Keio expands partnership with National Taiwan University and President Anzai delivers lecture to capacity audience

On May 8, agreements to expand faculty and student exchange programs and research collaboration were signed by National Taiwan University (NTU) president Si-Chen Lee and Keio President Yuichiro Anzai. Keio and NTU have been partners since 2001, and the new agreement was drawn up in order to expand on various successful exchange programs. NTU faculty members and staff joined President Lee in welcoming President Anzai and Prof. Tatsuya Sakamoto, Keio Vice-President for International Collaboration and Education to their campus, and attended the signing ceremony. After the expanded agreement was signed, Prof. Lee and Prof. Anzai exchanged ideas for future exchange between the two universities. They also discussed the impact of higher education privatization on university management, as Taiwan will soon face changes similar to those experienced in Japan in 2004 when its national universities were incorporated.

Following their meeting, President Anzai delivered a lecture entitled ”The Future of Cutting-edge Research in Science & Technology at Keio University, Japan”, which was hosted by NTU’s College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EE). The standing room only lecture was attended by EE students and faculty, Keio alumni living in Taiwan, leaders from the business community and media. After his lecture, Prof. Anzai engaged in an animated question and answer session with audience members.

NTU, founded in 1928, is widely regarded as Taiwan’s top university. Its campuses and facilities are home to approximately 31,500 students (including 120 students from abroad) and 4,000 faculty members. As of 2004, the university has a total of eleven colleges, 54 departments, 96 graduate institutes and four research centers.