The 11th National Forum and 51st Academic Award Ceremony, the Ministry of Education
In his speech, President Chen congratulated the award winners and encouraged them to spread their wisdom and knowledge, as well as being role models for the nation's youngsters. Furthermore, President Chen pointed out that to achieve the goal of upgrading the level of research and teaching in the nation, the government, industries, and academia must work together. The government will also push forward administration/teaching segregation and amendment of the university laws to provide the higher education institutions a freer and more flexible academic environment, which will allow the nation's universities to develop into institutions of unique cultures.
Premier Chang said that the Executive Yuan proposed the 5-year-50-billion "Developing First-Class International University Research Centers Plan" and the 5-billion annual budgets for the "University Teaching Excellence Plan". These plans show the government's devotion to assisting universities to develop their own qualities, and create a fine environment for academic development. Premier Chang encouraged the award winners to start from Taiwan as the base for sustainable development and extend to the world with achievements and abilities.
Minister Tu expressed in his speech that the world's first-class universities did not get their names from advertisements or fine equipment, but excellence in academic achievements and their contributions to the development of human civilization. Development of academic research is a widely recognized standard for University ranking and the national forum and academic award are important indicators for academic researchers. In addition to commending the achievements and contributions of the award winners and conveying the deepest and most sincere congratulations to them, I hope that they will become the role models for the nation's academic researchers and lead the young students in getting to know the society, exploring the truth, and opening the road to greater knowledge. Therefore, in addition to allocating budgets for competitive programs, the Ministry of Education wishes to provide universities with an even more autonomous and multi-elemental academic environment for the creation of new knowledge and developing competition.