Chairman Douglas Hsu’s Speech at the 34th Anniversary of Yuan Ze University

　The 34th anniversary of Yuan Ze indicates that it is heading into a young adulthood. While celebrating its growth, Chairman Douglas Hsu also reminds everyone to expedite on transformation, focus on industry-academia collaboration, and cultivate more outstanding talents for the industry and the world.

　Whenever I step into Yuan Ze, I can feel the vibrancy and energy exhibited on campus that is very different from other schools and can’t help but recall its history of establishment.

　In the early years when Taiwan was starting its industries, in order to cultivate technical talents, the Group founder had the vision to replicate the same professional education model from Germany to establish “Oriental Institute of Technology” (today’s Asia Eastern University of Science and Technology) which was well received. Then given Taiwan’s gradual economic transformation, industries were in urgent need of talents with higher education. The founder wished to upgrade OIT to the university grade, but approval was not granted from the Ministry of Education, after considerations, he decided to proceed with the new university.

　At that time, the view was not positive as traditional universities were already in solid foundations. The newly established private universities have limited recruiting attraction for students and faculty. Yet, against most people’s pessimism, the founder was determined to succeed the plan to build up the school. Unexpectedly, private schools actually enjoy more flexibilities than public-funded universities, private establishment is less restraint for the faculties’ academic freedom, therefore, in the initial stage of its inception it attracted more professors from prestigious universities to teach here, thus it set up foundation of success for Yuan Ze.

　After 34 years of dedication, Yuan Ze has now earned its place in the academia. While under the impact of low birth rate, many schools are facing reduced enrollment and exit crisis, the founder’s spirit reminded us that if only we focus on delivering excellent performance instead of worrying about challenges, we would be able to overcome them eventually. Just as Stanford University and Princeton University in the U. S., they are never short of outstanding students. Hope everyone can make efforts and work together to elevate our academic and administrative management quality, enhance our global edge, and promote Yuan Ze to be ranked among the world’s prestigious universities.

　In this dynamic environment, aside from passing on knowledge, the school is more responsible for teaching students the right rationale, modern thinking, and assist them to enter smoothly into the society. Therefore, professors, students, teaching curriculum must all stay connected with the new era and adopt the new trend, to understand how new technologies like Metaverse can comprehensively create a new culture? And under turbulent geopolitical situation, can we keep the world’s top leading chip production technology remain in Taiwan? Even large multi-national corporations are heavily impacted, how should small and medium enterprises deal with such situation? Furthermore, climate change has pushed up needs for eco-friendly products, among which electrical vehicles will embrace explosive growth, are we ready for this? How will the world evolve after five to six years?

　Facing the needs and changes of the new era, from individuals to schools, enterprises, and even nations should not be complacent, but need to think further how to expedite on transformation and maintain competitive edge in the turbulent world. Take Far Eastern New Century Corporation for example, it is the world’s top 2 recycled polyester supplier, not only it has developed anti-bacterial and deodorant high-tech fibers, but also with its strong R&D to transform ocean waste into eco-friendly wear for the national football teams in World Cup, demonstrating excellent elasticity and knock resistance. Yet, we are still reposition new direction and strategy to fully develop the new fiber of the next generation and create the next revenue driver.

　For industry to leap into the next stage, talent cultivation is the key. Therefore, Yuan Ze plays an extremely important role. Hope you will continue to be enthusiastic and persistent, enjoy the flexibility and advantage of being a private university, engage in industry-academia collaboration, expand mutual exchanges, foster the next generation talent for the enterprise, and help Taiwan move toward a bright future!

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