Professor Peter Lennie, the Executive Director of the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), arrived at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) on June 9th for a special visit to President Meng-Ru Shen and to engage in face-to-face discussions with representatives from various WUN working groups at the university.
Professor Peter Lennie（left）, the Executive Director of the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), arrived at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) on June 9th for a special visit to President Meng-Ru Shen(right).
President Shen welcomed Professor Lennie with Secretary General Wei-Cheng Lo and Vice President for Research and Development Chuan-Pu Liu. During the meeting, Professor Lennie expressed gratitude for NCKU's active participation in academic activities within WUN over the past few years and commended NCKU as an indispensable and essential strategic partner within WUN. He highlighted the alignment between the mental health issues advocated by WUN in recent years and President Shen's focus on creating a "Well-being Campus,” which would be a desire to sustain, emphasise and strengthen collaboration for this area in the future. Notably, NCKU is currently engaged in a global university mental health project initiated by WUN and will play a crucial role in establishing scientific data for universities in the Asian region. Furthermore, both parties exchanged perspectives on expanding WUN's impact in Asia, with President Shen affirming NCKU's commitment to contribute its efforts to this endeavour.
Chaired by Executive Vice President Woei-Jer Chuang(left), Professor Lennie(right) and the NCKU administrative team, we further discussed enhancing substantive cooperation and deepening its effectiveness.
Chaired by Executive Vice President Woei-Jer Chuang, Professor Lennie and the NCKU administrative team, we further discussed enhancing substantive cooperation and deepening its effectiveness. According to previous data, NCKU has significantly grown in collaborations with renowned universities through the WUN network. In terms of research, the number of co-authored papers between NCKU and WUN member universities has been increasing yearly. Per the Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) indicator, the FWCI of co-authored papers between NCKU and WUN member universities is three times higher than the average FWCI of NCKU's independent pieces. In teaching, NCKU has experienced significant growth in international student participation compared to previous years through hosting the 2022 WUN Summer School.
Professor Lennie(front row right) and Senior Vice President Ping-Sheng Wu(front row left) also discussed with faculty members from NCKU, who are involved in WUN research projects. The participants exchanged insights and experiences of project implementation.
Professor Lennie and Senior Vice President Ping-Sheng Wu also discussed with faculty members from NCKU, who are involved in WUN research projects. The participants exchanged insights and experiences of project implementation. In addition to providing valuable feedback on the execution progress, faculty members firmly acknowledged and recognized the significant benefits of the WUN platform in developing international research capacity. Professor Lennie stated that he would bring back the specific valuable suggestions for discussion within the network and expressed appreciation for the fruitful outcomes of this visit.
WUN is a global academic alliance of universities, and membership requires recommendation and approval from member institutions within the network. NCKU was recommended for members in 2016. WUN has 24 member universities worldwide, spanning Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Oceania, and Asia. Examples of member institutions include the University of Sheffield in the UK, the University of Rochester and the University of Alberta in the Americas, and the University of Auckland in New Zealand.