Association of National Universities of Science & Technology of Taiwan Delegation visits University of Ljubljana & University of Zagreb -Ministry of Education Republic of China (Taiwan)

Association of National Universities of Science & Technology of Taiwan Delegation visits University of Ljubljana & University of Zagreb

Date: 2014-07-17

Association of National Universities of Science & Technology of Taiwan Delegation visits University of Ljubljana & University of Zagreb

Dr. Leehter Yao, the President of the Association of National Universities of Science and Technology, led a delegation of the presidents of nine of Taiwan’s most prestigious universities of science and technology on a ten-day visit to Europe in July. The Association of National Universities of Science and Technology is a non-profit organization which aims to promote academic and technological exchange in Taiwan and abroad. The purpose of their visit was to discuss cooperation with universities in Central Europe. The delegation was met in Vienna by Mr. Lien-gene Chen, Ambassador to Austria, and the head of the Education Division, Ms. Hsiang-Yueh Wang, before they left for Slovenia.

On July 9, the delegation visited the University of Ljubljana where they were met by Vice Rector Prof. Maja Makovec Brenčič, Vice Rector Prof. Goran Turk, eight deans of faculties, and a representative of the International Office and discussed opportunities for educational and research cooperation. The University of Ljubljana, founded in 1919, is famous for the quality of its social and natural sciences, and technical study programs. It is the largest university in Slovenia, offering over 300 different undergraduate and postgraduate programs to over 50,000 students. It employs 30 percent of all the registered researchers in Slovenia.

After their successful talks in Ljubljana in Slovenia, the delegation headed to Croatia on July 11 to visit the University of Zagreb. This is the oldest and largest university in Southeastern Europe, founded in 1669. The University of Zagreb offers over 600 study programs to more than 70,000 students. It is strongly research-oriented, and contributes to over 50% of Croatia’ annual research output. The university presidents from Taiwan met and talked with the University of Zagreb’s Rector Aleksa Bjeliš, Vice-rector Bojan Baletić, the Head of the International Office, Dr. Branka Roščić, and Deans and Vice-Deans.

The delegation also visited a Business Management Institute and Corvinus University, both in Budapest in Hungary.

Speaking after their study tour, Dr. Yao stressed the importance of tertiary educations institutions in Taiwan establishing cooperation with universities in Eastern Europe, something which is still rare. He emphasized that the basic technical research of the institutions they visited is splendid, and that this is an excellent reason for Taiwanese universities of science and technology to investigate setting up cooperative relationships with them. Universities in Taiwan and in Eastern Europe could mutually benefit from and complement one another.