Senior Presidential Advisor Chang, President of Tamkang University Chang, Distinguished Guests from Home and Abroad, Ladies and Gentlemen: Good Morning!
I am genuinely delighted to meet with all of you in the Presidential Office today. First of all, on behalf of the government and people of Taiwan, I would like to extend congratulations to teachers, students and staff in Tamkang University. Happy birthday to Tamkang University!
This year marks the 55th anniversary of Tamkang University, the first private university established by Taiwanese people in this country. It not only boasts of long history but also has educated around 200,000 students, making remarkable contribution to our nation and society.
Throughout its history, Tamkang University has cleaved to its founding principle of simplicity, truthfulness, firmness and perseverance, and marched toward its triple objective—globalization, information-oriented education and future-oriented education. Its accomplishments in education are outstanding.
Since its establishment, Tamkang University has signed cooperation agreements with 84 overseas sister universities, topping all other private Taiwanese universities in the number of sister universities. Foreign students who come to study in Tamkang University in admiration of its well-reputed education programs now number more than 100, indicating that the university's active push for globalization is gathering pace.
The reputation of Tamkang University's international higher education is growing and the university has earned approvals for its commitment to education. To celebrate the 55th anniversary of Tamkang University, 67 presidents and school representatives from 31 of Tamkang University's sister universities around the globe have traveled from afar to extend their congratulations. The presence of the presidents and school representatives testifies best to Tamkang University's achievement in international education.
We all know that senior presidential advisor Chang is not only an outstanding educator, but has also made remarkable contribution to Taiwan as a veteran civil servant.
The tenure of the third-term Control Yuan president, vice president and members expired on January 31 this year. Therefore, in accordance with the constitutional mandate, I nominated 29 candidates for the fourth-term Control Yuan members and advisor Chang as the nominee for the Control Yuan president on December 20 last year. Meanwhile, after the sixth-term legislators sworn in, I sent a presidential message to the Legislature again urging it to exercise its power of confirmation as soon as possible in April. However, to my great regret, the Legislature has not reviewed the nomination so far.
According to our Constitution, the Control Yuan is one of the major constitutional institutions. If legislators have opinions about an individual nominee for a Control Yuan member, they shall review the nomination in a rational manner rather than completely stalling or blocking it, forcing the operation of a constitutional institution to grind to a halt.
Exercising the power of confirmation is not only legislators' right but also their obligation. In order to make our country's constitutional system run smoothly, I would like to repeat my call on the Legislature to exercise its power of confirmation of nominees for the fourth-term Control Yuan president, vice president and members, so as to uphold our constitutional system and safeguard our people's rights.
Taiwan's natural resources are limited; therefore, talents and knowledge are our most valuable assets. As Taiwan is gearing up to face global competition, having more excellent universities is not only the government and universities' common mission but also the most earnest expectation of our people.
Government resources are limited but the strength of the private sector is limitless. Private schools are an important pillar of a nation's educational system and an indispensable partner of the government. To facilitate healthy development of private schools, the government has to actively participate and assist in establishing an environment of fair competition for public and private schools. In doing so, it will give private schools more room for development.
For example, the Ministry of Education has set aside a budget to give grants to private universities and colleges for their comprehensive development, exempted certain students in private universities from tuition fees, and offered subsidies to part-time students and scholarships to graduate students in private universities.
The government also took initiatives to introduce a fair environment for public and private schools to compete. It proposed a program to improve the quality of basic education in universities. This year, the Ministry of Education launched a subsidy program to encourage universities to recruit more foreign students and a project to recognize and promote outstanding teaching in universities. The ministry also eared a NT$50 billion budget to enhance university education for the following five years. Our hope is to help private universities achieve better and healthier development through taking these multiple initiatives.
Tamkang University pioneers futures studies in Taiwan and is the first educational institution in this country to study future studies. It is founder of Tamkang University Dr. Chang that helped introduce this discipline to Taiwan.
In order to further the public's understanding of futures studies, Dr. Chang published the magazine The World of Tomorrow at high cost years ago. The magazine brought the concept of futures studies to Taiwan and its influence lasts.
Tamkang University has established the Graduate Institute of Futures Studies, which sponsors teachers and students' overseas trips to join international conferences on futures studies, publishes a journal on futures studies, invites internationally renowned futures studies scholars to do research here, educates teachers of futures studies, and has hosted a number of international seminars on futures studies.
To celebrate its anniversary, Tamkang University held a three-day seminar entitled "Global Soul, Global Mind and Global Action: Futuring from Survival to Thrival." Thirty-seven internationally renowned futures studies scholars from 9 countries were invited to attend the seminar, which I believe was a successful one.
I would like to express my heartfelt respect for and welcome to these prominent futures studies scholars and presidents and representatives from Tamkang University's sister universities. I hope that you will learn more both of Tamkang University and Taiwan and have a pleasant trip here, and that Taiwan will become part of your fond memory.
In closing, I would like to wish all of you health, happiness and great success. Happy birthday to Tamkang University! Thank you!