National Central University (NCU, Chinese: 國立中央大學; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Kwet-li̍p Chung-yong Thài-ho̍k, Wade–Giles: Kuo2 Li4 Chung Yang Ta4 Hsüeh2 or Chung-ta 中大) is a publicresearch university with long-standing traditions of the Republic of China based in Taiwan. It was founded in 1902 and renamed in 1915. The school was initially located in Miaoli when it first moved to Taiwan, but relocated to Zhongli in 1962 and developed into a comprehensive university. It's the first university in Taiwan to research industrial economics,[3] and economic development (Taiwan's Consumer Confidence Index is released monthly by NCU).[4] NCU is a member of AACSB.[5] NCU is one of the six national universities in research selected by the Ministry of Education.[6][7]
The undergraduate population is represented by the Associated Students of National Central University (Chinese: 國立中央大學學生會; pinyin: Guólì Zhōngyāng Dàxué Xuéshēnghuì), founded in 1991.
History
Established in 1902 as Sanjiang Normal School, National Central University underwent a number of name changes, such as Nanjing Higher Normal School, National Southeastern University and currently, National Central University. It was based in Nanking, but after the Chinese Communist Party took control of the mainland in 1949, the National Central University was re-established in Taiwan in 1962, as the National Central University Graduate Institute of Geophysics, in Miaoli County. The university's original site under communist control has since became part of the campus of Nanjing University. In 1968, NCU moved to its current location in the Shuanglianpo (雙連坡) district of Zhongli, Taoyuan County (now Zhongli District, Taoyuan City), Taiwan and was renamed the National Central University College of Science. In 1979, it was officially reestablished under the name National Central University. In 2003, NCU and three other national universities established the University System of Taiwan cooperative partnership. Now NCU is a research-oriented national comprehensive university.[8]
Location
The university's Taoyuan City campus is situated in the northern part of the island, about 45 minutes from the capital Taipei. The large, green hilltop campus, is some distance away from the busy downtown Zhongli. NCU campus is only 30 minutes away from the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE), which makes it very convenient for international travel.
NCU consists of eight colleges: Earth Science, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Engineering, Hakka Studies, Health Science and Technology, Liberal Arts, Science, and Management. Each college houses numerous research centers, such as the Center for Space & Remote Sensing Research, Hazard Mitigation & Prevention, Taiwan Economic Development, Biotechnology & Biomedical Engineering, and several boutique-style humanities centers. In total, the eight colleges contain 19 undergraduate departments, 48 graduate institutes, and 38 research centers.
College of Hakka Studies
College of Science
College of Earth Science
International programs
NCU participates in the Taiwan International Graduate Program in Earth System Science of Academia Sinica, Taiwan's most preeminent academic research institution.
Notable Alumni and Faculty
Chien-Shiung Wu, a famous particle and experimental physicist
^According to The History Evolution of National Central University (R.O.C. 26, 1937 CE) (《國立中央大學沿革史》 中華民國二十六年), it was founded in the winter of the first year of Yong'an reign (258 CE) during the era of Three Kingdoms. Since it was founded in CE 258, it had evolved and adopted different names in each dynasty or period in ancient China. It became a modern institution of higher learning in 1902 during Qing dynasty. Liangjiang Higher Normal School was closed in 1911 when the Qing dynasty was overthrown. In 1915 after the Republic of China was founded, Nanking Higher Normal School was established to replace the Liangjing Normal School. In 1949 when the Republic of China was replaced by the People's Republic of China in mainland, its name was changed from National Central University to Nanjing University, while the ROC reinstated the National Central University in 1962 in Taipei.
^Peiyu, Liu (20 November 2020). "台灣閱讀教育重要推手 前國教院長柯華葳過世 享壽67歲" [Former Dean of National Education, Ke Hwawei, an important promoter of reading education in Taiwan, died at 67 years old] (in Chinese). SET News. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
