Chung Hua University (CHU), amid declining enrollment, has agreed to merge with National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) and would cease enrolling students as early as next year.
Officials from the universities, both located in Hsinchu City, have reached a preliminary consensus on the merger, but have yet to go through the administrative procedures, CHU president Victor Liu (劉維琪) said on Friday.
Founded in 1990, privately run CHU had a total of 3,898 students enrolled during the 2023 academic year. Its student enrollment numbers have been declining steadily since the 2017 academic year, when it had 6,722 students enrolled.
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
The merger and subsequent closure of the university follows a string of private university closures during the past decade, the most recent being TransWorld University, Tatung Institute of Technology and Mingdao University in July.
Liu said that CHU would prioritize the rights of its students and faculty in carrying out the merger.
Current students would be able to take courses that NTHU opens on the CHU campus, Liu said.
Regarding faculty, the school would look to the example set by the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST) and Hwa Hsia University of Technology when they merged last year, which allowed the faculty to continue working at the school for six years.
CHU’s financial operations were sound, and the board would continue carrying out the mission of the university, which is to cultivate technological talent for the country, Liu said.
The university agreed to donate its campus and assets to NTHU, Liu added.
The merger would be similar to the NTUST and Hwa Hsia University of Technology merger last year, the first between a public and a private university in Taiwan, NTHU president John Kao (高為元) said
Under that model, CHU would stop enrolling new students as early as the next academic year, with its existing students studying as usual until graduating and receiving diplomas. After the CHU students graduate, NTHU would take over CHU’s campus and equipment, Kao said.
However, NTHU has yet to internally discuss the issue, he added.
NTHU’s College of Semiconductor Research has expressed an interest in setting up courses and equipment on the CHU campus and establish a “Tsing Hua Square Technology Park.” Other departments of the university have also expressed similar interests, which need to be thoroughly discussed, Kao said.
NTHU said in a statement on Thursday that CHU is near the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), which provides a geological advantage for cultivating semiconductor talent and developing the industry.
The Ministry of Education on Friday said that it had not received merger plans from the two schools.
It said that after the plan is submitted, it would ensure the rights of existing students and faculty and provide assistance.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS