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The Taiwan team, trained by professors of NTNU, had a good showing at the 49th International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) 2017 in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand. A total of 279 students from 76 countries attended this year. Taiwan is ranked the first in the world with four golden medals. Yeh Yuan Chen from Taichung Municipal Taichung First Senior High School was ranked 2nd in personal world rankings.

What’s special about this year is that Prof. Chang I Jy is honored to be the Chairman of the international committee of 2017 and will continue to serve in 2018. She is the representative at the opening ceremony and the presenter of golden medals at the closing ceremony.

Prof. Lu Chia Jung from the Dept. of Chemistry lead a group of four, they are Yeh Yuan Chen from Taichung Municipal Taichung First Senior High School, Yuan Chung-Yueh and Fang Tung-Hua from Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School, Lin Wei-Yu from National Tainan First Senior High school0.

According to Prof. Lu, Taiwan and USA are the only two teams that won four gold medals this year. He thinks that the steadiness of students and the selection process which has been practiced for years are the key to stand out. The questions aren’t too difficult this year so it’s important to do well in the laboratory exam. Teams that used to perform well like Korea, China and Russia didn’t do well this year.

To recognize students’ outstanding performance, the MOE formulated and issued special regulations. The Regulations for Preferred Status Admission to Institutions of Higher Education for Award Holders for the International Mathematics and Science Olympiads and International Science Fair stipulate that those who win gold, silver, or bronze medals in the IChO can be automatically admitted into related university departments, or recommended for admission to any department. Additionally, those who win a gold medal will receive a 200,000 NT dollar scholarship; those who win a silver medal will receive a 100,000 NT dollar scholarship; and those who win a bronze medal will receive a 50,000 NT dollar scholarship. A student who wins two or more different awards during the same academic year can only apply for the most valuable scholarship he or she qualifies for.

Taiwan has participated in the IChO since 1992, and has performed very well each year. To date, Taiwan has won 49 gold, 43 silver, and 11 bronze medals, which put Taiwan in the fifth place for the last ten years. Taiwan was ranked as top 1 in 1993, 1997, 2009, 2013, 2015 and 2017.

The next ICho will be held in Czech Republic and Slovakia. The team of Taiwan will continue to keep up with the excellence performance.