Purdue University Visits College of Technology and Engineering, Promotes Transnational Cooperation and Knowledge Transfer
On 19 June, Purdue University faculty and students visited National Taiwan Normal University. In greeting the delegation, Executive Vice President Frank Ying pointed out the close relationship between Purdue University and NTNU. Previously, Purdue University's College of Liberal Arts and its College of Engineering had visited NTNU on 3 May; the Director of Purdue Tourism and Hospitality Research Center, Dr. Liping Cai, had also visited NTNU on 2 June.
Purdue University is located in the US Midwest state of Indiana, with a student population of more than 40,000. It is a top US public university, ranked 127th in the 2023 Times Higher Education World University Rankings (THE) and 129th in the QS World University Rankings. Neil Alden Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, and Ward Cunningham, the father of WIKI, had both graduated from Purdue University.
Vice President Ying also mentioned that the important relationship established in Taiwan by Purdue University can be traced all the way back to the U.S. Aid-Purdue Project in the 1950s; therefore, Purdue's visit carries a deep significance for NTNU and the latter hopes that the visit is not just the beginning, but will become part of a continuously occurring exchange.
The Purdue faculty and students learned from Associate Dean Kuen-Yi Lin of NTNU’s College of Technology and Engineering about the College’s nine departments, including the Department of Industrial Education, Department of Graphic Arts and Communication, Departments of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Graduate Institute and Undergraduate Program of Electro-Optical Engineering, and Undergraduate Program of Vehicle and Energy Engineering. NTNU’s College of Science and Technology has about 2,000 students along with international students from all over the world, demonstrating the multicultural nature of this College. Finally, Associate Dean Lin invited Purdue students to visit NTNU again in the future.
Through a welcome party, Purdue students were received by EMI bilingual volunteers who provided dishes such as bubble tea and sticky rice, allowing the visitors to experience Taiwanese food culture. Students and volunteers from the College of Technology and Engineering also led a DIY workshop in which Purdue students made their own airplane music boxes. During the small group interactions, workshop participants of both universities were able to learn more about each other’s cultures.