NTNU Expands Global Partnerships at AIEA 2025, Strengthens Ties with UT Austin
The 2025 Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA) Annual Conference, held from March 2 to 5 in Houston, Texas, brought together higher education leaders to discuss strategies for international collaboration. NTNU President Cheng-Chih Wu, who also serves as Chairperson of the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET), led a delegation of 13 representatives from seven Taiwanese universities to advance Taiwan-U.S. academic partnerships and international engagement.
This year’s AIEA conference, an annual gathering of international affairs leaders from universities across the United States, focused on the theme "Building Bridges: Leading Internationalization in a Changing World."
NTNU’s delegation included Vice President for International Affairs Yi-De Liu and Director of the Office of Public Affairs Min-Ping Kang. At the invitation of Sonia Feigenbaum, Senior Vice Provost for Global Engagement at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), they participated in discussions on alumni relations and fundraising strategies between Taiwanese and American universities. The delegation also met with members of the NTNU Houston Alumni Association and visited Rice University to strengthen academic ties.
Taiwanese STEM Students Participate in Research at Rice University
On March 3, the NTNU delegation attended the AIEA opening ceremony before visiting Rice University for discussions with Professor Junichiro Kono, host of the MACHI Program.
The MACHI Overseas Research and Internship Program provides female STEM undergraduates with a three-week online course followed by a five-week research internship. This year, for the first time, two NTNU seniors—Hsin-he Lin from the Department of Chemistry and Wen-yen Wu from the Department of Physics—were selected for the program.
As part of the program, the two students collaborated with researchers at Rice University and engaged in cross-cultural exchanges with nearly 20 students from National Taiwan University, National Chung Hsing University, and several leading Japanese universities. Their participation reflects the increasing international engagement of Taiwanese students in STEM fields.
That evening, NTNU delegates attended Taiwan Night, co-hosted by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Houston, the University of St. Thomas in Houston, and FICHET, where they met with representatives from NTNU’s global academic partners.
NTNU Discusses Alumni Fundraising Strategies at AIEA
On March 4, at the "Building Bridges: International Education and Advancement" roundtable, Public Affairs Director Min-Ping Kang shared NTNU’s approach to alumni fundraising alongside UT Austin’s Senior Vice Provost Sonia Feigenbaum and other panelists. The session attracted more than 50 attendees.
NTNU currently has 190,000 alumni, 23 overseas alumni centers, and a North American Alumni Foundation. Kang highlighted the university’s fundraising growth, with annual donations rising from NT$26 million in 2018 to NT$163.44 million in 2022, a more than sixfold increase, followed by continued stable growth.
She identified four key factors behind this success:
- A tiered donation pyramid that segments donors based on financial capacity and engagement levels.
- The establishment of the North American Alumni Foundation, which has supported fundraising efforts.
- Cross-departmental collaboration between the alumni center, fundraising team, and Office of International Affairs.
- Long-term relationship-building through leadership engagement in alumni fundraising.
Expanding NTNU’s Global Alumni Network
On March 5, at a roundtable with UT Austin’s Senior Vice Provost for Global Engagement Sonia Feigenbaum and Indiana University’s Associate Vice President for International Affairs Miguel Ayllon, Vice President for International Affairs Yi-De Liu discussed NTNU’s internationalization efforts, alumni engagement strategies, and opportunities for future collaboration.
Liu emphasized NTNU’s role as one of Taiwan’s most internationalized universities and introduced the Global BEST initiative, which focuses on Global Links, Global Experience, Global Environment, and Global Talent. The Global Links initiative aims to strengthen partnerships with leading international institutions and expand NTNU’s global alumni network.
Liu also outlined NTNU’s alumni engagement strategies, categorized into three key areas:
- Economic capital: NTNU’s centennial year marked a historic high in alumni donations. Additional support from alumni such as Yi-Fa Lee and the National Development Council contributed to industry-academia collaboration in green energy through the College of Interdisciplinary Industry Academia Innovation.
- Social capital: The university established the Principals Association of National and Private High Schools, connecting 520 principals across Taiwan to contribute to educational policy discussions and knowledge-sharing.
- Cultural capital: Liu highlighted the contributions of Shumei Shih, NTNU’s 18th Outstanding Alumna and a professor at UCLA, for her role in strengthening NTNU-UCLA academic collaboration. He also shared the story of distinguished international alumnus Uğur Rıfat Karlova from Turkey, the first foreign national to win a Golden Bell Award. This year, Karlova returned to NTNU to teach a cross-cultural course, which received excellent reviews from students.
NTNU and UT Austin Expand Research and Exchange Partnerships
As one of NTNU's ten key sister universities, UT Austin has been a key partner in international collaborations and academic exchange.
Since August 2022, NTNU and UT Austin have engaged in a series of high-level meetings and initiatives, including a university-level memorandum of understanding and a student exchange agreement signed in November 2022, which has resulted in four NTNU students participating in UT Austin exchange programs.
In March 2023, NTNU hosted the largest post-pandemic Forum on the Internationalization of Higher Education, featuring international directors from UT Austin, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Glasgow, and the University of Burgundy. In July 2024, the two universities collaborated on EMI teacher training for bilingual universities, sending 21 faculty members from Taiwan to UT Austin for a two-week professional development program.
This year, NTNU and UT Austin continue to strengthen collaboration through:
- Joint presentations at AIEA and the Asia-Pacific Association for International Education (APAIE) Annual Conference in New Delhi.
- A Global Research Forum in May, hosted by NTNU’s College of International and Social Sciences.
- A joint seed program to fund transnational research collaboration in chemistry.