The signing ceremony between the Nagasaki University (NU), Japan, and TKU is to take place on November 8, consolidating the sister ties of these two universities. The President of NU, Dr. Hiroshi Saito and Dr. Flora Chang, the President of TKU will jointly sign on some significant agreements to strengthen future cooperation.

Dr. Hiroshi Saito is accompanied by an entourage of six people—his wife, three professors, Drs. Yoshinori Ide, Yohihiko Inoue and Lien Ching-jyi from the Faculty of Environmental Studies as well as Ms. Tagawa Tomoko from the university’s Office of International Exchange and International Education. This signing event will make NU TKU’s 78th sister university worldwide and the 14th from Japan.

NU was established in 1949 and is presently constituted by eight faculties, eight graduate schools and over 9,000 students. It also has an attached school of medicine that offers short-term courses in medical technology. In the agreements signed by NU and TKU, it is stated clearly that both universities will exchange faculty, staff, researchers and students. There will be joint projects, seminars, conferences and forums to share information and resources.

As reported recently in the Diamond Weekly, a well-known Japanese business journal, NU is ranked number 12, based on multiple indices, among all the reputable Japanese universities in 2004. The university is particularly known and has become a center for its research on the impact of radiation on organisms and treatment for illnesses caused by it as well as other related diseases. It is also renowned for research in local history, geology, East Asian economics, and western literature in Nagasaki.

Prior to the formalization of the sister tie, both universities have already established a friendly relationship in academic exchanges. For example, NU’s Professor, Dr. Lien Ching-jyi who is a graduate of TKU’s Chinese Department worked as a visiting scholar at the same department last year. He helped to organize a symposium on Cultural Environment this year, inviting eminent scholars, such as Dr. Yoshihiko Inoue, from NU.