A group photo taken after the signing ceremony. President Jeffrey J. P. Tsai (the third from the right), Professor Ta-Cheng Chen, Vice President, (second from the right), Professor Neng-Yih Shih(first from the right), Chief Secretary, Dr. I-Hsin Liu, Principal of Washington High School (fourth from the right), and Chief Operating Officer, Liu Yi-Zhong (fifth from the right).

Dr. Jeffrey J.P. Tsai, President of Asia University, and Dr. I-Hsin Liu, Principal of Washington High School, signed a MOU to launch an “International Dual Degree Program.” AU, as the agreement states, will provide academic consultancy to participating high school students at Washington High School to enter AU for two years and then proceed to study at any one of AU’s six renowned sister universities overseas for two more years. After the completion of studies, the students will be awarded two diplomas, one from each university.

Principal I-Hsin Liu led her colleagues, Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Liu Yi-Zhong, Director of Academic Affair, Ms. Pei-Ling Dai, Director of Counseling, Ms. Wan-Ru Wang, Supervisor of Division of International Student Affairs, Ms. Pei-Jiun Tsai, to visit AU, where she taught at the Language Center for one year several years ago before she moved to Washington High School. She said she was then impressed by AU’s internationalization strategies and now wishes to implement such practices at Washington High School.

In his welcome remarks, President Tsai pointed out that AU performed quite well in various world university rankings, including Times Higher Education World University Rankings (THE), Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), US News and World Report University Rankings, and QS World University Rankings. In international competitions, AU students also won many awards in art and design, and AU was listed by the Ministry of Education as Top 0ne university in “International Art and Design Award” for 8 consecutive years.

In the signing ceremony, President Tsai also introduced AU’s “318 Internationalization Project” to Principal Liu and her colleagues, explaining that AU students are required to learn three languages, which are Chinese, English and programming language, and that they should have at least one overseas experience by studying abroad as exchange students, international volunteers, attending international conferences or international competitions during their four-year stay at the university. What’s more, to enhance students’ international experiences, since its establishment in 2001, AU has to date invited 16 Nobel laureates to give lectures and to meet faculty members and students on campus.

 

AU is now recognized for its significant achievement in internationalization. As President Tsai said, “The University of Finance and Economics of Mongolia puts a plaque on its main gate, which states: “Come to the University of Finance and Economics; go to Asia University!” Right now, there are annually more than 45 students coming from the University of Finance and Economics of Mongolia to study at AU for dual degree programs. He suggested that this approach could also be applied to Washington High School.

Professor Yinghui Chen, Dean of International College, further explained that AU will offer AP courses for the students who are engaged in this dual degree program by inviting them to take summer or winter courses before they enter AU. After they have studied at AU for two years, they can go on to study at Drexel University; Northern Illinois University in the US; University of Victoria; University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Canada; Montpellier Business School in France; or the University of Western Sydney in Australia. For now, six renowned high schools, including Kaohsiung Municipal Kaohsiung Girls' Senior High School; St. Dominic Catholic High School; Taipei Municipal Chenggong High School; Taichung Municipal Taichung Second Senior High School; and Taichung Municipal Wen-Hua Senior High School have already established such cooperation with AU. Washington High School will be the sixth school to do so.

Professor Yuh-Jiuan Parng, Chairman of Department of Accounting and Information Systems, shared with all the participants the success story of a student from Washington High School, Ms. Jun-Han Chang, who benefits from AU’s internationalization program and now studies at Northern Illinois University as a senior. Her case serves as a good example to encourage more students from Washington High School to join this dual degree program.

Principal Liu gave her address at the end of the signing ceremony: “We will promote this great program to our students and their parents. I surmise many students will take this program as a stepping stone to fulfil their dreams of studying abroad in the future.”