National Chengchi University

One of Taiwan’s most prestigious higher education institutions, the National Chengchi University is regarded as one of the Asia’s most important centres for humanities and social sciences.

Established in Nanjing in 1927, the institution was known as the Central Party Affairs School and the Central Political School, it was renamed the Central School of Governance two years later.

The school was officially renamed National Chengchi University in 1946 before it was relocated from China’s then-capital city to Taiwan alongside the state's government in 1954 – with Chengchi meaning ‘governance’ or ‘politics’ in Chinese.

Despite its many stages of reconstruction and relocation, NCCU continues to uphold its motto of “harmony, independence, balance and preeminence” and is committed to teaching the humanities and social sciences and training future leaders “to lead thoughts, to inspire, to impact the world”.

To this end, it has educated many of Taiwan’s leading civic figures, while several of its staff have later become Taiwan’s head of state, including Lee Teng-hui, known as the ‘father of Taiwan democracy’ and current Taiwan premier Tsai Ing-wen, in line with its history as the incubator for top civil servants and politicians.

Apart from the main campus in Taipei, the university has two branch campuses and three affiliated schools – with its main base winning first prize in the Taipei Urban Landscape Award for its campus planning by the city government of Taipei.

Over the years NCCU has fought to strengthen the dialogue between society and the arts and sciences by cultivating civic wisdom and literacy, with the university widely regarded as a touchstone of Taiwanese democracy.