Among the 3 newly implemented graduate institutes, Educational Psychology and Counseling and Futures Studies are the most sought after in the mind of would-be graduate students. For instance, in the former, there are 216 contenders, whereas in the latter, though the number is a little fewer, it is still very impressive: 114 in all. But the admitted contingency for both institutes is appallingly low: only 10 for each.

Let’s hear Prof. Huang Tsung-chain’s input about the whole situation: “TKU is the first private university that has set up a graduate institute in Educational Psychology & Counseling, but the number of applicants is even more than National Taiwan Teacher’s College. Of course, it is a reassuring thing to a newly organized institute like ours.”

Prof. Huang also pointed out that choosing Educational Psychology & Counseling has become a trend among students. Even Science and Engineering majors showed an enormous interest in this subject.

“Educational Psychology is a knowledge tinged with humanities.” Prof. Huang continued to enlighten us, “By injecting humanities into a scientific study, our study links the body, the mind and the spirit of a human being, thus integrating them into the realm of educational environment---it is more Far Eastern, Cofucian, in other words, than Western in spirit. Since our focal point is Educational Psychology and Counseling, a student majoring in this subject can become a counselor.

Given time and proper training, he/she could eventually become a licensed psychiatrist.

To master Futures Studies is even more amazing. According to Prof. Chen Kuo-hua, Director, Center for Futures Studies, the nucleus of Futures Studies deals with the processes of creating a future, and it needs to study the wisdom in seeking a way to face the contingencies in the future. Nowadays, even an airline pilot must needs to study Futures Studies. In other words, it pays to study this subject.