As NTU is the sole Taiwanese institution among the 45 member universities of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, the NTU Museums Office faced stiff competition in its bid to win the opportunity to host the 2nd APRU Research Symposium on University Museums this year. Nonetheless,with the vital support of NTU Library, the Office of International Affairs, NTU Museums Group, and the Office of the Secretariat's Visitor Center, NTU Museums Office successfully made the case that it would be the ideal host for this important international meeting, which took place from May 20-22.

Attracting more than 220 participants from 18 universities in 13 countries, the symposium was one of the most international museum symposiums in Taiwan this year.

Exploring the theme, "Reshaping Outreach Services of University Museums through Innovation and Partnership," this year's symposium featured three excitingkeynote speeches. Jill Hartz, the president of the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries and executive director of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon, spoke on "Re-envisioning the Role of Academic Museums." Director of the Kyoto University Museum TerufumiOhno presented the speech, "Outreach Tells Us What the University Museum Is." And, NTU's Prof. Hon-Tsen Alex Yu of the NTU Museum Group and Department of Life Science discussed NTU's experience in his paper, "A Phoenix Emerged–The NTU Museums' Outreaching to Neighborhoods."

Besides 32 poster presentations, an additional 17 paper presentations were delivered by thedirectors, researchers, and staff members of APRU university museums from across the globe, including the University of Sydney, University of Tokyo, University of Hong Kong, National University of Singapore, Russia's Far Eastern Federal University, and the University of British Columbia.

The NTU team also organized a brainstorming workshop that discussedthe potential of expanding the applications of the Loan Discovery Box, a portable display casethat the NTU Museum of Zoology and Herbariumdesigned for mobile educational exhibitions, to a cross-national audience.