Classes at NTU in Hakka studies see higher enrollment

Learning Hakka culture and the relationship between Taiwanese and Hakka cultures and arts have become popular subjects among students at National Taiwan University (NTU).

In only the second semester of the three-hour-per-week elective course, nearly 400 students were trying to attend the class, said Chiu Jung-chu (邱榮舉), director of the NTU Hakka Research Center.

"Development of Taiwanese and Hakka cultures and arts" is presently one of the most popular elective courses with the university's students, Chiu said.

To maintain the quality of the course that began in the middle of last month, Chiu said his center had "discouraged" some students from enrolling to keep the class size to 300.

Only students registered for the first NTU elective course on Hakka culture and history last fall, a number that increased to 39 -- far below the target -- after a bulletin board system publicity campaign was launched.

Still, after a series of promotional and publicity drives, including a "teaching assistant training workshop," the course managed to attract 113 students, mostly from engineering and science departments.

Chiu the "sudden surge" in student registration this semester mainly to the change in "recruiting strategies" -- including setting up a Web site chat room for students to discuss the course and the availability of "field trips" to Hakka communities.

A student surnamed Chang, a sophomore majoring in chemical engineering who is not a Hakka, said he chose the course simply because it was worth three course credits and was "easy to pass."

There are about 5 million Hakkas in Taiwan.