． Enlivening space of art and literature, uplifting humanitarian ambience
Most of the department buildings of the College of Liberal Arts are located in beautifully elegant spaces on campus. They are surrounded by ancient heritages or they are ancient heritage themselves. People take a stroll, recreate, meditate and whisper to themselves on this parkland. From the heritage group on the east to the road of serenity of on the west, it is being praised as the Avenue of Humanity. It can be compared to the Avenue of Philosophy in Kyoto, internalizing the beauty of liberal arts.
Budgets and expenditures are instilled into the renovation of teaching spaces. An inter-collegiate mechanism of conjuring expertise in collaboration and experimenting innovations in humanistic teaching has been in place. Take for examples, the renovation of the Historical Artifacts Museum by Cheng Kung Lake has made it a space for multiple activities like teaching, lecturing, panel discussions, exhibitions and cultural / artistic performances on campus. The spatial extension from the museum to the surrounding area of the College of Liberal Arts echoes the way we expand the “Avenue of Humanity” to the entire campus, to Tainan City, and eventually to a much greater area, and see how closely all these related teaching activities and cultural, artistic activities are connected and how the University and the City of Tainan can stimulate each other and create parks of splendor.
． Integration of Teaching Resources
It’s undeniable that higher education is facing the problem of shrinking resources. Unlike before, when there were relatively stable budget and number of faculty and staff, nowadays, the entire generation has fewer offspring, and the structure of faculty and staff, as well as the contents of teaching, has to be changed. Therefore, readjusting teaching resources, rethinking and planning according to the new pulse of the society are the only ways we can plan and find a new vision and a new opportunity toward the future. Realizing the interdisciplinary, multiple practicality that meet the demands of the society so as to draw more attention of students from domestic and abroad, is the new challenge faced by the entire faculty of all departments in the college. Interdisciplinary collaboration, integration of teaching resources is an overturning mode we cannot avoid as we march into the future.
．Concentration of research energy
The research energy and characteristics of the college comes from the overall performance of all departments and units. How research manpower can be integrated that helps develop on all research issues, obtaining research budget and expenditures … these are the focal points of self-positioning and direction of development the College of Liberal Arts.
Integrating faculty members of similar expertise to form research groups in conducting research and discussion is necessary for the College of Liberal Arts. In view of the overlapping and crisscrossed researches, take for examples, Eastern Asia, Southeastern Asia, Oceanic culture and trade, religion, gender, drama, etc. The College of Liberal Arts actively and aggressively seeks to integrate research energy, develop research issues and obtaining budget for domestic and international collaboration. We aim to publish international journal to increase interaction and visibility of international issues.
．Promoting Internationalization as well as Domestic and International Collaboration
To further consolidate collaboration among College of Liberal Arts and academic institutions from domestic and abroad, as well as boosting internationalization, Taiwan Museum of Literature, Taiwan Museum of History, International Center for Tainan Area Humanities and Social Science Research, Chi-Mei Museum and other domestic research institutions, even the south branch of the Palace Museum and Academia Sinica, all work together in academic collaboration. We established a collaborative foundation in 1996. To date, it has signed academic collaborations with more than a dozen universities from domestic and abroad. MOUs have been signed for the purposes of student exchange, faculty exchange, publication of research papers and joint conferences. Together we hope to have more solid and active exchange with universities in nearby Asian countries and regions like Okinawa, Kagoshima, Nagasaki the Philippines Indonesia Thailand, etc., so that we can build the most powerful research team in liberal arts in Asia and to further develop our potentials in international research issues.