National Tsing Hua University

Tsing Hua National University (Chinese 國立清華大學 / 国立清华大学, Pinyin Guólì Qīnghuá Dàxué, Tongyong Pinyin Guólì Cinghuá Dàsyué, abbreviation: NTHU) is a research university in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

Its focus is on technology-related and science courses. The university has 7 colleges, 17 departments and 18 independent institutes located on a spacious campus area. The university, which has a strong postgraduate program, employs over 600 full-time professors. For the Asian region, the university is aiming for a position like MIT in the US. It was ranked 168th in the world and 32nd in Asia in the 2021 QS ranking. In close proximity to the university's campus is Hsinchu Science Park, with which the university has close ties. The Science Park is considered Taiwan's Silicon Valley with a high concentration of important companies from the high-tech industry (especially semiconductors). Chiao Tung National University, also located in Hsinchu, has been in strong competition with it since both schools were founded. The rivalries are particularly evident in the annual Mei-Chu Tournament / Mei-Zhu Tournament (梅竹賽 / 梅竹赛, Méi-Zhú-Sài), a series of sports and games competitions held in March. The ratio is also often compared to Athens (NTHU) and Sparta (NCTU), or to Cambridge and Oxford.

History

Originally, NTHU was Tsinghua University (Chinese 清華大學 / 清华大学, Pinyin Qīnghuá Dàxué, Tongyong Pinyin Cinghuá Dàsyué) (founded in Beijing in 1911) and a preparatory school for Chinese students to be sent by the government to study in the United States, but in 1925 it was converted into a university. In 1937 at the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, it was merged with Peking University and Nankai University. It formed as Temporary Changsha University in Changsha in 1937, which became a combat zone in 1938, and then as United Southwest University in 1938-45 after relocating to Kunming. After the World War, all three universities were moved back to Beijing and Tianjin respectively. Some of the staff opposed this and moved to Hsinchu, and in 1955 their first Institute of Nuclear Science was established with the start of construction of a nuclear reactor. The College of Nuclear Research traces its origins to this. This gave rise to NTHU, which officially began operations on January 1, 1956. Both Tsing Hua Universities are no longer affiliated with each other, but each claims to be the true Tsing Hua University. However, the relationship has eased and the universities are making efforts to cooperate. On November 1, 2016, the National University of Education Hsinchu (NHCUE) was integrated into NTHU.

Students

In fall 2016, there were 16,547 undergraduate and graduate students learning at the University. 9,006 were undergraduates, 5,808 were working toward a master's degree, and 1,736 were doctoral students. They were taught by 808 faculty members.