Consensus Conference Convened for Marching Toward the Future

On February 23, TCU sponsored a consensus conference to discuss the impact of Taiwan’s declining birth rate and other challenges, and to come up with feasible solutions. Tzu Chi Education Mission CEO Ping-Kun Tsai, TCU President Pen-Jung Wang, faculty members and staff, a total of over 400, attended this conference. TCU expects faculty members and staff to reach a consensus and work vigorously together for TCU’s sustainable development.

Tzu Chi Education Mission CEO Ping-Kun Tsai said TCU President Wang and his colleagues took good care of students after a major quake struck Hualien on February 6. Furthermore, faculty members, staff and students helped deliver necessities, comforted the needy, tutored elementary and middle school students at shelters, and worked on a tutoring plan with Chung Hua Elementary School. TCU has made great efforts during the past 23 years to become the best university in eastern Taiwan and collaborated with overseas institutions to expand international perspectives. He said Tzu Chi Foundation fully supports TCU’s endeavors to face these challenges, and he encouraged faculty members and staff to stick to TCU’s goals, which is to equip students with professionalism and humanistic culture. Furthermore, he wished TCU will expand its international horizons, attend to local needs and carry out its tasks with humanistic culture.

President Wang talked about the phenomenal nature of coming and going, such as the recent Hualien earthquake, and the passings of Professor Tony Jer-Fu Lee and Dr. Chen-Chi Tsai (Class of ‘95). TCU is also facing numerous challenges now, including Taiwan’s declining birth rate and increased globalization. President Wang wished the colleagues could put aside self-centeredness and be open to what is ongoing. He also expects TCU to come up with high quality courses, build an environment tailored to the needs of domestic and international students, thus enabling TCU to continue enhancing its reputation, and be assured of sustainability in its development.

Many academic departments and institutes are facing the challenges of student recruitment. Some have made drastic changes in their curriculae, and wished to provide their students with multidisciplinary studies. Chairpersons of the Department of Human Development and Psychology and the Department of Social Work shared their efforts. They indicated that some of their courses were similar, thus they studied how other universities did theirs, and started working on their curriculum reforms. Two departments worked with each other, to offer their students access to another disciplinary field. They wished their students would gain more academic skills and furthermore, learn from serving others, and applying what they learned. They had a clear objective in their minds for doing these tasks, which was to enhance student recruitment.

A tree has its roots and so does everything else. Tzu Chi University was founded by Tzu Chi Foundation. TCU expected our colleagues to know more about the origin of Tzu Chi Foundation, and thus invited Miss Su-Chen Hong, director of the Tzu Chi Dharma Lineage Historical Archival and Research Center, to speak on “Returning to the spiritual home of Tzu Chi, and planting seeds of goodness.”  She said that with Spirit of Jing Si in mind, we would feel more joyful while working for Tzu Chi University. If we know very little about the Jing Si Spirit, we might be very capable in performing administrative tasks, yet we would be easily disturbed by things or people we don’t get used to or are unfamiliar with. Miss Hong said that Master Cheng Yen’s teachings are repetitive, yet her teachings have profound stability and contain many innovative ideas. The purpose for doing it this way is to enable us to understand beyond words. The Master’s teachings inspire us to carry out what we learned and gain happiness from doing so. Master Cheng Yen’s teachings will be long lasting regardless of what we might encounter in the future. Her teachings cover the past and present of Taiwan, what people have suffered in the past and present around the world, and how loving, caring people attended to those in need. Thus, Miss Hong’s team members have been trying their best to let the general public know about Tzu Chi.

Other universities also face the dilemma of declining birth rate and similar challenges as TCU, which has wished to learn from other universities, and thus invited Professor Shen-Li Fu, Honorary President of I-Shou University, to address us. Professor Fu pointed out three major challenges that face all universities in Taiwan, namely declining birthrates lack of uniqueness in university characteristics. He suggested becoming a benchmark, rather than following after notable benchmarks; moreover, it is better to create a benchmark . Professor Fu spoke highly of TCU and he was impressed that many TCU’s faculty members, staff and students cared for the needy right after the major quake stuck Hualien. He said providing humanistic care is what a higher education institution should do, which touches the general public and soothes people profoundly. Professor Fu was confident that as long as faculty members and staff work together with university tradition and Tzu Chi Spirit, TCU would pass through these challenges smoothly.

TCU invited DA.AI Technology Co., Ltd. to make a presentation for our colleagues to know more about Tzu Chi Foundation’s four missions. Dr. Yi-Rong Chen, a member of its R&D Department, mentioned that every product of theirs, has something to do with meeting the needs of disaster relief workers, or comforting disaster victims. Dr. Chen said that kindness and compassion drive them to face numerous hardships and challenges and create many humanistic products to meet needs.

Vice President Guo-Fang Tseng talked about the guidelines of academic ethics and reminded faculty members to comply with these guidelines. Ethical norms serve the goals of research or teaching and apply to people who conduct scientific research, teaching or other scholarly or creative activities. Following academic ethics is also helpful to maintain Tzu Chi University’s reputation.

Text: The Office of the Secretariat
Photo: Jer-Shien Lin
Translation: Steve J. Lin