News--Welcome to National Chiayi University

　　Golden Shower Trees blossom while universities bid farewell to graduates. The NCYU’s commencement was held at 9 o’clock in the morning of June 6, 2015 on Lantan Campus, Minhsiung Campus and Sinmin Campus with live streaming. Campuses were packed with graduates and parents and greeting juniors.

　　This year’s graduates of NCYU include 10 with doctoral degrees, 550 with master degrees, 224 with master degrees on weekend & Weekend programs, 120 on EMBA program and 2178 with bachelor degrees (including 1805 on day school and 373 on night school). The total number of graduates of NCYU this year amounts to 3082, including 86 international and overseas Chinese students. The theme of this year’s commencement is very different from that of previous years in that the venue is decorated with the theme “the golden year where NCYU student shine” by the graduate student association. NCYU wishes every graduate to create their extraordinary futures with what they have learned in school, and shines like the NCYU’s university flower “golden shower tree”.

　　Before the ceremony, President Chiou Yi-Yuan followed the tradition and walked graduates through the golden avenue elaboratively-decorated by the graduate student association. Almost 30 distinguished guests attended the commencement, among them were the Deputy Mayor of Chiayi City, Hou Chong-Wen, President’s National Policy Advisor, Chiang Yi-Hsiung, ex-NCYU presidents Lin Chung-Mao and Lee Ming-Jen and president of the NCYU Alumni Association, Su I-Chi, giving remarks and their blessings to the fresh graduates leaving campus.

　　President Chiou encouraged graduates with “everyone can be distinguished in all walks of life as long as he puts his mind to it.” With the belief that NCYU’s students have great potentials, Chiou affirmed NCYU students’ future success. Chiou exemplified his point with two outstanding alumni, Chen Zhe-Fang and Su I-Chi, who attained great achievements only after many years of efforts and hardship. Therefore, be it that one holds on to one’s own path or take chance to change course to another profession, one will succeed if efforts are made.

　　This year, NCYU awarded honorary doctorate degrees to Chen Zhe-Fang, the president of the NICE Group, who is also known as the “idea hamster” in the business circle. Chen graduated studying agriculture and production in Provincial Chiayi Vocational School in 1959 and went on to take the leading position in Taiwan’s household and personal care chemical industry, food and beverage industry, biotechnology industry, green energy industry, finance and investment industry, leisure and tourism industry, health and longevity industry, and cultural and creative industry. He also created a conglomerate of NICE Group, which consists of several international corporations such as AGV Products Corporation, JANFUSUN Facnyworld, NICE Prince Hotel and so on.

　　Initially, NICE Group was famous for its NICE shampoo powder, which built the foundation of its business. Then came the “PON PON body cleanser” and many other products that allowed the company to soar to the top of Taiwan’s household and personal care chemical industry. In 1971, the company broke with traditional way of curing and successfully developed healthy and tasty pickles that are low on salt and contain no preservatives, altering the way of producing pickles in Taiwan. For example, AGV’s “pickled cucumber in soy sauce” is one of its well-known brands. In 1980, Chen was among the top ten entrepreneurs in Taiwan. In recent years, he became devoted to promoting more exchanges between mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan as well as cooperation between NCYU, government and industry and international exchanges.

　　On the other hand, Su I-Chi, the president of the NCYU Alumni Association, turned to the business of medicine and international trading after gradation instead of his major in agriculture. Even though medicine and international trading are not Su’s strong suit, his hard-working attitude learned in NCYU helped him create Dapha trading company and Taiwan Lima pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. at the age of 33, trading medicinal foods, medical apparatus and many medicine brands of well-known pharmaceutical corporations such as Wakamoto, etc. In 2007, Su joined NCYU’s Alumni Association and had been dedicated to NCYU’s development and administrative affairs. His awarded honorary doctoral degree is truly well-deserved.

　　It is also worth mentioning that president Chiou’s son Chiou Bo-Jang, being this year’s graduate, was in the same ceremony with his father. According to Chiou Bo-Jang, he could have been admitted to the national college in northern Taiwan after the joint entrance examination. Instead, he chose to study at NCYU because of a special attachment formed after years of frequenting the campus and his father’s laboratory when he was young. Besides, Chiou have taken interest in chemistry, which he could delve into because of his mother taking good care of him, and chose to study in the Department of Applied Chemistry of NCYU.

　　Chiou Bo-Jang further described how he got scholarship in college research project program when he was a junior, giving him the chance to participate in a complete laboratory research program that reinforced his interests in academic study. During the summer vacation of the same year, Chiou joined the research team in Genomics Research Center of Academia Sinica led by Wong Chi-Huey, the founding director of the Center, and learned courses on carbohydrate synthesis with fellow researcher Hung Shang-Cheng. Last year he received full scholarship granted by Ministry of Science and Technology to attend American Peanut Research and Education Society’s Annual Meeting in the U.S., where he did an oral presentation of his paper.

　　President Chiou said he always respects the opinions and plans of his four children. He is very glad that Chiou Bo-Jang chose to stay in NCYU and completed a combined bachelor and master degree program in Applied Chemistry. Many of his colleagues’ children also opted to stay in NCYU because of the attachment to the campus, just like Chiou Bo-Jang.

　　NCYU has been promoting combined Bachelor and Master degree program since 2005, which allows students to acquire master degree in five years at the very least. The program is effective and offers scholarship support for students. Freshman of college can take this option into their consideration.