A unique statue of five tigers that stands on top of the steps that leads to the newly built Shao-mo Gymnasium was unveiled by the Founder, Dr. Clement Chang in the afternoon of June 2. Many faculty members, senior staff and student representatives were also present.

Dr. Clement Chang used this special occasion to reminisce on the development of Tamkang University in the past 50 odd years, which follows a pattern of moving from “A university with diversity” to what he visions as “Diversity within Integration”. This development has helped TKU transform from a traditional teaching university to a high-tech teaching oriented university, a result also contributed by some heavy investment. In order to be a “university of diversity”, for decades Tamkang has invested 80% of its budget to establish several “hardware” facilities, that includes this brand new Shao-mo Gymnasium. However, in Dr. Chang’s vision for Tamkang’s future, the majority of any further investment, 80% of it, will be on “software” part of the education in order to enhance students’ academic quality, which in turn will promote TKU’s overall academic performance worldwide. This stage of development will be what he refers to as the realization of “Diversity within Integration.” With TKU’s four distinct campuses, which attribute to the diversity of the university, he wishes that in the future TKU will endeavor to integrate these four campuses by having a unified goal without comprising their individual color.

His vision is very much supported by the belief that to excel in today’s global environment, it is crucial to adopt a win-win philosophy that encourages friendly competition and above all, co-operation among all parties concerned. If people ignore the importance of integrated efforts through co-operation, there is no way to “win” anything. Hence, he reminds TKU to continue its academic co-operation with international institutes as well as national ones.

The statue of five tigers symbolizes Five-Tiger Hill, which is the hill the university is built on. Upon this hill, the Founder, Dr. Clement Chang has also built a “legend”—the success of Tamkang University. Thus, the spirit of Five-Tiger Hill, the five brave tigers, has become the spirit of the university. In the past 56 years, Tamkang has strengthened itself as a bastion of academic research and produced over 200,000 brilliant students, who have scattered all over the world, doing what they can to contribute to the society they are living in. Any future TKU student should be proud of this legend and will carry on this brilliance even to a higher level. Yes, to go to a higher level has become TKU’s culture. Today, with the completion of the Gymnasium, TKU as well as its graduates have indeed come a full circle—from the 132 steps on the Ke Nan Step (this name indicate its steepness) leading to the entrance of the university to the 64 steps leading to the Gymnasium where all graduation ceremonies will be held. The message is loud and clear to all—there is only one way from the beginning to the end at Tamkang and that is "up". (~ Ying-hsueh Hu )

UPDATE： 2010/09/27 CLICKS： 1167 DOWNLOADS：