Taipei, Aug. 2 (CNA) University of Taipei (UT) President Tai Hsia-ling said Tuesday she was committed to helping the school become one of the top 500 colleges in the world, and she indicated that a memorandum of understanding signed that day with an Indian college was a step in that direction.
In the MOU, UT and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi agreed to collaborate on projects such as exchanges of teaching and learning resources, and faculty and students for research purposes and also to come up with joint research projects.
UT also agreed to offer 10 scholarships per year for students from the Indian college, providing financial assistance of up to NT$90,000 (US$2,900) per semester for airfare, accommodation and living costs.
For its part, the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi will provide free boarding and lodging and monthly allowance of 5,000 Indian rupees (US$79) to exchange students from University of Taipei, according to the MOU.
Delhi Bodh Raj Mehta, dean of the research and development department of the Indian institute, said he was optimistic about the partnership. The Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and UT are about the same size and are facing some of the same challenges, he said.
Meanwhile, at a swearing-in ceremony for her second term as UT president, Tai said that by improving the quality of teaching and research and raising the UT's international profile, it has been able to overcome some of its challenges.
She mentioned, for example, the challenges brought on by the merging of Taipei Municipal University of Education and Taipei Physical Education College in August 2013 to create UT.
In her first four-year term, Tai said, UT also faced challenges related to budget cuts in the field of higher education and falling enrollment nationwide as a result of Taiwan's low birth rate.
Nonetheless, UT's enrollment rate has remained among the top three in the nation, and its sister-school cooperation programs with other colleges have doubled in recent years, Tai said.
She said she was committed to improving UT's ranking to among the top-500 worldwide as high global rankings are crucial to attracting more international students.
As part of the plan, UT is building links with overseas schools such as the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and will expand its academic exchanges with Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and also Illinois State University, she said.
UT, which is about 120 years old, is currently ranked 67th in Taiwan and 2,934th globally, according to Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, a site that is run by the largest public research body in Spain.
