TAIPEI, Taiwan -- China Airlines (CAL, 中華航空) formally signed into effect an industry-university cooperation program with Tamkang University (TKU, 淡江大學) on Tuesday, introducing a civil aviation curriculum with course credits available. CAL said the classes will be instructed by professionals, including CAL's pilots, in order to build a comprehensive training environment. Students interested in the aviation industry will have the opportunity to obtain in-depth understanding of civil aviation practices. The goal of the program is to foster first-class aviation talent in Taiwan. Furthermore, CAL also held the first preliminary examination for pilots in training at TKU on Tuesday. Eligible students with TOEIC scores of 650 or more participated in an on-campus written test with relevant procedures organized according to CAL pilot recruitment provisions. CAL said that TKU has an aerospace-related department and has cultivated many excellent aerospace personnel. Thus, CAL chose TKU as a partner to promote their first civil aviation curriculum. CAL chairman Sun Hung-hsiang (孫洪祥) and TKU president Flora Chia-I Chang (張家宜) signed the “strategic cooperation framework for aviation talent cultivation” memorandum yesterday. The civil aviation credit curriculum will be introduced in the first semester of 2014, incorporating core aerospace department classes and school of business management courses, and will add practical subjects recommended by CAL. At the same time, CAL pilots and aviation management instructors will jointly hold “CAL aviation practice seminars” to share aviation industry practices and careers with students face to face. CAL is committed to the long-term promotion of diverse industry-university cooperation programs in the fields of air travel, maintenance, freight services and tourism management. Since 2012, the company has gradually signed cooperation agreements with nearly ten colleges and universities, including National Taipei University of Technology (台北科技大學), TKU, Feng Chia University (逢甲大學) and National Taiwan Normal University (台灣師範大學), to provide students with aircraft repair internship opportunities, to organize culinary contests to inspire students to prepare creative dishes as well as to guide school departments in setting up internship travel agencies and follow-up operations consultancies.