UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State hosted a delegation from the National Taipei University of Technology on Oct. 16-18. During the delegation’s visit, the delegation met with Penn State faculty and administrators, and President Neeli Bendapudi and Taipei Tech President Sea-Fue Wang signed two memoranda of understanding between the two universities.

A memorandum of understanding, also called an MOU, is a formal agreement between two parties to collaborate on mutually beneficial projects.

The Taipei Tech delegation also included Vice President Thomas Yang, Ho-Chiao Chuang (dean of the Office of Research and Development), and Jessie Tien-Hui Lin, administrative specialist. They had the opportunity to meet with a broad and cross-disciplinary group of Penn State faculty, as well as Vice Provost for Global Roger Brindley (and other staff from Penn State Global); Vice President for Research Lora Weiss; and Clive Randall, director of the Materials Research Institute, among many others. 

“We were thrilled to welcome representatives from Taipei Tech to University Park,” said Anna Marshall, assistant director for Asia Partnerships in Penn State Global. “They had a productive visit and we are excited to see what the partnership can become.” 

According to its website, Taipei Tech is among one of the oldest universities in Taiwan, first established in 1912. Renamed Taipei Tech in 1997, the university now offers 19 undergraduate programs, 26 master programs and 17 doctoral programs within 6 colleges. Taipei Tech specializes in three fields: technology, design and management. In a recent teaching excellence evaluation by Taiwan’s Ministry of Education, Taipei Tech was ranked first among all other technological universities in Taiwan.

The signing ceremony took place in the Alumni Lounge in Old Main between the two University presidents, followed by an exchange of gifts, a group picture, lunch, and a campus tour. Bendapudi and Wang signed two agreements between the institutions. One was a concurrent graduate degree program in the field of informatics, while the second was a seed grants collaboration program with Materials Research Institute (MRI).  

Further possibilities for collaboration will be explored in the coming years. 

For more information or to get involved in the partnerships with Institutions in Asia, contact Anna Marshall at awm15@psu.edu.