It’s been 96 years since it all began. Looking back, NPUST’s president, Chang-Hsien Tai, wanted to once again bring attention to the contributions of past generations. It’s clear: thanks to the vision and hard work of different people at different stages of the university’s history, NPUST now prospers.
And what does the future hold? Looking forward to NPUST’s centennial milestone, President Tai is emphasizing cooperation and interdisciplinary work. An example of this is the strategic alliance he just signed with Kaohsiung Medical University to integrate “precision health care” and “precision medicine” for the creation of a precision health industry for the future – enhancing technical capabilities and using resources more effectively.
Alumni bridge the past and the present, and their accomplishments inspire a brighter future. At the ceremony, President Tai took time to personally thank some of those who have offered kind and generous support back to the school, including former university president, Chou Chang-hung, who donated a 2 million NTD scholarship fund for students experiencing economic hardship. Tai also thanked two alumni from the Department of Forestry: Chairman Chin Chih Cheng, for hosting a grand Thanksgiving Dinner for the staff and alumni, and Tuan Jing-Hwa for helping to fund the Hongpu Reading Room. With many accomplishments in different sectors, NPUST’s alumni are continuously bringing honor to the school in many different ways.
On a solid foundation built on agriculture, the university has been moving toward a theme that emphasizes production, life and ecology. Some of the technical terms at the center of its development included “technological agriculture”, “ecological industry”, “platinum society” and “blue economics”. In short, the goal is to become more sophisticated, eco-friendly, supportive of elderly, and responsibly-resourceful. Inter-disciplinary activity is strongly emphasized—and the university’s seven colleges are united in the effort.
“Sustainability” is another term that is seldom absent from discussion at the school. And to bring added attention to this topic in its 96th year, President Tai organized for the First International Sustainable Development Conference (ISDC 2020) to take place back-to-back with the anniversary celebrations. The conference brought together distinguished academics, business representatives and government officials from from many countries to discuss ways in which they can all work to make concrete contributions to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Progress is taking place on many fronts. But, as former university president Chou Chang-hung remarked, “progress must take place in stages. It depends on outstanding professors to lead the way…. There is an old saying that ‘heroes are not concerned about coming from low birth. Every great structure was built from level ground.’ And as a cathedral to academic greatness, NPUST must continue to reach higher.” Over the years, this has been NPUST’s story—and as it looks forward to its 100th year as an academic institution, it will continue to pursue this respected calling.