NTNU Visits Four Prestigious South Korean Universities, Solidifies International Presence
National Taiwan Normal University President Cheng-Chih Wu led a five-member delegation to South Korea from August 3 to 7, meeting with four of South Korea's top institutions. NTNU has close exchanges with Korean universities, with 32 MOUs, 22 Student Exchange (SEA) and 7 Dual Degree Programs (DDP) signed so far. This time, the NTNU delegation not only consolidated existing partnerships, such as meeting with Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and Busan University of Foreign Studies, but also signed University-wide Memorandums of Understanding and Student Exchange Agreements with Pukyong National University and Pusan National University.
On August 5th, the delegation visited Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS). HUFS’ relationship with NTNU began in 1985 with a bilateral collaboration between the Chinese and Mandarin Departments, and was expanded to a university-wide collaboration in 2005. In July 2024, President Jeong-Woon PARK visited NTNU. This time, President Wu and his team visited HUFS to strengthen the relationship between the two universities, and to discuss the 2+2 Dual Degree Program. The visit ended up with a campus tour.
On August 6th, the delegation visited Busan University of Foreign Studies (BUFS) in the morning. The uni-wide MOU between NTNU and BUFS was initiated in 2009. This time, NTNU delegation met with President Chang Soon-Heung and other BUFS members to discuss deepening the existing relationship, such as establishing student exchanges. Then, the delegation visited Pukyong National University (PKNU) in the afternoon. PKNU has excellent research strength and well-developed educational programs in the fields of aquaculture and marine environment, as well as engineering and natural sciences. NTNU delegation met with President Young-Soo Jang and his team, and signed the university-level MOU and SEA. They also visited campus facilities, libraries and gymnasiums.
On August 7th, the delegation visited Pusan National University (PNU). PNU is one of the top ten flagship universities in South Korea, along with our sister universities such as Seoul National University, Jeonbuk National University, and Chungnam National University. NTNU's collaboration with PNU began in February 2023 with the establishment of a Faculty MOU between the Institute of Humanities Research and the College of Liberal Arts. The delegation met with President Jae Weon Choi and his team, and signed the university-level MOU and SEA during the meeting. Both sides also exchanged ideas and discussed future cooperation plans in education, science, technology and humanities. PNU also indicated that the successful experience of NTNU MTC would serve as a reference for the promotion of its language center. The NTNU delegation then toured the PNU campus, including the Mechanical Engineering Hall.
Overall, NTNU reached a number of cooperation agreements with four top South Korean institutions during their visits. In addition to consolidating existing ties, new relationships were established with Pusan National University to expand the scale of cooperation, and with Pukyong National University to establish new cooperation and student exchange agreements. Meanwhile, extensive dialogues were made in the areas of humanities and social science, education, and language teaching. These collaborations strengthen NTNU’s ties with South Korea and open new avenues for academic growth, reflecting NTNU’s commitment to providing students and faculty with meaningful global experiences and maintaining academic excellence. (Writer: Dan Yvan Andre BALLIF, and Yu-Chen HSIAO from OIA)
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