National Taiwan University

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Introduction

　The College of Liberal Arts has its origin in the Division of Arts and Political Science of the Taihoku Imperial University during the Japanese Occupation. After the Retrocession of Taiwan to China in 1945, the "Division" was divided into two colleges, namely, the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Law. The College of Liberal Arts then had only three departments: Chinese Literature, History, and Philosophy. Since 1947, the College has entered into a period of gradual expansion and reformation. Three additional departments, Foreign Literature, Archaeology and Anthropology, and Library Science, were inaugurated respectively in 1947, 1949 and 1961. In 1955, the Department of Foreign Literature was renamed the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. In 1982, the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology was renamed the Department of Anthropology. In 1997, the Departrnent of Library Science was renamed the Department of Library and Information Science. Students enrolled in all departments of the College are required to complete a four-year program of studies and are conferred the degree of Bachelor of Arts upon graduation.
　The first graduate program of the college, the Graduate Institute of Humanities, was established in 1949. Seven years later, the second semester of the academic year 1956, it was divided into four graduate institutes leading to Master's degree: the Graduate Institutes of Chinese Literature, History, Philosophy, and Archaeology and Anthropology. The Graduate Institutes of Foreign Languages and Literatures and Library Science were subsequently added to the College in 1966 and 1980. The Graduate Institute of History had two fields of studies: general history and contemporary history. These two fields were merged into one in 1988. Ph.D programs were introduced first in Chinese Literature and in History in 1967, and then in Comparative Literature and in Philosophy in 1970 and 1980 respectively. Full-time graduate students are required to remain in residence for a minimum of two years for the Master's degree, and three years for the Ph.D. The Ph.D. Program in the Graduate Institute of Library Science was added in 1989. The Art History Division of the Graduate Institute of History was subsequently made independent as the Graduate Institute of Art History. The Japanese Department and the Graduate Institute of Linguistics were added in 1994, followed by the Graduate Institute of Theater Studies in the fall of 1995. The maximum period of candidature for an MA candidate to earn his/her degree is four years; for the doctoral candidate, six. The Graduate Institute of Musicology, which began instruction in the fall of 1996, is the newest addition to the College.
　From 1976, the Language Laboratory of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures was reorganized as the College's Audio-visual Center. In addition to providing language teaching facilities, it collects and provides audio-visual teaching aids for a variety of courses and subjects. The Language Center of the College was established in 1981 for the purpose of strengthening the University's language education extension program, offering courses both in Chinese and Foreign Languages. In 1997, the College took over the Inter-University Board for Chinese Language Studies from Stanford University. After 1999, it was renamed the International Chinese Language Program and was subordinated to the Language Center.
　The College has a sizable collection in the Main Library. Statistics compiled at 31 May, 2001 show a total of 452,237 volumes, of which 302,016 are in Chinese and Japanese, and 150,221 in Western languages.
　Major publications of the College, including journals and book series, are: Studies in Contemporary Humanities, Bulletin of the Department of Chinese Literature, Studies in Language and Literature, Chungwai Literary Monthly, Bulletin of the Department of History, Bulletin of the Department of Anthropology, History and Chinese Literature Series, Philosophical Review, Journal of Library Science, Studies in Chinese Literature, and Taida Journal of Art History.
　The study of humanities is in decline today in a society whose direction and development is both heralded and dictated by technology. As a result, people are becoming more and more materialistic. It is our belief that, to stem this downward spiral and to re-establish proper social values, the study of humanities must be elevated to play a critical role in higher education. Based on this belief, our college has been actively promoting the concept of "Campus of Humanities" since 1995. This "Campus" will consist of three colleges: the current College of Liberal Arts, and two other as-yet-to-be-founded colleges, the College of Fine Arts and the College of Foreign Languages and Literatures. We would like to see the realization of this idea at the beginning of the 21 century so as to make National Taiwan University a more complete university with a true humanistic perspective, which will, in turn, have a positive influence on our society.