TAINAN, Taiwan - (Business Wire) National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Taiwan has moved up by 88 places compared with that of last year, and ranks 262nd worldwide in the 2009 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU 2009) published by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China on Oct. 30th. NCKU is only second to National Taiwan University (NTU) among all Taiwanese universities with its outstanding research performance and excellent university development. ARWU 2009 formulates the rankings by considering various academic achievements which include Alumni Award of Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals (10 percent), Scholars Award of Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals (20 percent), authors of Highly Cited Papers (HiCi) cited from the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) in 22 subject categories (20 percent), articles published in “Nature” and “Science” (20 percent), the Science Citation Index (SCI) and Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) (20 percent), and the per capita academic performance (PCP) of an institution (10 percent).
Prof. Woei-Shyan Lee as the NCKU Secretary General commented that NCKU ranked from 407th worldwide in 2004, 391st in 2005, 384th in 2006, 367th in 2007, 350th in 2008, and up to 262nd in 2009 with the devotion and output from excellent research developments in NCKU. NCKU has been granted with the honor of joining “Aim for the Top-Tier University and Elite Research Center Development Plan” promoted by the Ministry of Education (M.O.E.) since 2005. NCKU devoted continuously on the recruitment of outstanding scholars and the upgrade in the standards of research to encourage faculty members to do better research.
In ARWU 2009, there are seven Taiwan universities ranking in the top 500 globally, including National Taiwan University (NTU) at 150th, NCKU ranks 262nd, National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) at 297th, National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) at 327th, Chang Gung University (CGU) at 408th, National Central University (NCU) at 441st, and National Yang-Ming University (NYMU) at 449th.
According to the 22 categories in the ISI Highly Cited Database, updated in Feb 11, 2009 (http://www.isihighlycited.com/), there are thirteen scholars from Taiwan including two from NCKU, three from NTU, five from Academia Sinica, one from National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST), one from NCTU, and one from CGU.
NCKU President, Academician Michael Ming-Chiao Lai, and Prof. Cary T. Chiou as the Chair Professor of Dept. of Environmental Engineering, are the two from NCKU. President Lai as the only one from Taiwan in Microbiology has 52 highly cited papers with citation more than 2000 times. The top three cited papers are “inhibition of the interferon-inducible protein kinase PKR by HCV E2 protein”, “continuous tissue-culture cell lines derived from chemically-induced tumors of Japanese quail”, and “the molecular biology of coronaviruses”.
Prof. Chiou, also the only one from Taiwan both in Engineering and Environmental/Ecology, has 21 highly cited papers. The top three cited papers are “physical concept of soil-water equilibria for nonionic organic-compounds”, “partition equilibria of non-ionic organic-compounds between soil organic-matter and water”, and “water solubility enhancement of some organic pollutants and pesticides by dissolved humic and fulvic-acids”.
In the HEEACT 2009 Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities published on July 30th, 2009, NCKU has moved 21 places up compared to that of last year, and ranks 307th worldwide in comprehensive evaluation, which is only second to National Taiwan University (NTU) among all Taiwan’s universities. However, in rankings of subject fields, NCKU’s College of Engineering exceeds that of NTU and ranks 30th globally.
Moreover, according to the latest academic ranking of research institutions done by Elsevier, the world's major publisher of science and medicine literature, NCKU ranks 19th worldwide in alternative energy research papers of distinctive competency.
NCKU is the only Taiwanese university listed on this global top 25 list, which means that NCKU's alternative energy research papers not only excel in both quality and quantity, but most importantly they are cross-disciplinary ones. The Ministry of Education (MOE) allocated the special funding of five year 50 billion NTD (5Y50B) to boost domestic universities to advance at least one field to top-tier status globally. Since NCKU's rankings soar in global rankings done by Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan (HEEACT Ranking) and Essential Science Index (ESI), both can serve as evidence that NCKU has met the expectations of MOE, and we should be proud of this achievement.
About National Cheng Kung University (NCKU)
NCKU is located in the ancient city of Tainan, the historical and ancient cultural capital city of Taiwan, which boasts more than 50 national relics sanctioned by the government and is approximately 250 kilometers south of Taipei. It is connected to all major cities in Taiwan by the recently initiated state-of-the-art Taiwan High Speed Rail. Further, this historical heritage is the pride of Tainan City and represents a rich cultural resource to NCKU. The technological sectors in the Southern Taiwan Science Park offer students at NCKU with a stage to apply what they have learned into practice.
With three quarters of a century of distinguished history, with well over 130,000 powerful alumni now dotting the globe, many have achieved supreme successes in arts, business, education, science, technology and healthcare and are ready and willing to assist the 22,000 academic selective students and 1200 academic faculty members. Currently, both have an international flavor, with enormous regional support, and there is a permeating culture of proactive intellectual growth on the world’s stage NCKU in Tainan, Taiwan, has evolved from its engineering genesis into a powerful and comprehensive research international university in the Asia Pacific.
Since NCKU’s establishment in 1931, it has developed into a research intensive and comprehensive university with integrated academic fields in nine colleges: Liberal Arts, Sciences, Engineering, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Planning & Design, Management, Social Sciences, Medicine, and Bioscience & Biotechnology. NCKU currently offers 40 undergraduate programs (excluding the Program of Bachelor’s Degree), 78 master’s degree programs, 54 doctoral programs and 20 master’s degree programs for working professionals.
Photo: http://www.cna.com.tw/postwrite/cvpread.aspx?ID=42069
NCKU
Julia (Ying-Chen) Liu, +886-6-275-7575 ext. 50042
Press Officer
yingchen@mail.ncku.edu.tw
