On March 13^th , NTU and the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education jointly held APRU Forum in the 2^nd Student Activity Center, whose theme centered around “Benchmarking Asia Pacific Universities in the Global Era: Competition and Collaboration.” Delegates from over 25 famous universities both home and abroad, including UC Berkeley, Tokyo University, etc., met with delegates from Taiwan, and through lectures and panel discussions, they shared experiences in higher education, brainstorming each other to formulate concrete strategies toward becoming universities par excellence.

In addition to participating in the Forum, delegates from the alliance also attended APRU’s 4^th annual Senior Staff Meeting on March 11^th and 12^th, organized by NTU. At the meeting, key activities for the coming year were discussed in depth. As Dr. Shen-Tung, Director of the Center for International Academic Exchange pointed out, NTU broadened the avenue for international educational exchange by participating in the actual planning of various activities of the Alliance.

APRU(The Alliance of Pacific Rim Universities) is an organization of the research type universities of the Pacific Rim. Founded in 1997, its goal was to promote the enhancement and exchange of economics, science and culture of Pacific Rim nations. Member universities now include 37 prestigious universities from countries like U.S., Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, and China. NTU is the only member university from Taiwan. Aside from consolidating interactivity and exchange with other member schools and promoting the achievements of higher education in Taiwan and its prospects, NTU has actively sought to obtain the merits from other schools in international affairs and educational promotion, and has also tried to undertake numerous activities over the years.