Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange

6 The Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation 2010-2011 Annual Report 7
in successfully managing the Foundation’s endowment during the current period of global economic
instability, especially debt crisis in European countries, unstable currencies, and an volatile stock
market.
3. Finance Committee
The Finance Committee, which consists of three Board members (Professor Lawrence Lau, former
Vice-Chancellor of The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Dr. Morris Chang of the Taiwan
Semiconductor Manufacturing Company; and Dr. Douglas Hsu, Chairman of the Far Eastern Group)
met on December 18, 2010. President Yun-han Chu and Vice-President Gang Shyy reported to the
Finance Committee on the Foundation’s finances and investments. On May 21, 2011, the Finance
Committee held another meeting to discuss investment strategies and mechanisms. Douglas Hsu
commented that the Foundation’s financial management performance last year was fairly good, but
below the average rate of return over the past six years of over 8%. He also suggested applying for
investments in private equity to be approved by the Ministry of Education, with the investment limit
up to 10% of the fund. Private equity should be suitable for the Foundation because the payout ratio
of the fund is low enough so that the portfolio can contain some illiquid but high-return potential
asset classes, also paying attention to an assessment in terms of the variation of U.S. and Chinese
currencies.
II. Activities of the Foundation
1. Review Committees
In accordance with its charter, the Foundation has established review committees for each of its
four regions of operation: American, European, Domestic, and Asia-Pacific. The President of the
Foundation chairs the review committee meetings, but takes no part in evaluating the applications.
Service on these committees is three years per term, with roughly one third of the committee
members rotating at the end of each term.
(1) The American Review Committee is composed of 16 distinguished scholars and professors
from American academic institutions. In 2011, the Committee met on March 25-27 in
Pittsburgh to evaluate applications received by the Foundation’s North American regional
office.
(2) The European Review Committee is composed of 10 eminent scholars possessing an
exceptional understanding of European Sinology. The committee met on April 16, 2011 at
Kinmen to evaluate applications from the European region.
(3) The Domestic Review Committee consists of 13 professors who evaluate all applications
from universities and research institutes in the Domestic Region, as well as doctoral
Dissertation Fellowship applications from ROC graduate students based in Europe,
America and the Asia-Pacific region. This year’s meeting took place in Taipei on April 30,
2011.
Members of the Asia-Pacific Review Committee
(4) The Asia-Pacific Review Committee consists of 9 distinguished scholars familiar
with the region’s scholarly community. This committee is responsible for evaluating
applications from Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, Japan, and Korea. This year,
the Committee’s meeting was held on April 17, 2011 at Kinmen.
2. Overseas Sinological Centers
(1) The Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation International Sinological Centre at Charles University
(CCK-ISC)
The Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation International Sinological Centre at Charles University
(CCK-ISC) was established in 1998 to foster the tradition of Sinological studies in the Czech
Republic, while simultaneously enriching research resources in Sinology for East European
scholars. The programs that the Centre sponsors include lectures, seminars, conferences,
travel grants, and publication subsidies. Professor Olga Lomová served her third term as
Director. This year’s activities included:
A. Visiting Professors
During the past year, the Centre hosted four professors giving intensive courses dealing
with Chinese history and Chinese literature. On April 4-7, 2011, Professor Catherine Jami
(Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CNRS) conducted a series of lectures
entitled “The Sciences in Late Imperial China: Tradition and Circulation.” Professor Jami’s
four lectures offered an introduction to issues in the history of science in China, focusing
mainly on the late imperial period. On March 14-April 29, Professor Yu Tsai (National
Taiwan University) also delivered a series of four lectures. The main purpose of the visit