National Yang-Ming University (NYMU) in Taipei and National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) in Hsinchu yesterday agreed a plan to merge the two universities, whereby they would operate as National Yang-Ming Chiao Tung University (YMCTU) from August next year.
At separate meetings, the councils of NYMU and NCTU voted 65-20 and 59-15 respectively in favor of the merger, the universities’ merger committee said in a statement.
Both universities met the two-thirds threshold needed to approve the plan, it said.
Photo courtesy of National Yang-Ming University
The plan is to be sent to the Ministry of Education for review, NYMU secretary-general Chen I-ju (陳怡如) said, adding that it would also need to be approved by the Executive Yuan.
If all goes to plan, the two universities would operate as one from August next year, she said.
Through the merger, the universities hope to provide students and professors with more interdisciplinary courses and opportunities, and to invest more in bioelectronics, bioinformatics and digital biomedicine, she said.
The merger committee has met several times since the two universities signed a letter of intent to merge in March, NCTU secretary-general Wang Niann-shiah (王念夏) said, adding that both schools’ faculty and students’ associations had also been involved in the process.
The first president of the merged universities is to be selected by a 21-member committee that would include two student representatives, according to the merger plan, which was finalized last month.
A new university council consisting of 120 members, 60 from each of the campuses, would also be formed, the plan says.
NYMU on Sept. 26 last year announced that it had decided to begin the process of merging with another university.
On Dec. 26 last year it agreed to negotiate a merger contract with NCTU.
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
RSS