Triple Objectives of Education

The TKU Triple Objectives of Education are a set of educational goals adopted by the founder of TKU, Dr. Clement C.P. Chang. They consist of Globalization, Information-Oriented Education, and Future- Oriented Education. Dr. Chang explained that "Since the founding of the University, Tamkang University has set the Triple Objectives of Education as its primary aim for development. Its ultimate goal is to generate quality research, advance teaching instructions, and enhance social welfare."

Globalization

Since its inception, Tamkang University has placed the utmost emphasis on raising its level of internationalization. Our efforts in this regard have been substantial and ongoing, prioritizing students’ foreign language abilities and instilling in students a global worldview. To achieve our global goals,

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we have signed academic cooperation agreements with 252 renowned international and Mainland Chinese institutions of higher education, including faculty and student exchanges, joint research projects, dual-degree programs, mutually beneficial educational ventures, intensive lecture series, teacher subsidies for participation in international and cross-strait conferences, and faculty exchange or mutual lectures at overseas partnership schools.

Tamkang University provides a high-quality globalized learning environment, offering programs taught entirely in English and Spanish in a total of 11 departments, with more than 800 English-taught courses available each academic year. At the Tamsui campus, the Center for Holistic Education was established in 2023 with the aim of implementing plans and policies such as "all English teaching, all studying abroad in the junior year of college, and all residential campus."

In 2023 our international student population grew to 1,709 from 64 countries serving to enrich our campuses in language and cultural resources.

In 1994, Tamkang University was the first university in Taiwan to launch a Junior Abroad program, with students who joined the program able to study overseas for an entire school year. To date, the number of students studying abroad during their junior year has reached 8,641. In order to expand the diversity of students’ international learning experiences, we now offer a number of study-abroad options such as off-site study, overseas internships, and international volunteering.

In 2015, we earned the Outstanding Internationalization Award from the Ministry of Education, confirmed the status of being a model university for internationalization and being recognized as one of the top performing universities. In the future, Tamkang will continue to shape its campuses and create an ever more productive educational global village.

Information-Oriented Education

Tamkang has long been a pioneer in information technology. Since the establishment of the Information Processing Center (now the “Office of Information Services”) in 1968, Tamkang has applied computer technologies to administration, teaching, research, and services.

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Its mission is to cultivate outstanding and innovative digital competitiveness, with the vision to build an internationally renowned smart campus and to provide impressive and satisfactory information services.

Tamkang is the first academic institution in the world to receive the ISO 20000 certificate, the international standard for an IT Service Management System. It is also the first academic institution in Taiwan to receive the ISO 27001 certificate, the international standard for an Information Security Management System (ISMS).

In recent years, TKU has set up an economical off-campus dorm network, a fast and convenient campus network, a multi-layer security network, and an innovative iClass Learning Platform, as well as actively developing easy and convenient mobile services. Together, these features make TKU’s campuses the most attractive e-Campuses available.

Since 2020, Tamkang has strategically formed an alliance with Microsoft and Far EasTone, and continued to develop a fast and convenient campus network, a powerful school information system, a multi-layer security network, and an innovative iClass learning management system. Together, these features make TKU to be the most attractive cloud enabled campus.

Tamkang is currently working in collaboration with mobile telecommunication businesses to set up an all-new borderless and wireless university. According to the July 2023 Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, Tamkang ranks No. 1,043 among 30,000 universities and research institutes worldwide, No. 281 in Asia, No. 13 in Taiwan, and the 1st among domestic private non-medical Taiwanese universities.

Future-Oriented Education

Following the tremendous impact that technology had on Taiwanese society in the 1960s, the founder of Tamkang University, Dr. Clement C. P. Chang, started to actively promote futures studies in Taiwan. Dr. Chang founded a pioneer magazine The World of Tomorrow and a peer-reviewed academic journal “The Journal of Futures Studies.”

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He introduced lectures and seminars of futures studies as required courses in the general curriculum of Tamkang University, the first to do so for universities in Taiwan. By offering undergraduate futures studies courses, Tamkang provides students with a wide range of techniques of futures thinking to face the uncertainty of future society and help them to think about the drivers of change. Futures studies teaching at Tamkang University aims to enhance the ability of younger generation students to understand future trends and prepare to be the change-makers of the society. Given its outstanding achievements in the instruction of futures studies, Tamkang University received an award for the “Best Futures Studies Research Institution” from the World Futures Studies Federation in 1999. In 2016, one of the popular and traditional future studies institutions - the Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies (HRCFS) granted the Outstanding Achievement Award for Promoting Future Studies to Dr. Flora Chia-I Chang, who was the president of Tamkang at the time.

Tamkang University’s future-oriented education is not seen only in its unique style of instruction design in the general curriculum, but also performed in its various stages of organizational change, which includes: (1) its transition from the third to the fourth wave of education to be software-focused campus; (2) its administration model of Total Quality Management adopted by the business sector to strengthen its competitiveness in the future higher education market; (3) its emphasis on the Three Circles and Five Disciplines of Education to create “excellence with a soul”; (4) its establishment of an Oxbridge-style holistic education system at the Lanyang Campus; and (5) its application of the latest technology to create a vast virtual domain: the Cyber Campus. These strategies demonstrate Tamkang’s ability to navigate through the potential educational and social challenges in the future and change its organizational structure to adapt to future trends. Now entering the Fifth Wave of development, this future-oriented focus will serve as the motivation for continued innovation. Apart from actively integrating research institutes that will have a significant impact in the areas of innovative technology, economic reform, and climate change, Tamkang provides an ongoing dialogue between science, technology, and society (STS), as well as innovative research results to provide strategies and alternatives to solve emerging global problems.

Eight Essential Qualities

TKU's educational philosophy can be conceptualized using the following schemas: the Three Circles (professional curriculum, general curriculum, and extracurricular curriculum) and Five Disciplines of Education (conduct, intelligence, physical education, teamwork, and beauty); and the Triple Objectives of Education (globalization, information-oriented education, and future-oriented education). With these principles, TKU carves a niche in the private college market, while educating and training future leaders, and providing a well-rounded education that covers both professional ability and personal character.

TKU has identified eight essential qualities that it instills in students through its general education and extracurricular courses: (1) a global perspective; (2) information literacy; (3) a vision for the future; (4) moral integrity; (5) independent thinking; (6) a cheerful attitude and healthy lifestyle; (7) a spirit of teamwork and dedication; and (8) a sense of aesthetic appreciation. Students are expected to possess the capability of training themselves to recognize the transitions of international society, comprehending the development of globalization with a broader view; to acquaint themselves with the advancement and utilization of information technology by information application; to make good use of the collection and analysis of information to have an insight of the future and the trend of future development, dissect various possibilities and construct an ideal future in order to ensure sustainable management; to understand the conduct of life, practice empathy and abide by legal norms, help the underprivileged and care for all things; to cultivate logical reasoning and critical thinking with active observation and problem finding; to attach importance to the harmony of body, mind, spirit and the environment, as well as establish positive and healthy lifestyle; to experience and observe the difference between man and self and improve communication skills to enhance the ability of resource integration and cooperation and study together to solve problems; last, by sense of aesthetic appreciation, to nurture aesthetic ability, enhance appreciation and taste, promote the artistic techniques of expression and creation, and integrate aesthetic appreciation into daily life. The eight essential qualities guide students to diversified, extensive, pragmatic and innovative study and then to improve their competitiveness and make them the perpetual favorite of employers.

The Practical and Pioneering Higher Education Sprout Project

To encourage educational innovation, enhance the quality of instruction, and therefore fulfill its basic function of cultivating talented professionals, TKU has implemented concrete measures in the Higher Education Sprout Project in accordance with the 4 goals initiated by the Ministry of Education: taking teaching as the core, developing university features, making resources more public, and fulfilling social responsibility.

Due to TKU’s continuing efforts in developing a mechanism for Total Quality Management (TQM), the Higher Education Sprout Project now boasts a comprehensive infrastructure as well as concrete strategies and methods integrated with AI and SDGs initiated by the United Nations that enable TKU to be effectively reformed, implement the new administrative procedure, and identify clear performance goals. In the future, TKU will continue to follow the guideline of the Sustainable Development Goals, pursuing excellence, shaping distinctive features, and making innovative developments, in order to further achieve the above-mentioned 4 goals.

photo: The Practical and Pioneering Higher Education Sprout Project

Implementation of the University Social Responsibility Project on Public Services

Tamkang University has long devoted abundant resources to the "local" Tamsui to provide intelligence within the community. TKU has promoted the "University Social Responsibility Practice Program" in 2018, and included the university study courses since the 2020 academic year into the "Social Responsibility" curriculum, and has established the "Center for Sustainable Development and Social Innovation" in the 2021 academic year to promote the sustainable development goals initiated by the United Nations and continued to cultivate the sustainable mission of talented people with spiritual excellence. The description is as follows:

Promotion of the University's Social Responsibility Practice Plan:
Tamkang University has been cooperating with the local area for a long time to continue to build a sustainable and livable city of "Cloud and Sustaility University City." Teachers have lead students to discover and solve existing problems within the region, and continued to promote the University's Social Responsibility Practice Plan since 2018, hoping to "Co-exist," "Co-create," and "Co-prosperous" with the society.
The implementation of university social responsibility courses for university study:
To enable the freshmen to understand Tamsui’s local region, Tamkang first incorporated university social practice responsibilities into the curriculum of university learning in the 2020 academic year, so undergraduates may become a local Tamsui in the process of becoming a Tamkangian, that is, through practical experiences of "The Fantastic Journey of Guji," visiting Tamsui and start the work of self-leaming.