News

Visit of South Korean Representative in Taiwan

On the afternoon of June 24th, Baek-sang Cho, the South Korean Representative in Taiwan, visited NTNU. Cho was received by NTNU President Kuo-en Chang, the director of the Mandarin Training Center, Howard Hao-jan Chen, and the director of the Center of Public Affairs, Wen-Pin Hope Lee. Representative Cho hopes to promote further exchange between Korean universities and NTNU by gaining a better understanding of NTNU's learning environment and resources.

Cho graduated from Seoul National University in South Korea and the University of Pennsylvania in the USA. He has served as a diplomat in the USA and Mainland China. In April of this year, Cho took over as the new South Korean representative in Taiwan. Since then, Cho has visited many places around Taiwan. On this stop, Cho paid a visit to NTNU. President Kuo-en Chang stated, 'A South Korean university once held an art exhibition at NTNU and we held our own art exhibition there. In fact, we can also have even closer exchange in the area of music. We hope that Representative Cho can help NTNU to engage in even more meaningful exchange with universities in South Korea.'

Representative Cho said that, 'Korean people want to learn Mandarin. In the past, most Koreans went to China to study Mandarin. Now, more and more students are coming to Taiwan to study and do research. Taiwan has fresh air and an excellent environment. President Chang already mentioned exchange in the areas of art and music. There will certainly be deeper and more meaningful exchange in the future.'

President Chang also said, 'NTNU's Extension School of Continuing Education offers Korean Language classes. We also have quite a few Korean teachers. We must be the most popular place in Taiwan to study Korean. Sometimes more students sign up for Korean language classes than we can accommodate. Through further exchange, we should be able to recruit more professional teachers from Korea. By doing so, we'll be able to offer more opportunities to our students.'

Representative Cho is very interested in the Korean exchange students studying at NTNU. Director Chen of the Mandarin Training Center pointed out that the countries with the most students studying Mandarin at NTNU include Japan, Korea and the USA. South Korea is ranked second, with about 150 students studying at the Mandarin Studies Center per semester.

At the end of the visit, President Chang presented Representative Cho with tea and teacups. After observing the learning environment at the Mandarin Training Center, all parties hope that NTNU and the universities in South Korea can cooperate more closely in the future.