History of Christ’s College Taipei
Christ's College was founded in 1959 by Dr. James R. Graham Ⅲ. Dr. Graham’s parents, Jimmy and Sophie Graham served as missionaries in China from 1889 to 1940, so Dr. Graham grew up in China. After attending Hampden-Sydney college in America, he felt the call to return to China as a missionary to help the people he loved so deeply. Dr. Graham was a strong believer in Christian education and saw the need for a college in Taiwan based on Christian foundations. In 1952, Dr. Graham began itinerating across the United States and succeeded in founding the Free China Christian College Association (FCCCA) and registered it in the State of California in September 1959. Later that year, he purchased land in Kuandu and started Christ's College with a four- year Christian Liberal Arts College program. The campus of Christ's College is situated on a beautiful plateau commanding a view of the Tamsui River and the Goddess of Mercy mountain range.
Dr. Graham also founded the Free China Foundation of Taipei County (which is now the Free China Foundation of New Taipei City) the legal non-profit foundation that controls Christ’s College and registered it with the Taipei County Government on September 18th, 1961. In the spring of 1966, the Ministry of the Interior on Taiwan recognized Christ's College as a religious institution and registered in the school (#205648), thereby officially sanctioning the school. Christ’s College came under the auspices of Presbyterian Church in America’s Mission to the World in 1977. In May 2012 Christ’s College was registered with the Ministry of Education making it the first government recognized Christian liberal arts college in Taiwan.
Christ’s College has been an affiliate member of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) since 1999. Also in 1999, Christ's College began to cooperate with CCCU member schools to establish cooperative master degree programs; setting up a cooperative MBA Program with Dallas Baptist University in 1999, a cooperative M.A./TESOL Program with Azusa Pacific University in 2001 and a cooperative M.A./Mass Communication Program with Regent University in 2004. The college also became a founding member of the Alliance of Christian Colleges and Universities In Taiwan (TaiCUCA) in 2006 and a member of the International Association for the Promotion of Christian Higher Education (IAPCHE) in 2008.
Christ’s College is also a member of the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) [15935 Forest Road, Forest, VA 24551; Telephone: 434.525.9539; e-mail: info@tracs.org] having been awarded Reaffirmation I status as a Category II institution by the TRACS Accreditation Commission on November 8, 2011; this status is effective for a period of ten years. TRACS is recognized by the United States Department of Education, the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE).
A constant reminder of what we stand for appears on the wall of the chapel. It is the motto of the college written in both Chinese and English. It states, “The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom”. The distinctive purpose of Christ's College is to provide a Christian Liberal Arts Education for students from Taiwan and abroad. At Christ's College, Bible is a required part of the curriculum and provides the essential starting point for the branches of study and for all the vocations of the life. Our goal is to build a strong Christian faith in the lives of our students and to provide a good academic foundation for them. It is our desire to win our non-Christian students to Christ, then to disciple them and to send them out to be Christ’s ambassadors to their families, churches and communities.
The Lord has been richly blessing Christ's College since its founding, and we look forward to the future with the hope that He will continue to sustain and establish Christ's College as preeminent Christian Liberal Arts college in the Chinese speaking world as we continue to train and educate youth for society and for the church, for the glory of His Kingdom.