Taiwan Normal University

National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU; ), or ''Shīdà'' is an institution of higher education and normal school operating out of three campuses in Taipei, Taiwan. NTNU is the leading research institute in such disciplines as Education and Linguistics in Taiwan. NTNU was internationally ranked 331st in the 2021 QS World University Rankings, 601-800th in the 2021 ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'' and 900–1000th in the 2020 ''Academic Ranking of World Universities''. NTNU is widely recognized as one of Taiwan's comprehensive and elite higher education institutions with the most international exposure. NTNU is affiliated with National Taiwan University and National Taiwan University of Science and Technology as part of the National Taiwan University System. NTNU is an official member of AAPBS. A number of Taiwan's leading artists, authors, educators, musicologists, linguists, painters, philologists, poets, sinologists and many researchers have passed through the university's doors as students and faculty.

The university enrolls approximately 17,000 students each year. Approximately 1,500 students are international.

Since 2015, NTNU has been ranked within 350 in the QS World University Rankings (No. 331 in the world in 2020 and No. 61 in Asia). NTNU has been ranked among the top 50 in the world in the three disciplines of education, linguistics, and library and information management systems.

The affiliated senior high school of National Taiwan Normal University is also one of the top high schools in Taiwan.

History

National Taiwan Normal University opened its doors in the early 20th century during Japanese rule in Taiwan. Taiwan's Japanese governors established the school as Taiwan Provincial College. Soon after they gave it the name Taihoku College (''Taihoku'' is "Taipei" in Japanese). The school's purpose was to nurture a native educated class qualified to assist the government in matters of administration. Many buildings on the university's main campus date from the Japanese colonial period, including the Administration Building, the Lecture Hall, Wenhui Hall and Puzi Hall. Japanese architects incorporated features of the Neo-Classical, Gothic and Gothic Revival styles often encountered on European university campuses. A room in the Lecture Hall housed the traditional Japanese document that authorizes and formalizes campus construction.

Some school publications still display 1946 as the institution's founding date in reference to this regime change. A number of Taiwan's leading authors, poets, artists, educators, painters, musicians, linguists, sinologists, philologists, philosophers, and researchers have passed through the university's doors as students and faculty. In 1956 the Mandarin Training Center opened its doors as an extension of the college. The school acquired its present name, National Taiwan Normal University, in 1967. By now the school had established itself as a recognized center of learning in arts, literature and the humanities; its fundamental mission, though, remained the preparation of teachers.

As Taiwanese society made its shift from authoritarian rule to democracy in the 1990s, the university saw its role transformed by passage of the 1994 Teacher Preparation Law. The law gave more schools responsibility for teacher training and set NTNU on its present course as a truly comprehensive university. New departments were created, course offerings and majors were expanded, and new faculty were hired. The university became a hub of international activity, enabling Taiwanese students to travel abroad, attracting international students to Taipei, and building exchange programs with dozens of sister institutions around the world.

University structure

NTNU occupies three campuses in downtown Taipei: the historic Daan campus/main campus (home of the Administration Building, Main Library, Music & Lecture Hall, Language Building, Athletic Center); the Gongguan campus (home of the College of Science); the Linkou campus and the university library campus hosting the school of continuing education. Academic programs at NTNU are administered by 10 colleges: arts, education, international studies & social sciences, liberal arts, management, musicology, science, sports & recreation, and technology & engineering.

As of November 2022 the school published the following figures for students enrolled and employees retained.
* Students enrolled: 15,112
* Undergraduate students: 8,394 (944 international students)
* Graduate students: 5,686 (682 international students)
* Overseas Chinese Students in Preparatory Programs: 1,032
* Faculty: 1,541

The university also runs the Affiliated Senior High School of National Taiwan Normal University, a daughter institution for secondary-school students in Taiwan.

International programs

Internationally NTNU is best known for its Mandarin Training Center (formerly known as the Center for Chinese Language and Cultural Studies), a program founded in 1956 for the study of Mandarin Chinese to foreign students. The Mandarin Training Center represents one of the world's oldest and most distinguished programs for language study, attracting more than a thousand students from over sixty countries to Taiwan each year and making the '' Shida'' area of Taipei one of the city's most cosmopolitan. Courses in language, literature, calligraphy, art and martial arts are offered in a series of three-month terms throughout the year, enabling international students to undertake language studies during summer breaks and within single semesters. The center also sponsors travel, hosts speech contests, and stages workshops and performances for a variety of East Asian arts. A Mandarin Training Center Alumni Association (MTCAA) has been operating since 1998.

Other international highlights recently at NTNU include the International Chemistry Olympiad hosted by the university in 2005 and the merger of NTNU with the University Preparatory School for Overseas Chinese Students in 2006. NTNU also participates in the Biodiversity Program of the Taiwan International Graduate Program of Academia Sinica. A new dormitory for NTNU international students is slated to open in 2024.

NTNU nurtures a robust system of partnerships to enable this level of international study. Among the institutions that enjoy sister relationships with NTNU are the Universidade de São Paulo in Brazil, Universidad Nacional de Asunción in Paraguay, Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Radford University, Rutgers University, San Diego State University, San Francisco State University, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Iowa and University of Pittsburgh in the US, the University of Alberta, University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University in Canada, the University of Glasgow and University of London in the UK, the Denis Diderot University and University of Poitiers in France, University of Bonn and University of Heidelberg in Germany, the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts in Austria, the RSM Erasmus University in the Netherlands, the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Poland, and the Babeș-Bolyai University in Romania, to name a few. NTNU's connections in the Asia-Pacific region are particularly extensive, including dozens of academic institutions representing South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, and New Zealand.

Ranking

* U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities subject rankings:

Education and Educational Research: 9th (Asia's second)

* Times Higher Education World University Rankings by subject:

Education: 15 (Asia's second)

* QS World University Rankings by Subject:

Education & Training: 26

Library & Information Management: 30

Linguistics: 53

Sports-Related Subjects: 51-100

* Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) of Academic Subjects:

Education: 51-75 (Asia's third)

List of NTNU People

Notable faculty

* Apo Hsu (Hsu Ching-Hsin 許瀞心) – conductor
* Chen Daqi – a polymath, politician and pioneer of modern psychology in China
* Chen Houei-kuen – painter
* Cornelius C. (Neil) Kubler – American professor and scholar of Mandarin, Taiwanese and other dialects of Chinese; former U.S. diplomat
*Kuo-En Chang – a computer education scholar, currently the president of the National Taiwan Normal University
*Howard S.H. Shyr – a law scholar and politician
*Hu Qiuyuan – an author, educator and politician.
* Lee Shih-chiao – painter
*Lee Tze-Fan – painter
*Liang Shih-chiu – the first Chinese scholar to single-handedly translate the complete works of Shakespeare into Chinese
*Li Meishu – Zushi Temple designer
* Lin Yu-shan – painter
* Lo, Kii-Ming – musicologist
*Mou Zongsan – Chinese New Confucian philosopher
* Puru – artist, calligrapher, and member of the Qing dynasty ruling Aisin Gioro family and grandson of the Daoguang Emperor
*Shan-Hua Chien – musicologist
* Su Xuelin – Chinese author and writer
* Tyzen Hsiao – composer of the neo-Romantic school
* Wen-Pin Hope Lee – Taiwanese Golden Melody Award-winning composer
* Xie Bingying – a female soldier and writer born in Loudi, Hunan
*Yeh Shin-cheng – an environment scholar and politician
*Yu Guangzhong – a writer, poet, educator, and critic

Notable alumni

* Ang Ui-jin – Taiwanese linguist. He was the chief architect of the Taiwanese Language Phonetic Alphabet
*Chang Chun-Yen – Taiwanese science education scholar
*Chen Hung-ling – Taiwanese badminton player
*Chen Kuei-miao – Taiwanese politician
*Cheng Shao-chieh – Taiwanese badminton player
*Chi Shu-ju – Taekwondo practitioner and Olympic medalist
*Chien Yu-chin – Chinese Taipei badminton player
*Chih-Ta Chia – Taiwanese science scholar
*Chong Yee-Voon – Malaysian writer
*Chuang Chi-fa – Taiwanese historian
* C.-T. James Huang – (PhD 1982) generative linguist, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at Harvard, Fellow of the Linguistic Society of America (2015), recipient of the Linguistic Society of Taiwan's Lifetime Achievement Award (2014)
*Den-Wu Chen – Taiwanese historian, the former chairman of the Department of History at National Taiwan Normal University
*Evan Yo – Taiwanese Mandopop singer
* Fan-Long Ko – Taiwanese composer
*Gong Hwang-cherng – Taiwanese linguist
*Han Hsiang-ning – Chinese American artist
*Hsieh Chang-heng – Baseball player in the CPBL
*Hsu Shui-teh – Taiwanese politician
*Huang Kun-huei – Chairman of Taiwan Solidarity Union
*Huang Min-hui – Vice Chairperson of Kuomintang, former Mayor of Chiayi City
*Jackson T.-S. Sun – Taiwanese linguist
* Ku Chin-shui – Taiwanese aboriginal athlete
*Le Chien-Ying – Taiwanese archer
*Lee Chu-feng – Kinmen's politician
* Li Hsing – Taiwanese film director
*Lin Jeng-yi – Director of National Palace Museum
* Lin Mun-lee – Taiwanese art scholar
*Shara Lin – Taiwanese actress
*Tung-Tai Lin – a professor at the Graduate Institute of Mass Communication at National Taiwan Normal University.
*Man-houng Lin – Taiwanese historian, the first woman president of the Academia Historica
* Liu Yong – Taiwanese painter and essayist
*Lorene Ren – Taiwanese actress
*Lu Yen-hsun – Taiwanese professional tennis player
* Ma Sen – Taiwanese writer
*Paul Jen-kuei Li – Taiwanese linguist
*Peng Wan-ru – Taiwanese feminist
*Selina Jen – member of the Taiwanese girl group S.H.E
*Su I-Chieh – Taiwanese professional basketball player
*Tien Lei – Basketball player
* Tseng Shu-o – Professional Soccer player in Australia
*Uğur Rıfat Karlova – Turkish stand-up comedian
*Wai-lim Yip – Hong Kong and Taiwanese poet
*Wang Tuoh – Former Secretary-General of Democratic Progressive Party
*Wang Jin-pyng – President of the Legislative Yuan
*Wilbur Lin, conductor of the Missouri Symphony
*Wong Chin-chu – Former Magistrate of Changhua County, former Minister of Council for Cultural Affairs
* Wu Ching-ji – Taiwanese educator
*Cheng-Chih Wu – Taiwanese computer science education scholar, currently the vice president of the National Taiwan Normal University
*Xi Murong – Taiwanese poet and painter
*Yang Chih-liang – Taiwanese politician
*Yuan Shu-chi – Taiwanese archer

Mandarin Training Center alumni

*Richard Bernstein – American journalist
* March Fong Eu – American politician
*Andrew Fastow – former CFO of Enron
*Howard Goldblatt – American literary translator
*Imre Hamar – Hungarian scholar of Chinese studies
*Ryutaro Hashimoto – former Prime Minister of Japan
* Jon Huntsman, Jr. – former United States Ambassador to Singapore from 1992 to 1993, and China from 2009 to 2011; current U.S. Ambassador to Russia
*Koichi Kato – former government minister of Japan
* Pierre Ryckmans – Belgian-Australian writer, essayist and sinologist
*Kevin Rudd – former Prime Minister of Australia
*Chie Tanaka – Japanese model and actress
*Richard Vuylsteke – President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong
* Stephen H. West – American sinologist

Nomenclature

The standard abbreviated reference to National Taiwan Normal University in English is the acronym ''NTNU''. The standard abbreviated form in Mandarin Chinese is the portmanteau

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases