The Czech delegation, led by Senate President of the Czech Republic, arrived in Taiwan on Sunday, August 30. 9 academic representatives from the delegation, including Zdeněk Havlas, Vice-President of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS), Pavel Matějka, President of University of Chemistry and Technology Prague (UCT) and Radek Holý, Vice-President of Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU), visit National Taipei University of Technology (Taipei Tech) on August 31 to discuss future collaborative opportunities between Taiwan and the Czech Republic. Taipei Tech and UCT also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) during this meeting to strengthen the partnership between the two universities.     

To conform to the epidemic prevention regulation, measures adopting for the event include maintaining social distance, wearing masks, arranging delegation-only toilet and route, placing plastic partitions and overall disinfection. All Taipei Tech delegation will need to take self-monitoring measures for 14 days after the event. 

Representatives from the Czech Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROC (Taiwan) all joined the signing ceremony held at Taipei Tech. “UCT is one of the largest universities in Central Europe with historical significance, ” indicated by Dr. Sea-fue Wang, President of Taipei Tech, “It is ranked 342 of the world’s best university by QS ranking and is renowned for its academic and research achievements in the fields of chemistry, chemical engineering, food chemistry and technology and biochemistry.” President Wang believes that through this meeting, they will be able to establish a formal cooperative partnership and encourage faculty, talent and academic research exchange in a deeper level between the two universities.

During the meeting, Zdeněk Havlas, Hana Sychrová (President of the Council for International Affairs of the CAS), Pavel Matějka, Radek Holý were also awarded as the Honorary International Chair Professors of Taipei Tech. Vice-President Havlas indicated that Taipei Tech and the CAS share a lot in common in terms of their focuses on AI related research and problem-based learning, and both Vice-President Havlas and President Wang look forward to further enhance bilateral partnership through scholar exchange program and joint research project in the future.
 
Taipei Tech have been partnered with CTU since 2007 and together implemented student exchange programs for years. In the past decade, there had been 71 outbound students and 54 inbound students in total who participated in the exchange program.

During the meeting, representative from the Department of Education of Vysočina Region asked about the possibility of Czechish high school students to participate in Taipei Tech exchange program. Taipei Tech Vice-President, Chung-kuang Yang, replied that Taipei Tech is currently designing a summer program, incorporating subjects such as AI, cultural experience and language learning, targeted specifically at vocational high school students. Yang also mentioned that “as Taipei Tech has an affiliated senior high school, it is possible for us to build a student exchange platform with the high schools in the Czech Republic”. In addition, he encourages Czechish high school students to apply for the International Graduate Program of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Taipei Tech. Scholarship will be provided by Taipei Tech alumni for the students who enrolled in the International Graduate Program.      

Taipei Tech has been actively promoted academic cooperation with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of California Berkeley (UC Berkeley), Penn State University (Penn State), University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) and Tohoku University (TU) in recent years. Taipei Tech has also been planning on establishing a cross-disciplinary technical research institute, focusing on energy and smart sensing, in collaboration with its above-mentioned partner institutions. This research institute will be the base for cross-disciplinary talent cultivation, cross-college integration and cross-border research.

The souvenirs that the Czech delegation received from Taipei Tech include the environmental-friendly and non-toxic TPU chopping board and the heat-resistant smoke escape mask developed by Taipei Tech alumni companies, Coating P. Materials and MORTECH Corporation. They had also received the Taipei Tech and Metro Taipei co-branded Easy Card as a friendly gesture to welcome the Czech delegation to visit Taipei again in the future.