News--Welcome to National Chiayi University

　　After years’ construction, Biotechnology and Health Hall (BHH), College of Life Sciences, NCYU, has finally reached completion. The opening ceremony will take place on June 30 at 10:00 a.m., and be attended by invitees include Yang Bing-Hui, chairman of Chiayi Creative Industry R&D Center (CCIRDC), Food Industry Research and Development Institute; Huang Xiang-Yuan, general manager of Taiwan Nova Pet Science; Zhang De-Qing, professor of the Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, CUU; and Zheng Jian-Ting, chief of Economic Development Bureau of Chiayi City Government. The ceremony will also be attended by NCYU President Lee Ming-Jen, Vice President Shen Tsai-Mu, accompanied by several supervisors of the university, as well as teachers and students of College of Life Sciences. The ceremony will kick off with the performance by the faculty dragon and lion dance group. The opening of BHH marks as a milestone in the NCYU history of academia-industry cooperation in biotechnology. Huang encouraged the teachers and students of life sciences to strive for the three major goals of quality, brand and taste.

　　In his speech, President Lee expressed his gratitude to the authorities concerned and firms for their supporting the construction of the building. He added that cross-unit cooperation and hardware facilities are integral to the growth of NCYU. Soft skills in terms of SCI and SSCI, for example, should be enhanced as well. He indicated that the Orchid Research Team of NCYU won the 2007 National Innovation Award, and the R&D Team of Perfume, Attar and Fragrance was the winner of the award in 2008. Therefore, NCYU has the full capacity to make further progress in the future. Lee said the people of NCYU should not take satisfaction in the high registration rate of 80%. Instead, there are still a long way to go and a great deal of challenges for NCYU in the days to come. The requirement of the university for the students to enhance their English proficiency and computer skills aims to increase their employment competitiveness. Therefore, the university requires its students to fulfill one-month internship program before graduation, which was suspended during the past few years.

　　According to Prof. Zhang De-Qing, NCYU has made prominent and unprecedented progress in the past decade, and is known for its prospective research and development in biotechnology. He said he is much impressed by the rich array of hardware facilities in the College of Life Sciences, NCYU. Yang said that NCYU students will be their ideal researchers after the opening of CCIRDC.

　　The hardware facilities of BHH are worth approximately NT$70 million. And the academia-industry cooperation is mainly carried out by the Test Analysis and Technology Promotion Service Center attached to the College of Life Sciences. The center is divided into three divisions, including Food Examination Division, Plant Quarantine Division, Fisheries Inspection Division and Microbiology and Molecular Inspection Division, and is expected to include Animal Experimentation Division in the future.

　　The three-story hall is targeted at cooperation among industries, government agencies and academic research organizations. The research work at the Fisheries Inspection Division and Microbiology and Molecular Inspection Division on the first floor is undertaken by the Department of Aquatic Biosciences and Department of Biological Resources. The research and development of microbiology and molecular inspection and R&D of cosmetics will be carried out on the second floor by the Department of Biochemical Science and Technology and Department of Microbiology and Immunology. The work at the Animal Experimentation Division on the third floor will be jointly conducted by teachers from the College of Life Sciences. Academia-industry cooperation and services of the Food Examination Division, Healthcare Materials Active Extracts Bank, and R&D Team of Perfume, Attar and Fragrance will be offered on the seventh floor of the Teaching Complex.

　　With the opening of BHH, the College of Life Sciences will begin to promote academia-industry cooperation and provide relevant services in such aspects as examination and analysis, technical guidance and services, quality control, research and development of new products, and commissioned training programs. With “health” as its ultimate goal, it aims to pursue a “healthy body”, “healthy living” and “healthy environment”.