Warmest greetings in the name of the Lord! Trust that you have had a good term break and are all ready for the new term. It is an exciting term which will see the launch of various developments in TCA College.

Programmes Validated by the University of Wales, UK
TCA College has started the 2^nd trimester offering programmes in Counselling, Creative Arts and Theology that are validated by the University of Wales, UK. These degrees are awarded by the University of Wales. It is an exciting development as TCA College will be the first Christian institution in Asia to offer such validated programmes in Theology. This will greatly enhance the position of our graduates who are serving the Lord in the church, market place, academic world and the Body of Christ worldwide. It is our desire to provide the best education for our students where their hard work and time invested in their degrees will yield internationally recognised status. Students will enjoy high academic recognition given the well-established academic standing of the University of Wales. This will open many doors for students to venture into other social sciences beyond theology in local and overseas universities for higher level education.

The following programmes are offered by the College which are validated by the University of Wales:
• MTh in Applied Theology (Ministry)
• MTh in Theology
• BA (Hons) in Theology
• Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling
• Diploma in Higher Education in Creative Arts

With these exciting developments in the various schools, we have discontinued offering the Bachelor of Theology (BTh) programme to new students in our English School of Divinity (SOD) and replacing it with the Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Theology programme, which is one of University of Wales validated programmes. Current English SOD’s students have been notified of this change and are given the option to transfer into the BA (Hons) in Theology programme. Those who have chosen to remain in the BTh programme will be given a timeline within the next five years to complete their studies. Students are strongly advised to find out the timeline required for the completion of their studies with the College. This will allow students to pace themselves in taking the number of courses per trimester. Please approach the respective Deans for further clarification if needed.

Similar plans are underway for our students in our Chinese SOD. More information will be released in the coming months with regards to the availability of the University of Wales’ Chinese theological programmes.

Weekly Chapel
Another change that is taking place in the 2^nd trimester will be our Chapel. Instead of having a weekly service-style Chapel, we will be changing it to small group based where the emphasis will be on mentoring. This has come about after much discussion with the faculty and students. It is vital for all full time students to receive an enriching experience of being mentored by a mature and proven Christian leader during their term of studies with the College. Such a change is to ensure that every full time student will be given personalised attention in their Christian formation during this important phase of their spiritual journey.

School of Counselling
The 2^nd cohort of students for our Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling has started in the 2^nd trimester as well. There is a great need to train qualified Christian counsellors for the Body of Christ given the social decadence of our society where many are in need of godly counsellors to help them to find hope and purpose. We have plans to provide other counselling seminars besides our counselling programme to further equip the Body of Christ to be good people helpers. Do look out for future publicity for these counselling seminars.

School of Leadership
The 1^st cohort of students for our Doctor of Ministry (DMin) programme with an emphasis in leadership will begin their classes in May. Besides Dr. John Kirkpatrick, Dean of School of Leadership, who will be teaching one of the leadership modules, we will also be having Dr. John Ng (Eagles Communications) and Dr. Gunther Mueller who are co-teaching in another module. I am sure that the students will be thoroughly blessed through the experience and teaching of these proven leaders.

At the same time, the 2^nd cohort of students for our Master of Arts in Organisational Leadership (MAOL) will be held in July. We are expecting a larger group than last year as interest for this programme has grown given the flexible structure of the programme where students only need to attend classes for 2 weeks in a year. We are eagerly expecting another four highly qualified professors in leadership to be with us from Azusa Pacific University during the 2 weeks of intensive classes.

Besides leadership programmes that are offered through our School of Leadership, we are also planning for special leadership sessions with renowned leaders to share their leadership experience with us in our Leadership Insight. The next Leadership Insight session will be on the 14^th May where Dr. John Ng will be sharing his personal leadership journey with us. I highly encourage you to come and join us for this session. The Chinese SOD is also having such a strategic platform for the Chinese students on the same day and the speaker will be Rev. Bernard Koh.

Final Words
As you can see, the momentum that we started off with in the year is growing stronger and there are considerations for other areas of expansion that will further benefit the students. Please do not hesitate to approach our Deans for any advice or help regarding any of our academic programmes found in our four schools. We are also looking for proven leaders and qualified professors to join us as faculty so that students can receive high quality education through our College. We covet your prayers as we stay focus to train and release leaders to fulfill the Great Commission for the Kingdom.

Rev Wilson Teo