Officials at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST), National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (NPUST) and National Yunlin University of Science and Technology yesterday said that they would promote a merger of the three.
If successful, it would be the largest higher-education merger in Taiwan’s history.
The new institute would have more than 1,200 lecturers and 32,000 students, the universities said.
Photo: Lo Hsin-chen, Taipei Times
While they have yet set a timetable for the merger, they said that they hope to have plans approved at university council meetings by the end of this year.
The plan has been reported to the Ministry of Education, they said.
The goal is to have the new institute recognized as a top Asian university in three to five years after the merger, they said.
NTUST president Liao Ching-jong (廖慶榮) said that he and NPUST president Tai Chang-hsien (戴昌賢) began discussing a merger between three about a month ago.
They agreed that having a third technological university from central Taiwan would make the new university more globally competitive, Liao said.
As the goal is to increase scale, none of the three universities would be downsized, Tai said.
Given that the process would involve many legal issues, they have asked lawmakers to help promote amendments to regulations covering public universities, Tai said.
If the merger succeeds, it would become a new model for mergers, he said.
National Yunlin University of Science and Technology president Yang Neng-shu (楊能舒) said that he would be happy to see the plan succeed, adding that he would establish a panel to handle tasks related to the plan.
While the three have not decided on a name for the new institute, they said they have agreed that “National Taiwan University of Science and Technology” would likely be kept.
The three might be renamed NTUST’s Taipei campus, Yunlin campus and Pingtung campus, they said, adding that the final name must be agreed to by all three universities.
Yang Yu-hui (楊玉惠), director of the ministry’s Technological and Vocational Education Department, said that she would be happy to see the merger succeed, as long as it would help make the universities more competitive and that there would be no exchange of benefits.
Expenses, faculty and student numbers are expected to remain the same for the three following the merger, Yang Yu-hui said.
Additional reporting by Wu Po-hsuan
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
ANOTHER OPTION: The 13-year-old, whose residency status was revoked for holding a Chinese passport, could still apply for residency on humanitarian grounds, the government said The Executive Yuan has rejected an appeal from a 13-year-old Chinese student surnamed Lu (陸), whose permanent residency was revoked after immigration officers discovered he held a Chinese passport. Lu in December 2023 applied to settle in Taiwan to be with his mother, surnamed Lin (林), who is a Taiwan resident, an appeal decision released this month by the Executive Yuan showed. Lin settled in Taiwan after marrying a Taiwanese man in 2003, but the two divorced in 2011, and after marrying a Chinese man, she had Lu, the Executive Yuan’s appeals committee said. Lu’s application was approved in December 2024, and in
RSS