cooperated with UNESCO.
