National Tsing Hua University


National Tsing Hua University is a research university in Hsinchu City, Taiwan.
The university was first founded in Beijing. After the Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan in 1949 following its defeat by the Communist Party of China in the Chinese Civil War, NTHU was re-established in Hsinchu City in 1956. NTHU was selected as one of the National Seven Research Universities in 2002.
Today, there are 10 colleges, 26 departments and 28 graduate institutes affiliated to the university. College of Nuclear Science of NTHU is the sole educational and research institution focusing on the peaceful applications of nuclear power in Taiwan.

Overview

In 1955, the President of Tsinghua University in Beijing, Mei Yi-chi left and re-established the National Tsing Hua Institute of Nuclear Technology in Hsinchu city, and later based on the foundation of the original institute, National Tsing Hua University was founded in Taiwan.
The two Tsinghua universities both claim to be successors of the original Tsinghua University. As a result of this dispute, the universities claimed to be the rightful recipient of the funds from the Boxer Rebellion indemnity that was used to start Tsinghua University. This indemnity was transferred to the university in Taiwan after the Nationalist government retreated to Taiwan.
Today, both Tsinghua universities have deep mutual cooperation, including an establishment of Tsinghua Strait Research Institute, dual degree program, MOOC program, and academic exchange program.

History

After American Secretary of State John Hay suggested that US$30 million Boxer Rebellion indemnity money paid to the United States was excessive, in 1909, President Roosevelt and the U.S. Congress agreed to reduce the Qing Dynasty's indemnity payments by $10.8 million USD, on the condition that the funding be used as scholarships for Chinese students to study in the United States. Using this fund, Tsinghua College was established in Beijing, China, on 22 April 1911 on the site of a former royal garden belonging to a prince. It was initially a preparatory school for students sent by the Taiwan government to study in the United States. The faculty members for the sciences were recruited by the YMCA from the United States and its graduates transferred directly to American schools as juniors upon graduation. In 1925, the school established its College Department and started its research institute on Chinese Study.
In 1928, the authority officially changed its name to National Tsing Hua University. During the Second World War in 1937, Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Nankai University merged to form Changsha Temporary University in Changsha, and later National Southwestern Associated University in Kunming. After the war, Tsinghua moved back to Beijing and resumed its operation there.
During the Sino-Japanese War, the library lost 200,000 volumes, out of a total of 350,000.
In 1956, National Tsing Hua University was reinstalled on its current campus in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Since its reinstallation, NTHU has developed from an institute focusing on Nuclear Science and Technology to that of a comprehensive research university offering degrees programs ranging from baccalaureate to doctorate in science, technology, engineering, humanities and social sciences, as well as management. NTHU has been consistently ranked as one of the premier universities in Taiwan and is widely recognized as the best incubator for future leaders in industries as well as academics. Such stellar records are particularly exemplified by the outstanding achievements of alumni, including two Nobel laureates in physics, one Nobel laureate in chemistry and one Wolf Prize winner in mathematics.
In recent decades, the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan has had increasingly close ties with the Tsinghua University in People's Republic of China. Of all universities on Taiwan, the NTHU has arguably one of the strongest cooperations with universities in mainland China in academic research, projects, and with the creation of programs such as the "Center for Contemporary China."

Tradition

Meichu Tournament

The Mei-Chu Tournament, held in March annually, is a sport competition between National Tsing Hua University and National Chiao Tung University. Since its establishment in 1969, the tournament, also known as the Mei-Chu Games, has become a tradition, and is considered as one of the most important activities between these two prestigious universities in Taiwan.
The history of the Meichu Games goes back to the 1960s. After the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, National Tsing Hua University and National Chiao Tung University were both relocated in Hsinchu, Taiwan and became neighbors. The geographic and academic closeness prompted many intellectual and social exchanges between two universities.
In 1966, an informal tournament was held. The arrangement of the formal event, however, was not institutionalized until 1968, when Chian Feng, an executive officer of NTHU student activity center, received the permission from the university authority to plan sport events for NTHU and NCTU students modeling after the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.
While both side agreed on the plan to hold such an annual event, there was a disagreement on the naming of the Games. At last, Zhang Zhi-yi solved this problem by proposing the conventional coin tossing. “If the head-side is up, the game would be called Mei-Chu; otherwise, the game would be called Chu-Mei.” As the head-side of the coin went up, the tournament was thereby named Meichu to commemorate the two founding presidents of NTHU and NCTU, Mei Yi-chi and :zh:淩鴻勛|Ling Chu-Ming.

Campus life

Student clubs

There are more than one hundred student clubs serving diverse interests. Club activities range from community services, music and sports, cinema and theater, dancing and martial arts, religion and philosophy as well as scientific and academic interests.

Housing

There are eighteen dormitories on campus accommodating about 5000 students. Freshman, sophomore and most of the graduate students are allowed to lodge at dorms without drawing lots. The majority of NTHU faculty members are also living on campus.

Scholarships, fellowships, and financial aid

Scholarships and fellowships are awarded on a meritorious basis. Annually more than six hundred undergraduates and one hundred graduate students receive such supports. In addition, around four thousand graduate students are supported with teaching or research assistantships from academic units. For students with financial difficulties, the university provides student loans and emergency funds.

Health care and counseling services

A University Clinic, affiliated with Hsinchu Mackay Memorial Hospital, is located on campus where first aid and general medical services are provided.
The NTHU offers counseling service to students, faculty and staff members at the University Counseling Center. The clinic and the center not only provide services when needed and organize and present educational programs for all students.

Academics

NTHU participates in the Bioinformatics Program of the Taiwan International Graduate Program of Academia Sinica, Taiwan's most preeminent academic research institution.
In Malaysia, NTHU partnered with Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Presidents

NTHU is generally considered to be one of the best universities in Taiwan.
In 2012, ranking of world universities by Times Higher Education put National Tsing Hua University on the rank of 226-250 in the world. 2017 also saw QS World University Rankings put National Tsing Hua University 151th overall. The individual subject rankings from QS rankings were: 38th in Engineering & IT, 141th in Arts & Humanities, 197th in Life Sciences & Biomedicine, 171st in Natural Sciences, and 256th in Social Sciences. Nature Publishing Index gives NTHU the 2nd rank in Taiwan.
In 2014, the Embassy of Japan in Taiwan listed NTHU as one of the seven well-known Taiwanese universities.

Notable alumni and faculty

Humanities and Social Sciences