Home to thousands of international students every year, NTU also runs more than 18 short-term programs for international students each summer. This year NTU was honored to have organized the 2017 Bai Xian Asian Institute (BXAI) Summer Program, which brought together more than 117 young scholars from 17 different countries for a three-week (July 31-Aug 16) onsite learning and exploration venture in Taiwan.

Founded in January 2014, BXAI is committed to promoting equality of opportunity, maintaining social justice, advocating charity, promoting social evolution, and respecting regional and global diversification as the basis for cross-cultural understanding. To facilitate this goal, BXAI launched the Asian Future Leaders Scholarship Program (AFLSP), offering full scholarships for students to study at 16 leading universities in Asia, including Peking University, Zhejiang University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kyoto University, and National Taiwan University. One of the highlights of this program is its fostering of closer ties between neighboring Asian countries, and the best way to build a community of AFLSP scholars is to physically bring them together during the summer.

Based on common interests, NTU and BXAI began their partnership in 2014, when Deputy Vice President for International Affairs Bennett Fu traveled to Shanghai to sign a memorandum of understanding. In 2015, Vice President for International Affairs Luisa Shu-Ying Chang flew to Zhejiang, a province of China, to witness the first BXAI summer program. Impressed by the program's multidisciplinary student entrepreneurs, Vice President Chang approached BXAI with the proposition of hosting the 2017 BXAI Summer Program at NTU. Last year, Vice President Chang led a delegation of nine people from the NTU Office of International Affairs to Tokyo, Japan to observe and learn from 2016's summer program host, Waseda University.

As one of the 16 partner universities in AFLSP, NTU resonates with BXAI's mission of "building bridges across cultures" and has created an interactive platform for intercultural education and lifelong friendship. With the combined efforts of BXAI and the Office of International Affairs, the program design is based on three principles: leadership, critical thinking, and creativity. The program has recruited a network of more than 500 people since its establishment in 2014.

Going hand in hand with this year's theme of "Sustainability and Entrepreneurship," the 117 scholars began their retreat at one of NTU's largest campuses, Xitou Nature Education Area, where they were encouraged to step outside of their comfort zones and begin building comradeship. Presented with team challenges and tasks, including plowing a garden, sanding wood, and climbing trees, the BXAI students had the opportunity to step outside of the classroom and get hands-on experience while developing a connection with the environment.

Upon their return to the NTU Main Campus, the students participated in soft skill learning, panel discussions, and problem solving activities at NTU's D-school. They were also given the opportunity to visit the headquarters of O'right, an eco-friendly cosmetics company, and enjoy other optional leisure activities, such as climbing Elephant Mountain for a glimpse of Taipei from above.

The program concluded on August 16 with a closing ceremony held at NTU's Global Initiatives Symposium Convention Center. Former Interim President Ching-Ray Chang joined the celebration and told the audience that BXAI and NTU share the same mission of intercultural collaboration. Vice President Chang, who serves as Head of the BXAI Program Organizing Committee at NTU, expressed her delight at watching the participants grow and change over the course of the program. Chang also reminded the young scholars about today's fast-changing society and encouraged them by pointing out that the greatest asset of the program is getting to know and accept the viewpoints of different cultures and becoming global citizens.

The successful completion of this summer's program marks a significant milestone in NTU and BXAI's partnership. The closing ceremony ended with rounds of applause when Vice President Chang presented a Chinese calligraphy album to Prof. Lu Yang of Peking University, which will host the program next year.