University of Cambridge Recruits NCKU Students

TAINAN, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Outstanding Taiwanese students have drawn attention from the prestigious University of Cambridge to provide scholarships and doctor training programs to recruit them to study there. Mr. Michael Joseph O'Sullivan, CMG, Director of the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust and Cambridge Overseas Trust, and Mrs. Christine Skinner, Director of British Council Taipei, visited National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Tainan, Taiwan, on Nov. 16^th, 2009. They expressed the wish of University of Cambridge to build close cooperation with Taiwan’s higher education institutions actively to recruit outstanding students.

“She has actively contacted us about the students’ overseas programs and international scholarships. That is the main reason why we came up here.”

Prof. Da Hsuan Feng , Senior Executive Vice President of NCKU and Prof. H. Jenny Su, Vice President for International Affairs of NCKU, cordially received Mr. O'Sullivan and Mrs. Skinner.

Mr. O’Sullivan emphasized how the University of Cambridge strived to recruit outstanding students worldwide through collaboration and joint financial aid programs with other prestigious universities, industries, and institutions worldwide. “This is a mutual benefit between two of us,” said Mr. O’Sullivan.

Impressed by Taiwanese students’ accomplishments in receiving international awards and creative innovations, Mr. O’Sullivan hopes to see more Taiwanese students coming to the University of Cambridge.

Prof. Feng is highly interested in this program and said that both President Michael Ming-Chiao Lai and he had worked abroad for a long time and are making efforts in internationalization of NCKU. He is delighted with the honor and opportunity for NCKU students to enter the University of Cambridge, and said that higher education in UK, especially the University of Cambridge, is a good model for NCKU to learn.

Mrs. Skinner praised Prof. Su for her valuable contributions to NCKU students. “She has actively contacted us about the students’ overseas programs and international scholarships. That is the main reason why we came up here.”

Besides NCKU, Mr. O’Sullivan also visited National Taiwan University (NTU), National Tsing Hua University (NTHU), National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), Academia Sinica, Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), and National Science Council (NSC).

About Mr. Michael Joseph O’Sullivan, CMG

Mr. Michael O’Sullivan, CMG, became Director of the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust and Cambridge Overseas Trust on 1 October 2008.

He spent much of his earlier career in China, most recently as Secretary General of the European Chamber of Commerce in China (2007~2008), where he promoted the interests of European companies in gaining greater access to China’s domestic market.

About Cambridge Commonwealth Trust and the Cambridge Overseas Trust

The Cambridge Commonwealth Trust (for Commonwealth countries, excluding the United Kingdom) and the Cambridge Overseas Trust (formerly the Chancellor's Fund, for countries outside the Commonwealth) were established in 1982 and 1989 respectively by the University of Cambridge under the Chairman-ship of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales to provide financial assistance for outstanding students from overseas who, without help, would be unable to take up their places at Cambridge. Since 1982, the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust has brought 8,139 students from 68 countries to Cambridge, the Cambridge Overseas Trust 6,252 students from 113 countries.

The Cambridge Commonwealth Trust and the Cambridge Overseas Trust offer a number of scholarships and bursaries, under a multiplicity of schemes, to enable candidates of outstanding academic merit from around the world (excluding the United Kingdom) to pursue courses of study or research at the University of Cambridge. These awards are for all levels of graduate and undergraduate study.

About National Cheng Kung University (NCKU):

NCKU is located in the ancient city of Tainan, the historical and ancient cultural capital city of Taiwan, which boasts more than 50 national relics sanctioned by the government and is approximately 250 kilometers south of Taipei. It is connected to all major cities in Taiwan by the recently initiated state-of-the-art Taiwan High Speed Rail. Further, this historical heritage is the pride of Tainan City and represents a rich cultural resource to NCKU. The technological sectors in the Southern Taiwan Science Park offer students at NCKU with a stage to apply what they have learned into practice.

With three quarters of a century of distinguished history, with well over 130,000 powerful alumni now dotting the globe, many have achieved supreme successes in arts, business, education, science, technology and healthcare and are ready and willing to assist the 22,000 academic selective students and 1200 academic faculty members. Currently, both have an international flavor, with enormous regional support, and there is a permeating culture of proactive intellectual growth on the world’s stage NCKU in Tainan, Taiwan, has evolved from its engineering genesis into a powerful and comprehensive research international university in the Asia Pacific.

Since NCKU’s establishment in 1931, it has developed into a research intensive and comprehensive university with integrated academic fields in nine colleges: Liberal Arts, Sciences, Engineering, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Planning & Design, Management, Social Sciences, Medicine, and Bioscience & Biotechnology. NCKU currently offers 40 undergraduate programs (excluding the Program of Bachelor’s Degree), 78 master’s degree programs, 54 doctoral programs and 20 master’s degree programs for working professionals.

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