Expanding Cross-Strait Academic Exchanges
Peking University Faculty and Students Invited to Participate in the
“Peking University Day”

Pursuing excellence while marching toward the top of the world has always been the goal of our University. Following the instance of December 20th, 2010, when President Si-Chen Lee led over a hundred faculty and students to participate in the “National Taiwan University Day” launched in Beijing, National Taiwan University, in return, invited faculty and students from Peking University to participate in the “Peking University Day” launched within the NTU campus on May 9th. During their visit, President QiFeng Zhou of Peking University signed memorandums of agreements with President Si-Chen Lee of National Taiwan University, which included agreement for exchange of students, agreement for exchange of library resources, and agreement for academic exchange with the School of Government of Peking University, etc.. These agreements highlighted the ways which both universities will embark upon to create a new cooperation relationship and to expand cross-strait academic exchanges.

In delivering his welcome speech, President Si-chen Lee Pointed out that, it was a rewarding experience for him to walk into the campus of Peking University on December 10th last year, as he got a chance to personally appreciate the strong fragrance of humanities in that school. As we hold the “Peking University Day” in our campus for the first time, we are creating two historical records, he said. The first is that we are launching “the Peking University Day” for the first time; the second is that President Qi-Feng Zhou is the first president of Peking University to address the NTU faculty and students since President Ssu Nien Fu and President Shih Hu did the same thing 50 years ago. President Zhou’s speech is bound to co-exist with history and survive the passage of times. At the end of his speech, President Lee hoped that the exchanges between the two schools would take root, then blossom everywhere and come into fruition.

In his speech entitled “Working hand in hand to march toward excellence,” President QiFeng Zhou of Peking University pointed out that , both Peking University and National Taiwan University faced new challenges. This, he said, are the bases upon which the two universities decided to cross the barriers of the Taiwan Strait and embark upon the historical co-operations. With regard to future partnership, President Zhou proposed three ideas. He said that both universities should establish a stable system for scientific and technological personnel exchange so as to make use of our academic advantages, and to walk hand in hand toward creating a better tomorrow for cross strait educational and cultural exchanges while preserving and expanding our Chinese culture.

On the Peking University Day, the Colleges of both universities carried on academic exchanges. Every College of National Taiwan Universities arranged guided tours for our visitors from Beijing. In addition, the NTU College of Law and the NTU College of Social Sciences signed Agreements for academic exchange with the College of Law and the School of Government of Peking University, Other NTU Colleges such as the College of Medicine, the College of Liberal Arts, the College of Engineering and the College of Bio-resources and Agriculture offered briefings and guided tours for the visitors from Peking University, while discussing the methods and directions for future academic cooperation and faculty/student exchanges,. The Department of Accounting hoped to capitalize on this opportunity to discuss exchange of doctoral students and a joint doctoral program.

The “X University Day” is Peking University’s way of conducting academic exchange with its sister schools. In recent years Peking University has launched University Days with world renowned Universities such as Oxford and Yale. As National Taiwan Universities occupies the leading position in higher education in Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong, Peking University decided to hold the “Taiwan University Day” on December 20th, 2010 to strengthen intercollegiate exchanges and academic co-operations with our University. We, in turn, launched the “Peking University Day” for the first time within our campus as a positive way toward opening a new mode of dialogue between our two universities, as part of our agenda toward internationalization, also as part of our efforts toward expanding the frontiers of cross-strait academic co-operation, and creating a new context for global higher education.

The “Time and space rendezvous between Taiwan University and Peking University” special exhibition focused its theme on the time and space crossings between the two universities. In the context of time, both schools originated from the First Japanese War. The War can be said to be the first rendezvous between the two universities. Later on , President Ssu-Nien Fu, President Ssu-Liang Chien and many other faculty from Peking University taught at NTU and laid its foundation, this can be said to be the 2nd time and space rendezvous. The 3rd rendezvous shows the achievements of the various exchanges and co-operations between the libraries of both universities. In terms of campus space, both universities have old campuses that abound with historical relishes. They carry bountiful memories but also face the challenges of becoming a new university. The dates of this special exhibition are from May 9th to May 31st.

It is widely known that NTU students are good at many things, So, besides academic exchanges, the exchanges between student cultural societies of both universities are also vitally important. On the night of May 9th, at 7 p.m. and in the auditorium of the first Student Activity Center, the multi-talented students of both universities mounted a wonderful show. The student clubs from Peking University brought newly innovated dance of the Dai people, newly innovated folk songs of the Yi people and other folk songs, whereas the Absoundtrack Club of NTU presented group dances of the Aborigine people, the Magic Club presented a magic show with many miraculous effects, the Greewave Dance Club and the International Standard Dancing Club(Ballroom Dancing) presented passionate dancing, and the Generations Orchestra sang elaborate songs. The campaign toward internationalization has been waged in NTU for years. On August 19th, 2010, the Third Law to Import Mainland Chinese Students passed the third reading in the Legislature, so the policy for cross-strait education was officially set. Facing an environment in which higher education becomes increasingly competitive, all first class educational institutions do their best toward internationalization. In view of this trend, President Si-Chen Lee maintained that internationalization can provide domestic students a more inspiring learning environment, and the final beneficiary of such a development is indigenous creativity and power of innovation. The activity mentioned above is clear and ample indication of National Taiwan University’s pragmatic and forward-looking policy toward internationalization.