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NCYU Heralds Partnership with University of Huelva

　　National Chiayi University and University of Huelva (UHU) from Spain jointly sign the memorandum on agreeing academic cooperation on the morning of Dec.1st. In the days to come, both universities will promote equally and mutually beneficial academic and cultural exchanges, enhancing the welfare of the faculties and students, which include cooperation on academic research, exchange of visiting professors and research staff, arrangement of student exchange programs, creation of a joint curriculum, organization of symposiums, participation in academic activities, as well as communication and exchange of academic information.

　　Jointly presided over by NCYU President Lee Ming-Jen and UHU President Franciso José Martínez López, the signing ceremony involves the two presidents signing the memorandum under the witness of, from guests to staff, Ms Grace Mun Man Shum, chairperson of the Asian Culture Center of UHU, escorts from the Department of European Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affair, and top supervisors of NCYU. They proceed to tour the NCYU Horticultural Technology Center, Insect Museum and other units.

　　Chiayi University have established cooperative academic relationships with over thirty institutions of higher learning the world over, and have carried out numerous projects on education development and research exchange, said President Li during the ceremony. UHU is Poised in the Andalucia Province, a powerhouse boasting of rich cultural contexts and artistic resources and motherland of Flamenco dance. In the future, they will collaborate on facilitating exchange of visiting professors and research staff, as well as arrangement of student exchange programs and joint academic advising. The blueprint they flesh out aims not only at promoting academic research, but at revitalizing the learning of humanities.

　　UHU President Martínez adds that the climate and latitude of Taiwan and the hospitality of the people here are strikingly similar to those of Spain. Despite their linguistic and cultural differences, both universities have four campuses and similar categories of departments and colleges and numbers of students. With only one student from UHU currently studying in Taiwan, he hopes the partnership of the two universities will encourage more and more students join the student exchange program in NCYU.

　　The signing of the cooperation memorandum can be traced back to an international conference in Portugal where Prof. Huang Tzung-Cheng from the Graduate Institute of Recreation, Tourism and Hospitality Management met a professor from UHU. They have since strived to map a plan for the two universities to establish partnership. To extend its exchange with the colleges and universities in Taiwan, UHU President Martínez and Ms Grace Mun Man Shum, chairperson of the Asian Culture Center of UHU visit Taiwan, under invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affair. They specially asked the ministry to arrange a trip southward to NCYU where they would have the memorandum signed.

　　Established in 1993, UHU features four campuses, nine colleges—nine colleges that span economics, law, humanities, education, experimental science, etc.—and thirty departments. The membership of the community echoes the vigor of its youth, with approximating ten thousand and four hundred students and eight hundred and sixteen teachers. Since establishment, the Asian Culture Center’s endeavors to promote Asian culture and Chinese education have been incessant and unfaltering. In Oct. 2007, the center and the Ministry of Education jointly held “Taiwanese Culture Week” at UHU, which was not only widely covered in local newspapers but enthusiastically participated and well-received by students and the public.