The 3rd Taiwan-Europe Higher Education Conference

2011/10/24

FENG, WEN-HSING

On the 24th October, Tamkang University was home to the 3rd Taiwan Europe Higher Education Conference (TEHEC). The annual conference is jointly organized by the Foundation for International Cooperation of Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET), the European Education Fair, and Tamkang University. The TEHEC serves as a forum that discusses practical strategies for increasing exchange between Taiwanese and European institutes of higher education, while also facilitating a venue for interaction between university delegates from both local Taiwanese and European universities.

The day’s activities started with opening speeches from the Chairperson of FICHET and President of Tamkang University, Dr. Flora Chia-I Chang, and the Head of the European Economic and Trade Office, Mr. Frederice Laplanche. The speeches were followed by a presentation from the Director General of the Bureau of International Cultural and Educational Relations of the Ministry of Education, Dr. Tony W.T. Lin. In his presentation, Dr. Lin provided statistics showing the number of Taiwanese students that studied in Europe in 2010 and the number of European students that studied in Taiwan in the same year. He then went on to describe some of Taiwan’s unique features to the European delegates, including its liberal academic environment and its continuity of traditional Chinese culture reflected in its use of traditional Chinese characters. The moderator for the presentation was the TKU Vice President for International Affairs, Dr. Wan-chin Tai.

To follow was a panel discussion which discussed suggestions for attracting European students to study in Taiwan. Panelists included the Director of the DAAD Information Center, Taipei, Ms. Stefanie Eschenlohr, Associate Professor from Soochow University, Mr. Wu Chih-Chung, and Director General Tony Lin.

After lunch, it was time for “matchmaking”. Matchmaking is the central focus of the day’s activities, a chance for local and overseas universities to become acquainted with each other and discuss possible options for future academic cooperation. Matchmaking consisted of six 20-minute sessions. At the end of each session, university delegates would move to a different table and begin discussions with representatives from other universities.

The day ended at the Carrie Chang Fine Arts Center, where guests were shown the beauty of the traditional art of Chinese calligraphy by a master, Prof. Zhang Bing-huang. Prof. Zhang introduced TKU’s leading edge Super e-Pen and guests then had the chance to use the Super e-Pen themselves. The event concluded with a lucky draw, in which one guest won a brand new Super e-Pen set.

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