The NTU Office of International Affairs is continuously seeking new ideas and approaches that will help it enhance the experiences of NTU's international students while also bringing greater internationalization to the NTU campus. As part of this effort, Director Jung-Chen Chen of the OIA's Center for International Education and Carol Lin, manager of the Global Alliances Section, traveled to Japan in February to take part in the 10th University Administrators Workshop at Kyoto University.

During the workshop, which included university international affairs administrators from Japan and Taiwan as well as South Korea, Malaysia, China, Thailand, and Indonesia, the two NTU representatives discussed new concepts concerning the flow of short-term international students in their presentation, "Beyond the Student Exchange: Catering to Student Needs with NTU Plus Academy (A+)."

In the presentation, Director Chen focused on the NTU Plus Academy in discussing the novel concepts that are inspiring the design of NTU's short-term exchange programs. According to Director Chen, short-term exchange programs should not solely focus on providing courses on language and culture, as currently offered by many university summer programs. Instead, universities need to consider the full range of situations faced by different types of students, including the amount of time they have to participate as well as their personal subjects of interest and goals. By doing so, administrators would be better able to formulate educational programs that offer greater scheduling flexibility and a richer diversity of subject areas.

This year, the OIA's Center for International Education introduced the university's first spring programs and specialized spring courses. Building on its years of experience gained through organizing our outstanding summer programs, the center custom crafted these new short-term programs to better meet the specific needs of different students groups and ensure that the students come away with the optimal learning experiences within the programs' limited time frames.