大學成功之道

張一飛

寫此文筆者冒大不韙之名。大學成功談何容易﹐天時﹐地利﹐人和﹐各種條件再加上多位有為有志者多年來的領導方能使一個大學走向成功之路。讀此文者會期待一個成功的大學校長來寫他或她的經驗談﹐再提出什麼是大學成功之道。筆者未曾擔任過大學校長當然無法寫出任何親身經驗談﹐又有何德何能來評論此大學成功之道。 但是匹夫讀過大學﹐教過大學﹐做過研究和擔任過大學學務及研究的行政工作也倒有些管見﹐再加上數度參與自己子女與他人學子選和上大學的過程﹐也從學生的觀點了解了些他們對好大學的看法。再說到某一個大學的前程與展望﹐那是任何校友都應有的匹夫之責。

現在不論先進或開發中國家都在加強教育﹐尤以大學教育為人才培養及國家經濟之本﹐臺灣自不例外。當今正直臺灣幾所大學(包括成功大學)立下宏願要晉昇為世界一流大學之際﹐所以身為成功大學的校友也就不避諱來談談這個萬億經費的大題目了。筆者對此題目分以雙管而下﹐此篇為大學成功之道﹐另篇為成功大學之道﹐但兩文並非雙管之見﹐兩者相關相連。此文目的在拋磚引玉以得大學成功之道﹐另文在求幫助成功大學加速邁進世界一流大學之林。

大學成功之道

孫子兵法是一部取勝的哲學大典﹐其首篇是計篇。筆者認為大學成功之道在於計在於謀。要達到大學成功之目標(取勝)﹐必須要有明確的定義﹐策略﹐計劃和時程表。首先我們要把成功作個定義﹐也就是什麼是成功的大學? 如何才算是一個成功的大學? 這個定義多少會見仁見智有不同的想法﹐有了定義再做計劃再訂時間表才會有成就。這是謀略的作法﹐大學成功之道在於有謀略。下面就先談此謀道。

(A) 謀道

避免細節的爭論﹐我們就取一個大家可以公認的定義來出發: 大學成功的定義和目標是"成為一所世界一流的大學"。世界一流的大學是一所學生和教授都嚮往和大眾都公認的好大學。要達到此目標不是一年兩年或一任兩任校長即可達到的。一所好大學是要由歷史來評判的﹐所以大學教育領導者必須要本著做'大事'而不是做'好人'的心態向歷史作交代。一個大學必須要有審密的策略﹐長期的計劃和可勘查的時程表才能成為一所世界一流的大學。所以一個大學必須設定一個謀道委員會﹐其任務是:

(I) 廣集眾議及思考大學成功之謀道: 討論和擬訂策略﹐計劃和時程表。

(II) 收集未來適當校長及高級行政人員名冊﹐以能貫徹計劃和達成使命。

(III)每年一度作謀道考核并發表大學的未來十年景觀以得共識并求眾志成城。

(IV) 監督評核謀道任何計劃的實踐。

謀道委員會是大學的智囊團﹐純粹為邁向大學成功之道而設。謀道委員會委員人選可以不同任期由董事會聘請(例如﹐二﹐四﹐六年任期﹐五位(2﹐2﹐1)或七位(3﹐2﹐2)委員﹐可連任但不可超過十二年)﹐以求新陳代謝之功。每年開會兩次以配合學校日曆以六﹐一月為宜。

謀道委員會當附設在董事會之下﹐並向其負責。任何人都可以向謀道委員會進言以助其達到目的。接下去筆者就以一個個人的身份在策略﹐計劃和時程表上向一個假想的大學謀道委員會作一建言。筆者認為在打造一個世界一流大學之目標上﹐一個大學應分兩道併行: 一為錢道﹐一為心道。在此先作一骨架的說明﹐并舉例﹐另文成功大學之道中再加實例闡述。

(B) 錢道

錢道顧名思義就是籌錢用錢之道來打造一個大學向成功的道路上邁進。錢道說起來容易做起來可不容易﹐可是錢道有脈可循﹐世界上有名的好大學都是在錢道上找到了籌錢的門路和用錢的方法。其實在大學成功之道上﹐籌錢和用錢是有密切相連的關係地。籌錢首先要師出有名﹐名要定義在用錢得宜得益上。用錢得益可是未來的也可是過去的。可是過去的成績要比未來的諾言有更大的說服力﹐比方說籌募獎學金基金﹐舉一個大學獎學金受惠者的成功實例和學校如何培養優秀學生的措施是比較有效的。用錢得宜得益是大學領導者的大挑戰﹐常常會有息事寧人或大家分粥的作法﹐而犧牲了大學的目標。這就是為何一個大學領導者要本著做大事的精神來說服大家而達到用錢得宜得益的目的。

錢道上的措施可由時程表上分為近程和遠程來看﹐一般來說用小籌大﹐用近籌遠﹐入大於出才能達成謀道的策略。

(I) 近程

近程該作和可以做到的項目很多因大學性質和規模來定。舉例說: 文宣工作﹐成立籌募大學基金會﹐建立募款電子檔案(包括募捐對像﹐校友分級分系通訊名冊﹐學生和其家長通訊名冊﹐歷屆畢業生家長通訊名冊﹐等等)﹐高薪聘請名師﹐增加購買儀器設備﹐集中挑選主辦大型學術會議﹐鼓勵校內校際交流﹐與國際一流大學交換學者﹐輔助促進校友與母校聯繫﹐研辦分類各種籌錢用錢項目及其近遠程時間表等等。

(II) 遠程

遠程該作的項目更多﹐但常會被近程項目阻撓。大學領導者當有遠程眼光與謀道委員會合作不要只做自己一任內能完成的事。遠程的錢道項目最重要的是如何建立大學的基金﹐以求能夠在經營上能獨立自主。其他項目應以學校實際環境和謀道策略而定。比如說﹐ 學校的建設: 系館增建﹐研究中心﹐視聽圖書館﹐教職員學生宿舍﹐餐廳﹐運動場地和設施等等; 學校的環保: 綠化藍圖﹐遠程美化工作﹐現代化能源設備等等; 吸收好學生: 捐助中小學優良學生獎學金之類。

學校自營賓館是一件遠程該作的項目﹐專門為學校訪客﹐校友﹐及外地來的學習班而設﹐以禮賓服務為主但要能為學校基金會營利。賓館是世界一流大學的重要標誌﹐不但要在本校校地設立而且要在外地設立﹐可命名為大學校親友會館。親者為現有學生及校友的家長﹐友者為校友及學校的榮譽朋友(凡是對大學有貢獻的﹐學校該贈與榮譽朋友名義和贈送校親友會館證)。會館不但是用來開會聯誼和方便學校師生與校親友及外界溝通﹐其一重要的使命是造成一流大學的形像。外地的校親友會館可以按謀略選擇地方開始﹐例如紐約﹐三番市﹐基隆陂可先行創立以資大學的校親友使用。一旦有了基礎即可與其它一流大學的會館簽約合作。

在錢道上籌錢和用錢不但是有密切地相連關係﹐而且是本末因果相循互動的。世界上幾乎沒有一所大學不在募捐籌錢﹐但是成效如何就大有區別了。一個大學的任何作為和活動幾乎都是籌錢的機會﹐譬如以聘請名師即可向企業界募捐教授講座基金﹐選辦學術會議就可邀請工商行業贊助者捐錢。大學裡各類建設都是捐款名目﹐可是做起來要考慮周密要求源源不斷而不能斷了源頭。所以 謀道委員會在錢道上的策略﹐計劃和時程表是很重要的。

(C) 心道

心道顧名思義是攻心的策略﹐是精神上的工作來打造一個大學向成功的道路上邁進。 心道上的作為不像錢道上的作為容易顯見﹐心道也不像錢道那麼樣容易有脈可循﹐但是它的作用可是很大的。一個大學的成功最終還是靠心道上的成功。可慶幸的是中華傳統文化中有豐富的教育心道。教育家和大學領導者都會有些心得﹐大家切磋一下就能提出策略和計劃﹐倒是在執行上要有耐心和恆心。心道上的措施也可以分為近程和遠程來看。

(I) 近程

大學存在的目的是教學和研究。培養好的教授是心道上首要的工作﹐也是立即要做的工作。培養教授可分為教學上和研究上兩面來作。在教學上要盡心盡力鼓勵和表揚績優教師﹐可邀請畢業生和校友來印證﹐學校應當向業界和校友募捐成立名師講座以表揚現任教師(與紀念已故教師有別)﹐以此促成教師﹐學生及業界對大學的向心與合心力。獎勵好的教授﹐學校應配搭好的學生做其助教﹐這可兼收鼓勵好師生和培訓下一代好老師的功能。

在研究上﹐大學應鼓勵自由發展及培養最佳研究環境。這裡說的是心理環境﹐物理環境固然重要﹐教授學生對做研究的心態尤其重要。做研究是要有競爭心的﹐不分區別大鍋分粥來運用研究經費是不公平的。 有人會說平分是公平的﹐但以收到研究成效來說一個大學必須要有學術重點﹐鍥而不捨才能走上頂尖大學之道。走上頂尖大學之道之後﹐自然地研究工作就會橫向平均發展了。大學領導者該作的是盡力獎勵校內互助互惠及越校合作合成﹐以使研究經費發揮最大成效。好的研究教授應當配搭好的學生做其研究助教﹐以資鼓勵并收到培養研究生和收到優秀研究成果之功。

(II) 遠程

心道的施行需要耐心﹐遠程的心道更是要耐心加恆心來做。真誠愛護學生是大學成功之道的原動力﹐遵守此原則大學才能成功。供給最佳學習環境﹐像前面錢道說的視聽圖書館﹐教職員學生宿舍﹐餐廳是必要的﹐但更重要的是要培養師生感情。大學領導者應當鼓勵教授加入并輔導學生課外活動﹐鼓勵學生組織課外活動團體。譬如說一個理工醫為強的大學就應當在人文﹐藝術﹐文化﹐體育各方面多提倡學生課外活動團體﹐并要求它們能夠建立長久的名聲一代一代傳承。它們的活動可以對社會有影響和產生一流大學的印象。

提高學生素質吸收優良學生是一件遠程心道工作。籌募大學學生獎學金是一流大學都在做的﹐但獎學金的用法倒是要深謀遠慮地。譬如說提出一個全程獎學金方案﹐從大一到博士學位全額獎學金給特優學生以爭取和鼓勵好學生。訂立獎學金推薦優良學生以外讀學生身份去其他一流大學就讀一年﹐以達到宣揚本校和吸收他校長處的作用。另外也可訂立專對國際名校優良畢業生的獎學金方案﹐來多吸收國際學生攻讀碩士學位和博士學位以促進大學國際化。國際優良畢業生和本校優良學生同學及同做研究﹐不但互惠而且容易使國際學界對本校改觀。有程度高的學生和研究生才能產生程度高的學習和研究結果﹐也才能提高和促進教授的研究興趣和成果。

前面說過﹐打造一個大學成功是不容易地﹐也無法有一定的公式來進行。此文所言只是一個骨架和一些例子﹐尚可舉的例子有佷多佷多﹐要以各校客觀情況來看為宜。筆者將以另篇用成功大學為例再為細說。在此總結: 大學成功之道在於謀道。謀道可以分從錢道和心道來看﹐整個謀略計劃是要靠眾志成城的。一個有志成功的大學必須成立一個謀道委員會來集合大家的意見達成共識﹐鍥而不捨認真執行才能走上成功之道。要說執行當然要在其位者能虛心探討﹐廣求印證。教育是百年樹人的事﹐辦好一個成功的大學又豈是一二任校長的事﹐那是所有教職師生要共同努力的事﹐但是大家的努力是要有好的領導和不斷繼續的領導人。所以﹐以上所言是一個長期的建議﹐希望大家有心為大學努力貢獻的人一齊共同切磋琢磨大學成功之道。

註: 此文作者曾經服務于美國IBM華森研究中心資深經理及擔任過美國紐約科技大學教授﹐研發院長﹐分校校長并曾應聘為新加坡大學開創首座系統科學研究院。早于一九九三年以校友身份向成大校長進言﹐并於二OO一年應文化大學之邀發表二十一世紀促進大學工程教育之道。近年來曾兩度被紐約成大校友提名應選師範大學及成功大學校長。現任紐約州威郡首模市教育學區教育委員。

Please see next article in English

NCKU’s Road to Success (成功大學之道)

Ifay Chang, 1963 EE (張一飛)

Creating and maintaining a world-class university is a noble mission but it is an extremely difficult task and there is no set formula to follow. In a previous article written in Chinese, 大學成功之道 (Road for University to Succeed), I have opined ('shamelessly') to comment on some general principles for a university to strive to become a successful first-rate university. That bold action was triggered by my sincere desire to think about my alma mater, Cheng Kung University’s (NCKU) future, as she is striving for becoming a world-class university. In this article, I again boldly write down my thoughts for whatever it is worth and hope it will stimulate other alumni to share their thoughts; so collectively we will benefit our alma mater.

I have used Chinese headings in the paragraphs below since they were triggered while I was writing the previous Chinese article. However, I am switching to English in this article since I have realized that my pin-yin typing skill is simply too counter-productive in conveying my thoughts. So I apologize to my readers who are forced to go through this language change.

大學成功之道與成功大學之道 ( Road To A Successful First-Rate University and NCKU's Road to Become A Successful First-Rate University)

I thought in my previous article, if there was such a road to success, it would be chartered by a good strategy, plan and execution. Hence I called for establishing a 'strategy organization' (謀道委員會) within the university for the sole purpose of plotting a winning strategy (謀道) for her to strive to become a world-class university. In this winning strategy, it must have absorbed many good ideas (proposed or flushed out) and have rallied a broad base support from all stake-holders of the university, that include faculty, staff, students, parents, alumni and friends of the university. To accomplish this, the university leadership and the 'strategy organization' must listen to all inputs that are offered to help the university to achieve her goal. The 'Money Road' (錢道) and the 'Mind Road' (心道) discussed in the previous article will be referred to in this article.

My previous article and this one are simply written as one input from one alumnus. I am sure there will be more to come which will be beneficial to our alma meta. I am merely focusing on a few specific points for now and I hope other discussions will surface once idea exchanges are started.

南北道與北南道 (Broadening the Path of North to South Versus South to North)

I am referring North as Taipei. Taipei has the geographical and population advantage, being the location of the central government and nearest city to the Taipei International Airport. There are more businesses and universities there hence more talents in the North. Tainan city is in a disadvantageous position in South Taiwan and so is NCKU situated in Tainan. It was natural Northern Taiwan had dominated almost everything in the past half century. Although, the central government has a desire to accelerate the development in the South, However, Cheng Kung University must carve out its own path to success not waiting for the Southern Regional Development to mature. In fact, it is my opinion that the success of the Southern Regional Development program depends on the success of NCKU in becoming a world-class university. So the burden is really on NCKU.

As a strategy, NCKU must broaden the road from North to South to accommodate more traffic from North to South than the flow of traffic currently overwhelmingly from South to North. Here I am not talking about the highway (although the South-bound freeway needs to be improved), I am referring to people flow, business flow and visitor flow, especially intellectuals. Although, this is a chicken and egg situation, NCKU must find ways to hatch the egg. So, how can NCKU improve the flow from North to her? Here, both 'Money Road' (錢道) and 'Mind Road' (心道) must be explored.

As part of 'Money Road' strategy and task, NCKU must do more PR and promotion to draw the flow to her and the South from the North. For example, from Taipei railroad station all the way to Tainan station, NCKU must invest to display clear bi-lingual direction signs to lead people easily to NCKU. Similarly on the Freeway, frequent signs in bi-lingual language pointing to NCKU's direction should be installed. Proper signs for NCKU should also be clearly established in the airports as well. This seems to be a small matter but it is symbol for attitude. This investment will go a long way to establish NCKU to be recognized as a first-rate university. In fact, NCKU van or bus should be available at the railroad station and airport to bring NCKU's visitors and return staff to campus with regular schedule with no charge or a minimum charge. The purpose is to make people not only recognize NCKU but realize it is easy to visit NCKU and do business with NCKU. These visitors include scholars, businessmen, parents of NCKU students and of course the NCKU faculty, staff, alumni and prospective high school and college students. The attitude must be NCKU welcomes visitors and is open for comparison.

The university must make effort to attract more international and national academic, cultural and business conferences to be held on NCKU campuses. This will require some infrastructure which will be discussed in paragraphs below. The above PR investment along with the fact that NCKU campus is more spacious, parking is more convenient compared to Taipei and accommodations are more hospitable can help NCKU to increase the flow from North to South.

As a university striving for world-class status, NCKU must be mindful of her image. Many things should be done as part of 'Mind Road'. For example, local dialect should be discouraged on campus. Mandarin should be emphasized on campus. The university must cultivate her faculty and students to have a world-class university attitude and behavior. On campus, Most faculty and students probably are bi-lingual (that is Mandarin and English); they should be encouraged rather than discouraged in conferences, meetings and classrooms. All university road signs and buildings signs should have English (perhaps this may be already done). NCKU should encourage students and faculty to serve as bilingual interpreters whenever occasions call for, for example, in hosting international visitors.

Perhaps CKU has already been aware of the need to broaden the road from 'North to South', the simple example discussed above merely indicate the serious underlying issue which is a strategic one. Under the guidance of the 'Strategy Organization' (謀道委員會), NCKU can continuously address this issue until NCKU succeed and overcome this issue.

東西道與環球道(East and West Versus Around the World)

The industrial and cultural advancement of the West in the last century owe a lot to their successful universities. Naturally, from university interaction point of view, the road has always been East to West. The students in the East would prefer to go to the western universities for further studies; some even started from undergraduate. The faculty and the colleges are all learning from the western colleges from curriculum to infrastructure to organization. NCKU had a collaboration program with Perdue University which was beneficial. However, turning into the new century, things have changed, especially regarding Taiwan's universities. The number of universities have increased and the qualities have improved. The graduate programs have grown significantly. The college education cost in Taiwan is very low relative to the GDP whereas the cost of education in Western universities especially in US universities have increased faster than their cost of living hence making it unattractive for foreign students to attend US universities.

Economically, Taiwan is now able to put more dollars into college education. The fact NCKU is selected as a target university to strive for becoming a world-class university speaks volumes of the government's policy in recognizing the dependency of work force productivity and competitiveness on university education. Now NCKU is mandated to accelerate herself to the world arena of superior university education, what should NCKU do then? First, NCKU must recognize the university interaction is no longer one way from East to West rather it has become a global interaction around the world. This means that NCKU can play a significant role in the world arena by being a key link around the world. The university can formulate a knowledge interaction model (that has already been functioning in global commerce) by considering herself as a significant knowledge trade center, West to East and East to West. Of course there are competitions such as Tokyo University in Japan, many elite universities in Mainland China, Hong Kong University, Singapore University etc etc. However, NCKU can examine its strength and potential to determine what to absorb and export knowledge and technology both ways along the identifiable global belt ways. For instance, absorbing in the biotechnology area and exporting in the fishery farming area is an example fits perfectly in this model. However, more must be explored and promoted in the entire university. This is a challenge on the university leaders.

The above point deserves a little more emphasis. Around the world traveling may someday change to the point by rendering the concept of 'round trip ticket' obsolete, instead adopting the term 'world loop ticket' which flies a particular orbit around the earth with faster and more fuel efficient planes perhaps much less cost. (It is aeronautically and energy efficient by flying with the Earth wind! The seaman recognized that, it is time for airpilots to recognize that.) So it may be wise to strategically select the world-class universities which align with Taiwan along a few Earth loops to cooperate with. In the same token, it may be wise to establish NCKU alumni buildings (成大校親友會館 as part of 'Money Road' project) along the stops of the 'loop ticket'. Therefore, what this story is implying is that it is important to select partners for NCKU, don't just pick randomly.

校友道(Road for Alumni)

If university is a family, then alumni are the big brothers and sisters graduated and left the family. As a family they should never be forgotten. It is almost a golden rule that every successful university has a strong alumni body, well organized and connected to their alma mater. The US Ivy League Schools are notorious for that. Therefore, it makes perfect sense for NCKU to learn the ropes from some of the successful alumni programs. Some of the universities involve their alumni from strategic planning to executing major projects. Alumni's support is not always about donations. Alumni can be NCKU's ambassador to the world, speaking about NCKU news and new achievements. They can be promoters of the university in soliciting prospective students and answering questions. They can be mentors of current students providing real world assessment. They can be interviewers meeting with prospective faculty and student applicants giving their trustworthy opinions. They can be spokesman or spokeswoman for a department or a college in a professional organization surrogating for a busy faculty. Of course they can be very effective fund raisers if they were sold on its cause. The key is NCKU must know how to unite them and encourage them to help the university. Invite them to speak and keep an open mind even there is obvious obstacles for implementation. In my opinion, Alumni can be the most effective change agent if the university leaders are willing to listen to them.

As discussed in my previous article, alumni should be invited to provide input to the 'strategic organization' (謀道委員會), even to serve in that organization. Alumni can be organized to help any of the 'Money Road' (錢道) projects or the 'Mind Road' (心道) projects. The important thing is to build a complete and updated database on alumni so they can be properly informed and timely invited to participate in university affairs. This database plus student and parents database are the treasure of the university.

Nurturing alumni is a long term commitment requiring NCKU to commit resources to the effort. Returns on investment can be huge as evidenced by many successful world-class universities. NCKU must think big and seriously in dealing with alumni. NCKU must use alumni in whichever way to get involved with the university especially in dealing with alumni affairs.

創新道(New Road)

As an alumnus, I am happy that NCKU is inspired to become a world-class university. Chinese has a saying: education is like nurturing a tree to grow to one hundred years old, meaning it is a long and taxing process. NCKU must recognize that her mandate is not achievable in a few years or one or two terms of the Presidency. If NCKU desires to accelerate the process, then the burden is heavy on the 'Strategic Organization' (謀道委員會). NCKU must carve out a new road that can bring her to the world-class university arena.

This new road must have a theme that is leveraging on the existing strength of the university and predicating on a projected course to success. This requires serious soul searching and it is the biggest challenge to the 'Strategic organization' and the university leaders.

To kick the ball rolling, I will venture to suggest a not-yet-baked idea as a theme road for NCKU to success. What if NCKU is destined to become the world's strongest or most advanced Environmental Science and Engineering university in the broadest sense (so to include all departments and colleges if possible)? What if the university sets a goal to transform her campus to be the world's greenest (not political color) or first-rate environmentally friendly campus? What if NCKU is aiming to be a most effectively landscaped campus, most energy efficient, newest recycle technology employed, most effective health maintenance program and services offered and above all the most productive research and development in all aspects of human living environment, culturally and physically? What if the university can rally all colleges and departments to direct their research and teaching with this theme on their high priority list? Just what if the theme is carried out for 5, 10, 15 or more years? Will NCKU be able to carve out a new road to become a unique first-rate university in the world?!

In closing, I just want to say that the above is my personal opinion and the purpose of these articles are intended to draw NCKU colleagues and alumni to think about our university's mandate. I hope with more people willing to help NCKU and expressing their opinion, NCKU will then get the benefit and succeed in her quest in due time.

October 29 , 2008