▎Global Outlook

Last Autumn, a delegation of 14 academics and officials led by Senator Jiří Drahoš, Chairperson of the Czech Senate’s Committee on Education, Science, Culture, Human Rights and Petitions, visited NTU to explore cooperation opportunities and deepen bilateral ties. The delegation includes leaders in education, science, and culture, including Eva Zažímalová, President of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Radka Wildová, Deputy Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, Jana Havlikova, Deputy Minister for Science, Research and Innovation, and Michal Lukeš, Director of the National Museum.

In particular, the visit was aimed to enhance cooperation with Taiwan in education, culture, cybersecurity, epidemiology, and semiconductor technology through the signing of memorandums and exchange programs. Roman Hvězda, Director of ELI Beamlines, visited Leung Center for Cosmology and Particle Astrophysics (LeCosPA) at NTU and Academia Sinica to observe some of the most advanced research work in Taiwan at present.

After the general meetings, Eva Zažímalová and Rastislav Maďar, Czech’s top epidemiologist and adviser to former Czech minister, Jan Kyncl, Head of Department of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology of National Institute of Public Health Charles University in Prague, and Pavel Ševčík, Head of University of Ostrava’s Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, visited NTU Hospital after the campus tour to discuss how both parties can expand exchanges and share resources.

Tomasz Rzymkowski, Poland’s Deputy Minister of Education and Science, visited NTU with Grzegorz Kazimierz Górski, President of Jagiellonian College and head consultant to the Deputy Minister of Education and Science, as well as Remigiusz Kopoczek, Vice President of the Łukasiewicz Research Network. They were joined by Professor Chia-Pei Chou, then Executive Vice President, Adrian Rauchfleisch, Associate Dean of International Affairs of the NTU College of Social Sciences and Deputy Director-General of European Union Centre in Taiwan, as well as Professor Tzi-Dar Chiueh, Dean of the Graduate School of Advanced Technology.

Professor Chou took this opportunity to plan the direction for collaborations between Taiwan and Poland in semi-conductor research with Tomasz Rzymkowski. Taiwan and Poland signed a memorandum of understanding this year to establish the Taiwanese-Polish working group on semiconductors. Afterwards, NTU promoted the Taiwan Semiconductor Scholarship Program for Eastern Europe in Poland with hopes of educating talents in the field. To deepen understanding of this cooperation, Dean Tzi-Dar Chiueh introduced the Graduate School of Advanced Technology to the Polish delegation. Tomasz Rzymkowski also proposed plans for offering the semiconductor scholarships in Poland, hoping to further facilitate the exchange and collaboration between the two countries.