NTU President Pan-Chyr Yang headed a six-member delegation on a mission to Belgium to visit NTU’s partner university Ghent University from May 9-11.  The purpose of the trip was to develop the two institutions’ cooperative relationship through a match-making event that included one day of academic symposiums and two days of match-making activities.  While in Belgium, the NTU delegation also took an excursion to Belgium’s national biotechnology center and met with NTU alumni.

In addition to President Yang, the delegation included Vice President for International Affairs Luisa Shu-Ying Chang, Dean Ming-Syan Chen of the College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Prof. Jeu-Jenq Yuann of the Department of Philosophy, Dr. Chiun Hsu of the College of Medicine, and Office of International Affairs Director for Global Alliances Linda Chang.

GU Rector Anne De Paepe first visited Taiwan in November 2015 under the arrangement of the Taipei Representative Office in the EU and Belgium.  Impressed by the academic and research capabilities of Taiwan’s institutions of higher learning, she wrote an invitation to President Yang immediately after returning to Belgium.  Rector De Paepe expressed her university’s interest in meeting with NTU representatives in the fields of cancer medicine, engineering and information science, and art and literature.

On the first day, GU officials first presented an overview of the NTU-GU partnership, and Taiwan’s Representative to the EU Tung Kuo-yu delivered an address.  NTU President Yang then presented the event’s first lecture, titled “Inspire, Innovate, Impact—Shaping NTU to Meet Global Challenges.”  President Yang discussed how a research university can promote research, innovation, and interaction among students, faculty, and staff so as to create a lasting positive influence.

The NTU delegation later split up to participate in simultaneous symposiums with GU’s faculties of Arts and Philosophy, Engineering and Architecture, Medicine and Health Sciences, Bioscience Engineering, Veterinary Medicine, Economics and Business Administration, Political and Social Sciences, and Psychology and Educational Sciences.  During the symposiums, the delegation members discussed action plans for cooperation with their GU counterparts and visited laboratories and research facilities.

NTU and GU established their partnership in 2007 and began a student exchange program in 2010.  Nearly 30 NTU students have studied at GU since then.  Our College of Engineering, College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and College of Liberal Arts also have faculty and administrative staff exchange agreements with their counterparts at the Belgian university.