國立臺北大學

The Office of International Affairs has organized a series of Yuan Shan Globalize Online Lectures! On November 24, 2021, we invited Professor Adam Dennett from University College London (UCL) to give us an online lecture on " Unpacking the Nuances of Neighbourhood Change & Gentrification - an Urban Analytics Approach. " Professor Dennett is the Head of Department at the Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) and Professor of Urban Analysis at UCL. He is an outstanding scholar with extensive experiences in academic publications on leading journals in the field of urban studies. 

In this lecture, Professor Dennett introduced the origins of urban gentrification and Neighbourhood change and shared his professional experience in urban analysis by using open science, reproducible methods, and applied urban science to have a real-world impact through collaborative endeavours with urban governments. The Director of the International Program on Urban Governance (IPUG) at NTPU, Dr. Shun-Te Yuo, led nearly 10 international students to the classroom to join the online lecture physically. During the Q&A section, Professor Dennett kindly responded to many questions raised by the students and teachers. The event lasted for one and a half hours, more than 70 faculty and students have participated in the online lecture. 

University College London (UCL) was established in 1826, organized into 11 constituent faculties, within which there are over 100 departments, institutes, and research centers. In the 2022 QS World University Rankings, UCL is ranked 8th in the world and was rated the top university in the UK for research strength in the most recent Research Excellence Framework. The Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) at UCL seeks to examine and offer solutions to the problems of resource efficiency and effective planning and governance shared by all cities. Their vision is to play a central role in the science of smart cities – applying it to city planning, policy, and architecture in the pursuit of making our cities better places to live. 

After the online lecture, the Dean of the Office of International Affairs, Professor Wen-I Lin, and Director of International Cooperation, Dr. Chia An Ku also had a short meeting with Professor Dennett, they expressed their appreciations to Professor Dennett for his kind support to our university, and also discussed the possibility of future cooperation between NTPU and UCL. We hope that we can promote academic exchanges between faculty and students. Moreover, create an international academic research environment for our university.

On November 3, 2021, National Taipei University (NTPU) and the Bureau Français de Taipei (BFT) signed a memorandum of understanding for a scholarship program to encourage more students to pursue further studies in France. This agreement was signed by Dr. Chen-Jai Lee, President of NTPU, and Mr. Jean-François Casabonne-Masonnave, Director of the Bureau Français de Taipei (BFT).

The ceremony was delivered and witnessed in the presence of Mr. Jean-François Casabonne-Masonnave, the Director of Bureau Français, Mr. Jérôme Bove, Attaché for Science and University Cooperation, Ms. Sasha Ting, Deputy Attaché and Ms. Antoinette Neyra, Project Manager for Science and University Cooperation. National Taipei University representatives comprised Dr. Chen-Jai Lee, the President of NTPU, Dr. Dar-Hsin Chen, Vice President, Dr. Wen-I Lin, Dean of Office of International Affairs, Dr. Pei-Fang Li, Director of International Relations of College of Business and Dr. Josef Kuo-Hsun Ma, Director of International Students Division of OIA.

President Lee expressed his appreciation to Mr. Jean-François Casabonne-Masonnave and the Bureau Français de Taipei (BFT) for their long-standing support to NTPU. He said that France and Taiwan have cultivated a long-term friendship over the past decades and have maintained close ties in the fields of culture, education, human rights, science, and technology. Mr. Jean-François Casabonne-Masonnave, Director of the BFT, emphasized that France was hoping to intensify academic exchanges with NTPU, including staff visits, lectures, joint laboratory projects, and French -Taiwan academia-industry collaboration.

He encouraged the students to go overseas and have a short-term living experience. “Traveling is the education of young people.” Mr. Casabonne-Masonnave indicated that traveling is not only leisure but also an experience in itself. Young people can take advantage of it to live many unique experiences.

During the signing ceremony, the International Office invited students who have lived in France to share their experiences. They showed a video presentation of several exchange and doctoral-degree students currently studying in France. Two Ph.D. students, Mr. Yi-Chung Tsai and Ms. Yi-ting Chen, who are studying in the Faculty of Law at the Aix-Marseille University, expressed that France is a very suitable country to study. Tsai shared that the administrative law in France had a long history of development. Therefore, there have been a wide variety of resources for him during the research process. Ms. Yi-ting Chen said that France has a comfortable and pleasant environment with a rich cultural heritage. She encouraged young students to live in France and broaden their horizons.

The program will offer free flight tickets per year for up to five NTPU students to join student exchange or double-degree programs in one of NTPU partner schools in France. The scholarships also include the reduction or exemption of visa fees and insurance coverage during their stay in France. We encourage all students to apply for exchange or degree programs in France!

Japan has had close exchanges with Taiwan recently. In April, the newly appointed Minister of the Press and Culture Department of the Taipei Office from Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, Ikura Murashima, visited NTPU. Due to that, the bridge of friendship between NTPU and the association has become more stable. Therefore, on October 26 this year, the Asian and Pan-Pacific Research Center and the Haishan Research Center invited Ms. Murashima to give a speech for our teachers and students who are interested in "Japan Taiwan Exchange Association and the recent Japan-Taiwan relations."

In response to the anti-epidemic policy, only 80 students can participate in person. In order to let other students take part in the event, the Research Centers used live streaming on social media to broadcast Ms. Murashima’s speech.

The keynote speech was opened by Vice President Tsai, who had had many academic exchanges with Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association during his student days. Vice President Tsai first mentioned the recent diverse interactions between Japan and Taiwan. In addition to the various government-to-government measures for epidemic prevention and agricultural product distribution, the exchanges between Taiwanese and Japanese people have not stopped due to the epidemic. He also thanked Ms. Murashima for coming to NTPU again.

At first, Ms. Murashima patiently asked each student about their academic experience in Chinese, and then adjusted the content of the speech according to the answers of the students. In addition to introducing the positioning and work content of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, she also shared her career story, telling audience how she become a female diplomat from a nurse. Moreover, because most students are from the department of history, when discussing the recent relations between Japan and Taiwan, Ms. Murashima specially mentioned the construction that Japan built in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period.

The response from the students was also very enthusiastic. They asked many questions, such as Ms. Murashima's views on the normalization of Japan-Taiwan relations, the Japanese government's views on Taiwan's referendum on nuclear food import, and the difficulties Ms. Murashima faced as a female diplomat. When talking about the issue of food in Northeast Japan, Ms. Murashima said that regardless of the result of the referendum, the Japanese government respects the choice of the Taiwanese people. Although she has seen some scholars link the issue of food imports from Fukushima to whether Taiwan can join the CPTPP, she believes that this issue will not, and should not be the key factor that effect whether Taiwan can enter the CPTPP.

Finally, the speech ended successfully at 12 .

Professor Chen-Jai Lee, the President of National Taipei University paid a visit to Mr. Budi Santoso, the head of the Indonesian Economic and Trade Office to Taipei (IETO) on October 19, 2021, accompanied by Professor Wen-I Lin, the Dean of the Office of International Affairs of NTPU and Dr. Huan-Chan Shih, the Director of Taiwan-Indonesia Environmental Change and Land Resource Management Research Center. Mr. Adila, the Director of Tourism and Transportation Department of IETO also attended the meeting.

President Lee indicated that NTPU enjoyed close relations with all its partners in Indonesia, and looked forward to continuing a more comprehensive development of bilateral relations with them in the spheres of academic research and exchange, land resources survey and measurement technology, and cultural activities. Professor Wen-I Lin mentioned that NTPU has signed MoU with several Universities in Indonesia, including UI, UAI, Binus University, University Muhammadiyah Ponorogo、Surabaya、Metro, and Hamka, and had many in-depth collaborations with them. For example, NTPU had an online MoU signing Ceremony and a keynote lecture with the University of Al Azhar (UAI) in January 2021 and shared how two nations responded to the COVID-19. They also host a series of online-lecture with Binus University. The event included three lectures talking about artificial intelligence, computer vision, and future city planning. As they received positive feedback from both sides, they have decided to continue the online lecture in different areas. In the future, NTPU would spare no effort to promote international collaborative research projects with its partner universities, in the hope to extend different kinds of possibilities. In addition to academic research, the number of Indonesian students has been increasing significantly by almost 80% for the past three years. Most of them are business or MBA majors, and some of them study Engineering and Urban Governance. NTPU would continue to provide scholarships to encourage Indonesian students to achieve academic goals and to support their life in Taiwan.

Mr. Santoto responded that Taiwan has been a friendly country to Indonesians, and he praised the quality of teaching and research of Taiwan's higher education. He suggested that NTPU regularly provide information about the University, international programs, and scholarships to IETO, and get in connection with the Indonesian students' alumni associations to assure the visibility of NTPU. Besides, he would be happy to support the cultural activities planned by NTPU.

Professor Lin noted that the International Office has organized a series of lectures, “A Journey of Dialogues and Thinking”, to enhance the student’s motivation to explore the world, since the cutdown of international mobility. He hoped that Mr. Santoso could pay a visit to NTPU and share his experience with the faculty and students soon.