National Kaohsiung University Of Science And Technology (NKUST): Equipped With The Best To Help Students Broaden Their Learning Horizons

By Dr. Wang Chia-Nan, Dean for International Affairs
Dr. Wang Chia-Nan,Dean for International Affairs

Dr. Wang Chia-Nan

Dean for International Affairs

One of the largest technological universities in Taiwan with nearly 28,000 students and more than 800 faculties and teachers, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) was merged by three universities: National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology, and National Kaohsiung Marine University on February 1, 2018. While prior to the merger, the three universities had their own culture and characteristics, as the result of the merger, NKUST has not only incorporated the strengths of the three universities-strong connections with industries, innovation and entrepreneurship, and ocean technologies into the new university, but it has also integrates all the resources and cultivates more excellent technological professionals and leads the business and industry development in southern Taiwan.

With the college including diverse academic fields like Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Maritime, Hydrosphere Science, Marine Commerce, Management, Finance and Banking, Business Intelligence and Foreign Languages, NKUST has the second largest student number of universities in Taiwan, only fewer than National Taiwan University. Dr. Wang ChiaNan, Professor, Dean of OIA says, “With the university merger, we aim to reinforce and integrate. The merger also promotes the overall teaching, research and service scale of the school. We believe, the evolving trends of the society need more cross-field cooperation to break the limitations. The university therefor turns to a more multi-cultured oriented strategy and supports specifically intergrated researchs. Meanwhile, we emphasize students' humanities and artistic abilities basing on the fact that robots and AI may replace human labor yet human imaginations and creativities.”

Promising Students with Abundant Learning Options
NKUST has 5 campuses across the harbor city Kaohsiung. The school offers interdisciplinary programs through lecturing, projects, peer collaboration and industry participation to provide creative and forward-looking teaching and learning environment, and to cultivate professionals with diverse skills.

Ranked No. 3 among the technological universities in Taiwan and No. 1 amongst the technological universities in Southern Taiwan in the survey
conducted by Cheers Magazine and Global Views Magazine both in Taiwan, post merger of the three universities, NKUST has as high as nearly 200,000 alumni which has formed a networking connection across the public sectors and private enterprises, in Taiwan and across the world. The research capabilities have also increased, and the academic diversity of teacher expertise and research fields is abundant which is sufficient to provide more diverse academic research fields and opportunities. Through resource sharing and cross-field cooperation, teachers elevate their teaching and research performance and industry university cooperation performance while giving students planty of learning resources and diverse course selections.

“Although the Indian alumni are not the majority of international NKUST alumni, most of the Indian students have excellent academic and career performance”

Opening Doors to International Enrolments
NKUST has partnered with overseas schools including well known universities from United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Germany, Austria, Vietnam, Australia, and New Zealand as well as dual degrees programs. With a total of 420 schools around the world, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology has cooperation and student exchanges agreements providing students with rich opportunities to expand their international horizons, including welcoming international students to Taiwan and enriching their multi-culture education experience.

Highlighting on the Indian student participation, Dr. Wang ChiaNan, Dean for International Affairs shares, “At NKUST, Indian students mainly choose business management courses, including research methods, strategic management, international business management seminar, multivariate analysis, emerging markets management, innovation management, international marketing seminar, international intellectual property law, supply chain management, E-commerce theory and management, cross-cultural communication, international investment seminar, international financial management, business and management English class, international economic and trade negotiations and more. Besides the professional courses taught in English, we also provide Mandarin language classes to help students obtain one more international language skills.”

As for life at NKUST, the school arranges counselling partnership for international students every semester where the mechanism is to recruit senior students who have international background and can help international students in getting familiar with
the new living environment more quickly and managing life and learning effectively. In addition to this, the Office of International Affairs has also established a smooth communication platform with students where they can report problems to OIA staff at any time. Also, to help international students, NKUST and the Taiwan government (Ministry of Education) together offer two types of scholarships. The NKUST on-campus scholarships, applied annually, for those who meet the qualifications of academic performance and grades will be waived from the tuition and fees and plus a monthly allowances.

“Although the Indian alumni are not the majority of international NKUST alumni, most of the Indian students have excellent academic and career performance. Many Indian alumni have already worked in Taiwan and/or Taiwanese companies in India. We assure the Indian students who come to our school, as always, will gain ability fast through international mobility. In addition to professional skills, they will equipped with cross-cultural thinking, they will be outstanding talents in global organizations”, avers Dr. Wang Chia-Nan.

With its three core values strong connections with industries, innovation and entrepreneurship, and ocean technologies, NKUST has established long-term collaborations with Taiwan local industries for more than 70 years. It is a long and tight connection between NKUST education and industrial development. Nowadays, NKUST further evolves to be a entrepreneurial university, which combines academic and administrative resources to create an ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship, fostered innovative and creative culture on campus and developed entrepreneurial features.

When Taiwan government strategically enforcing the development of high-tech industrial parks locat in southern Taiwan, NKUST is now working widely with neighbouring areas including industries and science parks in aerospace parts processing, advanced materials, smart manufacturing, marine technology and other industries to leverage the advantages of industries domestically and internationally. “At NKUST, we have created an ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship. Our main emphasis is on cultivating students’ creativity, practical skills, cross-disciplinary competences, and employment competitiveness. Marching ahead with the vision of ‘people-oriented’ and ‘value cocreation’, and in adherence of Taiwan government’s ‘New Southbound Policy’, NKUST is striving to enhance multilateral academic cooperation with universities in Southeast Asia, and strengthen international linkages”, signs off Dr. Wang Chia-Nan.
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