National Cheng Kung University

About NCKU

National Cheng Kung University (NCKU; Chinese: 國立成功大學; pinyin: Guólì Chénggōng Dàxué) is a research-led comprehensive university in Tainan, Taiwan. It is named after the given name of Koxinga, a Chinese military leader who drove theDutch colonists from Taiwan and founded the Kingdom of Tungning.

NCKU is one of the most prestigious universities in Taiwan, with a high reputation in science, engineering, medicine, management,planning and design. U.S. News & World Report ranked it the #22 Best Global University for Engineering and Computer Science in 2014. Times Higher Education- QS World University Rankings and Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities, NCKU was ranked second or third among all universities in Taiwan.Many surveys throughout the years have shown that its students are most desired by Taiwanese companies. NCKU has 9 colleges, 40 departments, 82 graduate institutes, and 54 research centers, and it is also a major university, educational, and area-network center in Taiwan.

NCKU is among the four universities of the Taiwan Comprehensive University System.

NCKU has 11 campuses: Cheng-Kung, Sheng-Li, Kuang-Fu, Cheng-Xin, Tzu-Chiang, Ching-Yeh, Li-Hsing, Dong Ning, Kuei-Jen, An-Nan and Dou-Liou Campuses.

On January 12, 2011, the Y. S. Sun Green Building Research Center was inaugurated. It is the world's first green educational center as well as Taiwan's first zero carbon building. The 4,800 m2 (52,000 sq ft)-facility cost NT$30 million (US$4.41 million) to construct, far below the original NT$180 million budget. Natural ventilation, limited power usage, reduced window size, and energy efficient lighting all contribute to the building's carbon neutrality.

• College of Liberal Arts

  The College of Liberal Arts (shortened as "the College" in the followings) traces its origins back to the former College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, founded in 1956, and composed of the three Departments: Chinese Literature, Mathematics and Physics. With the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature (established in 1957) and the Department of History (1969), the College was officially approved to operate as an independent academic institution, made up of the Departments of Chinese Literature, Foreign Languages and Literature and History.

  From 1985 to 2002, the three departments of the College gradually expanded with the establishment of their graduate programs. In 1985, the Graduate Institute of History and Languages was founded as an MA program, which was renamed in 1993 as the Graduate Institute of History under the Department of History. In 1996, the Graduate Institute of History established its doctoral program. The Department of Chinese Literature launched its MA program in 1991, and established its doctoral program in 1995. The Department of Foreign Languages and Literature started its MA program in 1993, and established its doctoral program in 1999. In addition, in 1994 the Graduate Institute of Arts was founded in the College as an MA program, and in 1999 the Graduate Institute of Taiwanese Literature was established as an MA program, which laid the cornerstone for the establishment of the Department of Taiwanese Literature in 2002, complete with undergraduate and graduate programs.

  As the College placed more emphasis on the development of graduate programs, the three Departments of Chinese Literature, Foreign Languages and Literature, and History were compelled to phase out their evening undergraduate programs to make way for further development of postgraduate education. The Department of History began to phase out its evening undergraduate program in 2000, while the two Departments of Chinese Literature and Foreign Languages and Literature stopped recruiting students into such in 2004.

  In sum, the College now has 127 fulltime faculty members (43 professors, 51 associate professors, 22 assistant professors, 11 instructors), 1,452 students (963 undergraduate students, 351 MA students and 138 doctoral students), and 31 administrative and other staff (14 officially-employed staff, 13 project assistants and 4 janitors) with four undergraduate programs, six graduate programs, and various language programs, which constitute a strong foundation for the cultivation of a humanistic spirit in the NCKU community.

• College of Arts and Sciences

  The college of Arts and Sciences was originally established in 1959. In 1969, it was split into two colleges: the College of Sciences and the College of Liberal Arts. At present, the College of Sciences houses four departments and two institutes: Departments of Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Earth Sciences; and Institutes of Electro-optical Science and Engineering, Satellite Informatics and Earth Environment.

  In addition to the above four departments and two institutes, the College of Sciences is also home of four multidisciplinary research centers. They are Earth Dynamic System Research Center, Center for Quantum Information Science, Center for Theoretical Sciences, Plasma and Space Science Center.

• College of Engineering

• College of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

  College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) originated from Department of Electrical Engineering which was founded in 1931. After 84 years of program development and producing more than 10,000 electrical and computer engineering alumni, College of EECS was formally established in 2003. 
  The EECS faculty includes 120 members, who all have doctoral degrees and are educating more than 2700 students including about 40% undergraduates and 60% graduate students, and carrying out extramural research and development projects worth about US$12M and publishing about 450 SCI papers per year.

• College of Management

  The College of Management at National Cheng Kung University was established in 1955 and enjoys a long history. It has cultivated more than 20,000 high-quality and socially responsible professionals and outstanding business leaders for Taiwan.

  Currently, the College has five departments and eleven institutes offering undergraduate and graduate programs. The total enrollment of students is approximately 2,902. Within the college, there are 108 faculty (assistant professors or above) and two dedicated buildings with a total floor space of 2,500 square meters. In addition to professional faculty, high quality learning environments with state-of-the-art instruments and well-equipped research buildings are provided to students.

• College of Social Science

  The National Cheng Kung University is the second largest and second oldest university in Taiwan, next only to National Taiwan University. Our university started as an engineering college in 1931. Although an independent College of Arts was established as early as 1969, social science as one of the three major realms of science was not even in the university curriculum until the 1980s. The College of Social Sciences was thus formally established in 1997 for the enhancement of the research and teaching in areas such as politics, economics, law, education, psychology etc.
  In order to adapt itself to the increasingly liberal and democratic environment, the university established the Sun Yat-sen Center for Social Sciences Studies in August 1987, mainly through the personal efforts of Prof. Lee Shih-chung. The energetic promotion of social sciences teaching and research bore fruit in September 1993, when the Graduate Institute of Political Economy was established. Prof. Lee then became the Institute's first director.
  In May 1996, the Ministry of Education approved the University's application for setting up the Graduate Institute of Education and the Graduate Institute of Legal Sciences, thereby shaping up the skeleton of a new College of Social Sciences. In 1997, the College of Social Sciences formally came into existence.
  Given the support of the university’s governing body, the college expanded in a fairly rapid manner. Departments of Political Science and Economics were established in 2001. Department of Law was founded in 2002. Graduate Institute of Law in Science and Technology followed two years later. Finally, the first Ph.D. program of the College under the Graduate Institute of Political Economy began to operate in August 2004.
  The master programs of both the Graduate Institute of Economics and the Graduate Institute of Cognitive Science as well as the doctoral programs of both the Graduate Institute of Education and the Graduate Institute of Legal Sciences began to operate in 2006. In addition, the Department of Psychology started to operate in 2008. So far, the College has already had four departments and six institutes and intends to establish more professional graduate institutes such as the institute of Financial & Economic Law, institute of Health Care Economics, and institute of Sociology in the near future. The College intends to promote an integration of different disciplines, enhance international academic exchanges, organize international conferences, and recruit foreign students.

• College of Planning & Design

  The College of Planning and Design, National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), emerged in August 2003 from the College of Engineering, and initially included the Department of Architecture, Department of Urban Planning and Department of Industrial Design. The Department of Architecture began its development in 1944, then under Tainan Technical College, the predecessor of NCKU, during the Japanese colonial time. The Department of Urban Planning and Department of Industrial Design were further established in 1971 and 1973, respectively. Besides programs for regular students, the Department of Architecture and Industrial Design also offer continuing education for professionals working with design practice and wish to continue their education.

  In 2006, the Institute of Creative Industries Design was created to initiate another new post-graduate program. It aims to widen our scope of planning and design and enhance our competitiveness in the competing world of higher education. By offering all courses in English, this institute welcomes students from different nationalities and professional backgrounds.

  We are proud to say that all the above-mentioned departments and institutes were founded as pioneers and have been playing leading roles in their academic fields in Taiwan.

• College of Bioscience & Biotechnology

  The College of Biosciences and Biotechnology, NCKU was established in 2005 in response to rapid progresses in biosciences and biotechnology. Distinguished Prof. Wen-Chang Chang at Institute of Pharmacology, also an Academician of Acedamia Sinca, was appointed as the founding Dean. Biotechnology has become one of the major focuses for the government to develop high-tech industry in the 21st century. The college includes one undergraduate department and five graduate institutes that work closely with one another and also collaborate with different disciplines include medicine, science and technology, engineering, computer science, business management, and environmental and social sciences within the university. The interdisciplinary affords enable the development of outstanding research teams in biomedical research, plant biotechnology, aquatic sciences, evolutionary and systematic biology, and ecological and environmental sciences. The college also strengthens collaborative ties with Academia Sinica Biotechnology Center in Southern Taiwan, Tainan Science and Industrial Park, and Taiwan Orchid Plantation in teaching, training, and research. The mutual cooperation among research institutes and universities nationally and internationally also allows us to enjoy the benefits of an active scientific community and access to advanced facilities for life sciences researches. All these will benefit the college in research accomplishment and gains international recognition. Ultimately, this would profit the university in international competitiveness and become the world’s top universities.

• College of Medicine

  Founded as “Tainan District School for Higher Education” in 1931, and later renamed “National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) in 1971, this comprehensive university earns its reputation as the cradle for future generations of professionals in various fields of study. The Medical College and its affiliated hospital were approved by the Executive Yuan in 1981, and opened its doors in 1984, led by Dr. Kun-Yen Huang. During the first ten years (1984-1994), Department of Medicine only accepted postgraduate students. However, students were not as diversified as expected and the program was terminated in 1994. Since then, we have only recruited post-high school students leading to a seven-year medical education course. The passing rate on the National Board has gone up significantly, and we are continuing our educational reform to meet the needs of society.

History of NCKU

National Cheng Kung University was originally established under Japanese rule in January 1931 as Tainan Technical College (臺南高等工業學校?). In 1942, the school was renamed to (臺南工業專門學校?). After the Japanese handover of Taiwan, the school name was renamed to Taiwan Provincial Tainan Junior College of Technology (Chinese: 臺灣省立臺南工業專科學校) in March 1946, and then to Taiwan Provincial College of Engineering (Chinese: 臺灣省立工學院) in October the same year.

When the central government of the Republic of China moved to Taiwan in 1949, it was one of the three existing colleges in Taiwan. As the number of colleges expanded, it was upgraded to a provincial university in 1956 as Taiwan Provincial Cheng Kung University (Chinese: 臺灣省立成功大學), and then a national university in 1971 as National Cheng Kung University (Chinese: 國立成功大學). Former Minister for Education Wu Jin served as the first president of the new National Cheng Kung University.

Accreditation

• Institutional Accreditation or Recognition - Ministry of Education, Republic of China (Taiwan)
• Year of first Accreditation - 1956

Rankings

• U.S. News & World Report ranked it the #22 Best Global University for Engineering and Computer Science in 2014.
• Times Higher Education- QS World University Rankings and Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities, NCKU was ranked second or third among all universities in Taiwan.

Services of NCKU

NCKU Campuses

NCKU has three off-university campuses, An-Nan, where the Tainan Hydraulics laboratory is located, Guei-Ren, where the aeronautics and astronauticslaboratory is located, and Dou-Liou,where the NCKU Hospital Dou-Liou branch is located. The main campus of NCKU consists of several individual campuses and occupies a total of 188 hectares. NCKU started out as having only one campus, Cheng-Kung Campus, but continued to expand to its current scale. Each campus within NCKU is closely interlinked and tightly developed as a city within the university. NCKU is undoubtedly one of the most spacious and beautiful universities in Taiwan.

NCKU Main Library

In June 2001, the newly-built Main Library was opened, providing an abundance of technological and professional resources. It’s location within the Cheng-Kung Campus, surrounded by lush greenery, makes it an ideal sanctuary. The Main Library boasts a collection of 2 million volumes, more than 560,000 E-books, over 19,000 kinds of periodicals and more than 51,000 audiovisual materials in a wide range of fields. The library is the preferred place for students, professors, and citizens to study and learn.

NCKU Museum

The NCKU Museum was established in 2007, and is the first museum owned and operated by a national university in Taiwan. The main building of the museum was completed in 1933 for use as an administrative center by the university’s predecessor, “Tainan Technical High School”. The NCKU Museum aims to integrate the main museum, a campus environment museum, and departmental and college museums, essentially transforming the entire university into one big museum.

National Medical Center

The NCKU Medical Center is a first class medical center within a comprehensive university in Taiwan. It has outstanding faculty and abundant research resources, and provides exceptional medical training, patient care, and cutting-edge research.

Research Centers

NCKU established the primary Research and Service Headquarters in 1996, which consists of 59 self-supported research centers , and bridges the University, Government, and Industries through contracted research or services to solve problems, provide professional testing/analysis, and develop advanced technologies.

NCKU Chinese Language Center

NCKU Chinese Language Center (CLC) was established in the fall of 1982. It offers courses in Chinese language and other aspects of Chinese culture at the beginner, basic, intermediate and advanced levels. Besides the free Chinese language courses for international students[P10] , students can further pursue a language program by directly contacting the Chinese Language Center for an application. 

Why NCKU?

National Cheng Kung University is named after “Cheng Kung Cheng”, the national hero of the Ming Dynasty, who is known as Koxinga in Taiwan. “Cheng Kung” also means success （成功）in Chinese.

NCKU offers a borderless learning environment for students in its campuses, which are characterized by classical Western and modern eastern scenery.

The NCKU school spirit of “Pristine Practicality has been cultivated under the influence of Tainan City’s classical culture and complements NCKU’s motto of “Intellectual development through the lifelong exploration of knowledge”. While members of NCKU are well-integrated with one another, they also work independently.

NCKU Is a Research-Oriented Comprehensive University with Integrated Academic Fields

National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) was established in 1931. It is renowned for engineering,technology, architectural design and medical teaching and research. NCKU is one of Taiwan’s leading integrated research universities, and has nine colleges covering the fields of Liberal Arts, Sciences,Engineering, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Management, Medicine, Social Sciences, and Bioscience & Biotechnology. NCKU currently offers 40 undergraduate degree programs, 76 master’s degree programs and 54 doctoral programs. NCKU also has a national-level medical center and established the Research and Service Headquarters (RSH) in 1996, the first of its kind nationwide, which features more than 60 research centers.

NCKU Earns Reputation as an International Top-Tier University in Taiwan

The Ministry of Education (MOE) of Taiwan appointed NCKU as one of the country’s top two universities, entitling it once again to receive additional financial support for the Ministry “Five Year, 50 Billion” project and subsidized NCKU with NTD1.6 billion from 2011 to 2015 for its excellent academic performance and potential. The MOE has once again recognized NCKU and National Taiwan University (NTU) as the best universities in southern and northern Taiwan respectively. NCKU celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2011 and will make efficient use of the funds to continueparticipating in national research projects, strive towards excellence and live up to society’s expectations.

NCKU is an International University with a Multi-Cultural Campus

NCKU offers excellent support for international students, such as the “Buddy-Buddy Program”, which is designed to facilitate international students as they adapt to life in Taiwan. Through the program, students develop a better understanding of the local culture and customs. NCKU provides a free Tutoring Program for certain courses at the undergraduate level and also provides free Chinese language courses for international students  in order to have an in-depth understanding of the local life and culture.

NCKU has a highly-regarded Chinese Language Center, which is an ideal place for foreigners to learn Chinese, and also offers international students a chance to enroll in specialized academic programs. International students are very welcome at NCKU. Join us and make your dreams come true!