NTU President Si-chen Lee set off on an historic nine-day trip to Russia on September 9. His visit included the first formal bilateral meetings between the heads of institutions of higher learning in Taiwan and Russia. The NTU delegation included Dean of the Office of Research and Development Ji-wang Chern, Deputy Dean of the Office of International Affairs Hsin-yu Lin and Vice Superintendent of the NTU Hospital Hong-nerng Ho. During the nine day trip, NTU inked academic exchange agreements with several prestigious Russian institutions.

President Lee’s delegation visited M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Saint Petersburg State University, the Scientific-Educational Center of Nanotechnologies of the Saint Petersburg Academic University of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the National Research University of Electronic Technology and the Institute of Radio-engineering and Electronics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

During the visit, President Lee signed a graduate student exchange agreement with M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University and an inter-institution agreement as well as a student exchange agreement with Saint Petersburg State University. Taiwan’s National Science Council also signed an inter-institution agreement with the National Research University of Electronic Technology.

The signing of four agreements with three leading Russian institutions established a firm foundation for a new era of cooperation between institutions of higher learning in Taiwan and Russia, and demonstrates the great success of President Lee’s trip.

Beside these historic agreements, President Lee also met with several prominent Russians, including Zhores Ivanovich Alferov, president of the Saint Petersburg Academic University and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2000. The two discussed possible cooperation plans for the future and hoped that their meeting would lead to deepening relations between their institutions. President Lee also extended his heartfelt invitation to President Alferov to visit NTU. President Alferov responded enthusiastically that he would do his best to schedule a visit to NTU.

President Lee met with Saint Petersburg State University President Nikolai Mikhailovich Kropachev on September 12 and M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University President Victor Antonovich Sadovnichiy on September 15. These two institutions enjoy the special status of being the only ones to fall under the direct administration of the Russian federal government.