A newly merged university named the National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) with her foundations in the two renowned universities, National Yang-Ming University and National Chiao Tung University, celebrated her official opening today with the inauguration of the first President Professor Chi-Hong Lin MD/PhD. Two eventful ceremonies have taken place on the two main campus of NYCU: the Taipei Yang Ming campus and the Hsinchu Guang Fu campus.
Many distinguished guests, local dignitaries, faculty staff and alumni had gathered to witness the monumental unveiling of the new University. The honorable Vice President Ching-te Lai and the former Vice President Jian-Ren Chen of the Republic of China along with Mayor Chih-chien Lin of Hsinchu City, Magistrate Wen-ke Yang of Hsinchu County were all present to officiate the opening session. Also attended were key alumni representatives Dr. Stan Shih of Acer Microelectronic Company, CEO Hong-Jen Chang the Chairman of the YFY Biotech Management Company. Former Presidents of the two original universities, namely Dr. Steve Hsu-Sung Kuo, Dr. Sin-Horng Chen, Dr. Mau-Chung Frank Chan, Dr. Kung-Yee Liang, Dr. Yan-Hwa Wu Lee, Dr. Shou-Hwa Han and Dr. Ovid Tzeng were all invited as special guests to participate in the ribbon cutting ceremony.
One of the highlights was the inspirational congratulating remarks expressed by Mr. Andrew Yang, a Taiwanese American Entrepreneur and New York City Mayoral Candidate, who is the son of our honorary Emeritus Professor Kei-Hsiung Yang of National Chiao Tung University. Mr. Yang could not come to the ceremony in person, but via his letter he congratulated the new University, emphasized the importance of combining Engineering with Medicine, and placed strong faith and hope on NYCU to shine brightly in the fields of artificial intelligence, remote medicine, robotics, and healthcare technology.
The road to the final merger into NYCU has taken 20 years to reach its destiny; much is indebted to the tireless efforts of all the former presidents of the two original universities who had set the goals and directions for the eventual merger. First President Lin of NYCU especially thanked two departing President Kuo of National Yang-Ming University, President Chen of National Chiao Tung University, and their respective administrative teams, for their admirable perseverance over the long lead time for the approving process to the eventual merger.
The foundations for the merger were laid by the Past Presidents of both universities and their devotion shall not be forgotten. Those two top universities, which have in the past made outstanding contributions to fields of medicine, public health, electronics/informatics and others in Taiwan. The accomplishment of this monumental merger would never be completed without mutual trust, cooperation, forward-looking mentality from all groups of stakeholders ranging from faculty staff to students, and to the alumni. This is a new milestone and a model for Taiwan’s higher education system in the future.
In his inauguration speech President Lin remarked that there are much to do in this early phase of the merger, but the initial mission of the new university is to gain recognition/ownership from both campuses and to develop a “Strategic Plan” to integrate ideas on teaching, technology, innovations, university responsibilities, besides other matters like the NYCU anthem and emblem. President Lin announced that a vision plan will be presented within 100 days, which will in turn become a 3-year blueprint for the university. Moreover, an industry-university cooperation campus, perhaps the Tainan campus, will be established to foster a government-industry-university-institute alliance platform for added values of research and development via strong efforts in innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship.
As to the administration of the new university, there will be two new positions established on each of the two campuses under the title of Provost. Professor Muh-Hwa Yang and Professor Ta-Sung Lee will server in this role for the Yang Ming campus and the Provost of Chiao Tung campus, respectively. They are empowered to assemble a management team, including a Secretary General and Deans in charge of Academic, Student and General affair, as well as leaders in other branches of the administration such as R and D, International Affairs, etc. Besides, two Vice Presidents in charge of special projects and functions will be named. The staffing plan will call for a lean and mean while versatile group of people to achieve the greatest administration efficiency and effectiveness.
All Universities place great emphasis on the productivity of faculty and the quality of the students, NYCU will take proactive approach to supporting departments and inter-academic research centers as her main development directions. NYCU will adhere to her belief that the university shall be a “people-oriented, science-based, technology-driven, and industry-aligned” campus for the education and nurturing of human talents of the 21st century.With the mindset of “being the best in the world and creating an era of change” NYCU is striving to propel the innovation and invent the future.