New joint PhD programmes between City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and National Taiwan University (NTU) will be launched under an agreement signed recently by the two universities. The CityU academic units participating in the collaboration are the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, the Department of Biomedical Engineering, the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Signing the agreement at the ceremony held at CityU on 8 October were Professor Paul Lam Kwan-sing, Chief-of-Staff of CityU, Professor Cheung Sai-on, Acting Dean of the College of Science and Engineering at CityU, and Professor Chen Wen-chang, NTU’s Dean of College of Engineering.

Speaking at the ceremony, CityU President Professor Way Kuo said that CityU had a close partnership with NTU, and CityU’s College of Science and Engineering would be split into two units as College of Science and College of Engineering on 1 January 2019 for an enhanced focus on respective discipline for teaching and research.

“Although CityU has outstanding performance in the discipline of engineering, we can learn from NTU,” he said. “In addition to the joint PhD programmes, I hope that we will have more joint degree programmes in the future.”

Professor Lu Jian, CityU’s Vice-President (Research and Technology) and Dean of Graduate Studies, said that CityU was ranked first in engineering in both Hong Kong and Taiwan in several rankings. He said he looked forward to CityU and NTU nurturing more talent for the engineering industry.

Professor Chen said that collaboration between academic institutions was the prevailing trend in higher education, and that the joint PhD programmes between NTU and CityU would enhance students’ academic quality and broaden their international vision. “I hope that this project is only the starting point of our collaboration and that there will be similar joint programmes in other disciplines, such as energy studies,” he added.

CityU guests attending the ceremony included Professor Alex Jen Kwan-yue, Provost; Dr David Cheng Xing, Associate Vice-President (Global Services); Professor Robert Li Kwok-yiu, Associate Dean of the Chow Yei Ching School of Graduate Studies; Professor Alvin Lai Chi-keung, Acting Head of the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering; and Professor Shek Chan-hung, Acting Head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Joining the ceremony from NTU were Professor Chou Chung-che, Associate Dean of the College of Engineering; Professor Hsieh Shang-hsien, Chairman of the Department of Civil Engineering; Professor Huang Mei-jiau, Chairman of the Department of Mechanical Engineering; Professor Chen Jau-horng, Vice Chairman of the Department of Engineering Science and Ocean Engineering; Professor Jay Shieh, Vice Chairman of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering; and Professor Chou Chia-pei, Professor of the Department of Civil Engineering.