Saint Lucia’s Ambassador to Taiwan, Dr. Robert Kennedy Lewis, made a special trip to the south of Taiwan together with Second Secretary Ms. Cleisha-Bernise Springer and Executive Assistant to the Ambassador Ms. Adriana Hsu to visit to National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (NPUST) and meet with the seven Saint Lucia nationals studying there.
The delegation was received on March 27th, 2023 by NPUST President Chin-Lung Chang, College of Agriculture Dean Jue-Liang Hsu, International College Dean Jik-Chang Leong, Tropical Agriculture and International Cooperation Director Rebecca H. Chung, Office of International Affairs Dean Vincent Shih and other university representatives.
NPUST’s President Chin-Lung Chang said “international exchange is very important to NPUST, and the university has spared no effort to assist Taiwan’s allies in cultivating professional talent. The students from St. Lucia are outstanding—in addition to their excellent academic performance, they also actively participate in school activities, and we are very happy to see them enjoying their university life at NPUST”.
Ambassador Robert Lewis said “St. Lucia’s main industry is agriculture, and we are very grateful for the care that Taiwan provides to St. Lucia students. The students who graduated from NPUST have gone on to make great contributions after returning home. NPUST is a leading institute in Taiwan when it comes to talent cultivation in science and technology and we hope to see more exchange in the future.”
NPUST established its Tropical Agriculture Research Institution in August, 1997 and in the following year began recruiting foreign students and members of Taiwan’s agricultural foreign aid corps to take part in advanced graduate level research.
With each year that followed, the number of foreign students applying to the institute increased, and by August 2004 it was renamed as the Research Institution for Tropical Agriculture and International Cooperation. Two years later, as students began coming in from Central and South America for undergraduate education, the Department Tropical Agriculture and International Cooperation was formed to encompass both the undergraduate and graduate programs.
The Tropical Agriculture program at NPUST was one of the first university programs in Taiwan to be fully taught in the English language. Currently providing bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral level degrees, the department is cultivating top talent in the fields of tropical agricultural resource planning, tropical agricultural production and management, and tropical agricultural resource protection and application. They also share strong ties with many other departments at NPUST, including Agribusiness Management, Animal Science, Aquaculture, Food Science, Forestry, Biomechatronics, Plant Medicine, Rural Planning, Veterinary Medicine, and Wood Science. One of the characteristics of the Tropical Agriculture and International Cooperation program is that students can choose what they want to study from these other departments according to their own interests and intended pathways of development.
By the year 2020, the department had seen 1,462 foreign students through to graduation. These students came from a long list of 61 countries including Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Chad, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Fiji, Gambia, Germany, Guatemala, Grenada, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kingdom of Eswatini, Laos, Liberia, Macedonia, Malawi, Malaysia, Mexico, Micronesia, Mongolia, Nauru, Brunei, Nepal, Nicaragua, Oman, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Republic of Ivory Coast, Republic of Kiribati, Mozambique, South Korea, Senegal, Slovakia, Solomon Islands, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Thailand, Tuvalu, United Kingdom, United States, Uganda, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.
At a time when Taiwan face times of diplomatic sensitivity, Ambassador Robert Louis’s visit to the school, encouragement to the students, simple friendship, and enthusiasm for education were all warmly welcomed. National Pingtung University of Science and Technology is home to many foreign students from many different parts of the world, all sharing the same serious attitude towards their studies. Every time special events and celebrations are held, the school campus becomes like a “United Nations”, with people of all colors coming together in their different costumes to share their culture and cuisine with one another. The warm and friendly atmosphere, rich school spirit, and unique approach to development makes NPUST a campus that is really one-of-a kind in Taiwan.
