National Taiwan University

Encyclopedia : N : NA : NAT : National Taiwan University

The National Taiwan University (Traditional Chinese: 國立臺灣大學; Simplified Chinese: 国立臺湾大学; Hanyu Pinyin: Guólì Táiwān Dàxué; Tongyong Pinyin: GuóLì TáiWan DàSyué; Wade-Giles: Kuo2-li4 t'ai2-wan1 ta4-hsüeh2; POJ: Kok-li̍p Tâi-ôan Tāi-ha̍k; abbreviation NTU) is a national university in Taipei, Taiwan. The predecessor of National Taiwan University was Taihoku Imperial University, founded by the Japanese in 1928. The entrance examination score needed to enter NTU is typically the highest among universities in Taiwan, and using this ranking, it is widely considered the best and most prestigious university in Taiwan. According to a survey published by Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2004, National Taiwan University is ranked first in Greater China (mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan). NTU enjoys very strong ties with Academia Sinica and other top national and international research institutions.

Contents

1 History
2 Prospects
3 Research
4 Education
5 Campus
6 Organization
7 Names and tenures of office of former presidents
8 Students
9 Faculty
10 Sports, clubs, and student traditions
11 Noted NTU Alumni
12 Noted NTU Faculty
13 See also
14 External links

History

The decessor of National Taiwan University was Taihoku Imperial University, founded by the Japanese Government in 1928. The first president was Dr. Shidehara Tan Tairaka Hiroshi. When Taihoku University was first established, it had two colleges: the College of Liberal Arts and Law, and the College of Science and Agriculture, and had a combined total of 60 students. The College of Medicine and the College of Engineering were added in 1936 and 1943 respectively. The College of Science and Agriculture was also divided into two colleges in 1943: the college of Science, and the college of Agriculture. The college of Agriculture was divided into three sections: the College of Agriculture and Forestry, the College of Medicine, and the Graduate Institute of Tropical Medicine.

During Taihoku Imperial University period, every college consisted of "lectures", which were conducted by a professor and included assistant professors, assistants, instructors and office employees. In 1945, the five colleges had 114 lectures with 382 students. The College of Liberal Arts and Law had 25 lectures, the College of Medicine had 24, the College of Science had 13, the College of Agriculture had 22, and the College of Engineering had 30.

The First Building of National Taiwan University Hospital

After World War II and Taiwan's retrocession to Chinese Sovereignty, the R.O.C. government resumed the administration of Taihoku Imperial University and reorganized and renamed it National Taiwan University on November 15, 1945, with Dr. Lo Tsung-lo serving as the first president. The College of Liberal Arts and Law was divided into two colleges: the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Law. The University thus consisted of six colleges (Liberal Arts, Law, Science, Medicine, Engineering, and Agriculture) and had twenty-two departments with 500 odd students.The Evening Division, the College of Management, the College of Public Health, and the College of Electrical Engineering (renamed as the College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 2000) were established respectively in 1967, 1987, 1993, and 1997. In 1999, the College of Social Sciences replaced the College of Law, and the Department of Law was upgraded to become the College of Law. The evening division and the Center of Continuing Education were also combined into the Division of Continuing Education & Professional Development. In 2002, the College of Agriculture was renamed the College of Bio-Resources and Agriculture. In 2003, the College of Life Science was established. As of the 2004 academic year, the University has a total of eleven colleges, 54 departments, 96 graduate institutes (which offer 96 Master's programs and 83 doctoral programs), and four research centers: the Division of Population and Gender Studies, the Center for Condensed Matter Sciences, the Center for Biotechnology, Japanese Research Center, and the Biodiversity Center. The number of students reached 29,877 in 2004, including the students from the division of Continuing Education & Professional development. A new library was built in 1998, and now contains over 3,000,000 volumes of books.

[Detailed Outline of University History]

Prospects

The National Taiwan University Hospital consists of several high rise buildings in the center of this picture and several low level buildings at the bottom right of the picture.

Being the first integrated and most prestigious institution of higher education in Taiwan area, National Taiwan University has taken up the responsibility of promoting the level of academic research study and teaching in Taiwan, and has from the very start put emphasis on scholarly research in basic theory and on free atmosphere of academic thought. The University thus sets its objective for development in three major fields: humanities and social sciences, basic sciences, and applied sciences. To coordinate with the demands of our national and social developments, the University plans to expand, as needs be, those Departments and Institutes of high applicability into various professional colleges beyond its present nine colleges. Being the leading integrated university in Taiwan and responsible for training researchers and technicians in practical fields, the University hopes to increase gradually the number of graduate students and to decrease proportionally the number of undergraduates. Among graduate students, more Ph. D. programs will be organized to upgrade research standards and to meet our country's demand for high-tech expertise. On the other hand, to satisfy modern people's wish for multifarious knowledge offered in college and to fulfill the social function of college education through feedback, the University will also promote programs of extension education by giving on-job training to adults or people in need, in order to lay a solid foundation for the lifetime education of an ideal adulthood in the 21st century. Being the most representative university in Taiwan, the University intends to make more exchange programs and sign cooperative agreements with famous foreign universities, to achieve the goal of broadening our international scope. The University also encourages its faculty members to join research study groups more actively to establish research centers, and to further intercollegiate inter-disciplinary engagements. Meanwhile, an institute will be set up to supervise the developments and directions of future researches, making evaluations, coordination, and sanction. In addition, the University will utilize new technological achievements and information network, to establish such advanced systems of tele-communicative teaching, tele-communicative medical treatment cooperation, etc., to create a complete and computerized environment for more advanced research and teaching.

Research

National Taiwan University puts very strong emphasis on research, which is among the main factors for evaluating faculty members. Most of whom, especially in the fields of sciences and engineering, have received Ph.D. degrees from top US research universities. NTU has around 10,000 students working towards a Ph.D or a research oriented M.Sc. degree. The University has shown strength in both theoretical and applications research.

In order to maximize the international impact of its research the University has been establishing more exchange programs and signing cooperation agreements with world-renowed universities. NTU encourages its faculties to conduct joint researches and is in the midst of integrating interdisciplinary projects such as naitonal projects of Ministry of Economy, and University Excellence Projects funded by National Science Council. The focus of the University's interdisciplinary research is centered on the major research universiy programs sponsored by Ministry of Education, headed by research centers of nano-technology, genetics medical studies, electronic sciences integration and East Asian civilization. Evalution and award programs are regularly conducted to ensure the quality of research. In addition, the University utilizes the latest technological development and information network to establish programs such as distance learning and tele-communicative medical treatment cooperation, in a bid to create a complete and computerized environment for more advanced research and teaching.

Education

A view from the main campus of National Taiwan University

The educational system in NTU is somewhat similar to that of many US universities.

The school year is divided into Autumn and Spring semesters each about 4 months long.

Courses are taught by a faculty member with the help of a number of teaching assistants. Course weight is evaluated on a credit scale where 1 credit is roughly equal to 1 hour of lecure or laboratory exercise per week per semester. Grades are based on a 100 point system, with 60 being roughly equal to C-, or the lowest passing grade. Close to 130 credits are required for Bachelor's degrees and 30 credits and a thesis defence for Master's. Students are often evaluated based on two exams per semester and a number of homeworks or lab exercises in every course.

There are three levels of degrees that the university can confer: Bachelor's, Master's and Ph.D. in their variantions (of Science, of Art, of Engineering) according to the regulations of the college to which the student belongs. A Bachelor's degree takes 4 years on average to complete, Master's takes 2 and Ph.D. takes on average 5. Each year around 4500 students receive their Bachelor's degree, 3500 receive Master's degree and 400 receive a Ph.D. At NTU and all other universities in Taiwan, a Master's degree is required before entering a Ph.D. level program. Before entering any programe at NTU most students must take entrance exams.

Campus

The university has six campuses in the greater Taipei region (including Taipei County) and two additional campuses in Nantou County. The main campus is in Taipei's Da-An district where most department buildings and all the administrative buildings are located. Notable exceptions are the College of Law and the College of Medicine which are situated in other parts of Taipei. The main campus is 108.6167 hectares with department buildings standing close together. The campus is famous for a distinctive road with palm trees on the sides leading to the main library. The main campus also houses the Language Learning and Testing Center which administers a number of standardized exams such as the TOEFL, GRE and GMAT tests. Around the campus there is an array of student dormitories and housing for faculty members and guests. Graduate and undergraduate students live in separate buildings.

[Interactive map of the main campus]

Organization

There are eleven colleges and five research centres that form NTU. There are over 50 different departments and a number of graduate institutes that stem from each department. This makes NTU a complete, integrated institution. Each department employs both tenure-tracked and non-tenure-tracked academic staff that conducts research and teaching. Research centres: Population and Gender Studies, Condensed Matter Siences, Japanese Research, Biotechnology, Biodiversity. NTU is invlolved in active collaboration on a number of projects outiside the Uiversity and in interdisciplinary resararch that presents researchers and students from different departments with the opportunty to work together.

In addition, the International Chinese Language Program (ICLP), formerly known as the Stanford Center and the Inter-University Program, and considered one of the world's premiere programs for instruction in formal Chinese is located at National Taiwan University.

A president heads the university, each college is headed by a dean and each department by a chairman. A part of the governing body of the University is also the student union where representaives from each college are elected every year.

Names and tenures of office of former presidents

Presidents of Taihoku Imperial University:

Sidehara Tan Taira Hiroshi: March 1928-September 1937
Mita Sadanori: September 1937-April 1941
Ando Masatsugu: April 1941-March 1945
Ando Kazuo: March 1945-August 1945

Presidents of National Taiwan University:

Lo Tsung-lo: August 1945-July 1946
Lu Chih-hung: August 1946-May 1948
Chuang Chang-kung: June 1948-December 1948
Fu Szu-nien: January 1949-December 1950
Shen Kang-po (acting): December 1950-January 1951
Chien Szu-liang: January 1951-May 1970
Yen Cheng-hsing: June 1970-July 1981
Yu Chao-chung: August 1981-July 1984
Sun Chen: August 1984-February 1993
Kou Guang-hsiung (acting): March 1993-July 1993
Chen Wei-Jao: August 1993-June 2005
Lee Si-Chen: August 2005-present

Noted NTU Alumni

Academics
*Lee Yuan-tseh (BS 1959 - Nobel laureate in chemistry (1986))
*Tien Chang-lin (1955)
*Pai Hsien-yung
*Yao, Andrew (1967)
*Peter Chen

Singers/Actors
*Alec Su (1991)

Noted NTU Faculty

Lee Teng-hui - professor of economics
Lien Chan - professor of political science, chairman of the Political Science Department and dean of the Graduate Institute of Political Science

External links

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