2011,the centenary since the foundation of NTUT, is an important year for both faculty and students at NTUT. This special year not only represents the new era of NTUT, but also celebrates the inauguration of the new President of NTUT, Dr. Leehter Yao (姚立德). President Yao is the first alumnus who was selected as the new President of NTUT since the university was founded one hundred years ago. For NTUT, it is a crowning glory for President Yao to assume the position.

On February 10th at the Chung Cheng Memorial Building, the inauguration ceremony was held prior to the annual Tuan Bai (the New Year Mass Greetings). After the emcee read out the letter of appointment from the Ministry of Education, President Yao started addressing the audience. First, he said he assumed this tremendous responsibility with immense gratitude and thanked everyone for giving him support and having faith in him. He also paid great tribute to the former President Chang and President Lee for their help and guide.

In President Yao’s speech, he said he wanted to change NTUT into a world-renowned university. To accomplish the goal of making NTUT become the well-known university on the international stage, President Yao aspired to achieve it with three stages of plans. The short-term plan aims at emphasizing the image of NTUT as “the cradle of entrepreneurs,” "practical-research-based university” by strengthening professional courses and offering courses concerned with cultivating entrepreneurs. The mid-term plan targets strengthening the cooperation between NTUT and small and medium-sized enterprises, while the long-term plan is to establish a closer relationship with the local development.

Furthermore, he also mentioned that talents were the most precious assets to a university. Recruiting outstanding teachers could not only improve the quality of research and teaching but also attract more excellent students to this university. Besides, creating a better environment for every teacher and student was also President Yao’s priority because he said only in a great environment would guarantee long-term improvement and growth. For the teaching aspect, he would continue to enhance the quality of teaching and help students reinforce their professional knowledge. For improving the competitiveness of NTUT, President Yao said he would encourage local students to go abroad for study (study abroad and attract outstanding foreign students and top professors to NTUT, which would make NTUT more competitive.

Last, He said he and his executive team would keep these promises and put them into practice. Under President Yao’s leadership, NTUT will become the leading industry university in Taiwan and keep abreast with other well-known industry universities in the world.