NTU President Pan-Chyr Yang accepted invitations extended by NTU's key partner universities in Germany, the University of Tübingen and the University of Hamburg, to visit the European nation in order to discuss innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and international networking strategies during June 4-8. President Yang was accompanied on his trip by Vice President for International Affairs Luisa Shu-Ying Chang and Director of Global Alliances Section Linda Chang.

During the sojourn in Germany, President Yang's party first traveled to the University of Tübingen. University of Tübingen President Bernd Engler has visited the NTU campus three times since NTU and the elite German institution established a university partnership in 2006. President Engler's repeated visits have facilitated student and faculty exchanges as well as cooperation in such fields as social sciences, law, Mandarin Chinese teaching, sociology, politics, and European Union studies.

As this was the first time an NTU president had led a delegation to visit the University of Tübingen, President Engler placed great importance on this event and accompanied President Yang throughout his visit.

Taking the collaboration that has already been initiated between NTU and Tübingen in the humanities and social sciences as a foundation, the presidents and officials of the two universities discussed potential approaches for interdisciplinary cooperation across a broad range of fields, including translational cancer research, prehistoric history and archaeology, biochemistry and pharmacy, geographical environment, neuroscience, molecular biology and botany, quantum mechanics and nanotechnology, and clinical imaging.

Following the delegation's visit to the University of Tübingen, President Yang proceeded to the University of Hamburg for the 2017 Hamburg Transnational University Leaders Council, an event organized in order to provoke dialogue among university leaders from around the world on the key challenges facing higher education systems. Among the 46 participating university leaders from 25 countries, President Yang was the sole representative from Taiwan and one of the four Asian university presidents invited to attend the Council.

President Yang was first invited to attend the inaugural University Leaders Council in 2015. This year, he participated in the international conference as a panel member, sharing his opinions and experiences with university presidents from countries around the world under the topic "Measuring Quality, Effectiveness and Relevance in a Differentiated System." During the Council, President Yang introduced Taiwan's higher education system and shared NTU's educational ideals and research specialties, which served to increase the visibility of Taiwan and NTU in the global higher education community.