Officials of the National Kaohsiung Marine University (NKMU) visited UP Diliman on September 4, 2017 to sign a memorandum of student exchange (MOSE) and explore areas of collaboration with UP.
The nine-man delegation was led by NKMU Acting President Syue-Sinn Leu, who signed the MOSE with UP President Danilo Concepcion and headed exploratory talks for collaboration with marine experts of UP Diliman, most of whom came from the Marine Science Institute (MSI).
The MOSE, which provides for an exchange of five undergraduate and graduate students from each university for one year, is a step to concretize a memorandum of understanding for academic cooperation signed on May 7, 2017 between the two universities. Academic linkages are among the many fruits of UP’s exploratory interactions with the alliance of Southern Taiwan universities in the past couple of years.
NKMU plays an important role in Taiwan, which is surrounded by sea. Established in 1948, it has trained marine professionals to contribute to Taiwan’s economic development. According to its website, the university now focuses on “aggressively promoting international academic and technical exchanges, leading Taiwan’s marine-related industries in the pursuit of technification and sophistication, and creating a bright future for our country’s marine industries.”
Several UP Diliman experts briefed the delegation on their areas of research. They were: Aaron Joseph Villaraza of the Institute of Chemistry; Mark Daniel de Luna of the Department of Chemical Engineering; and, Gil Jacinto, Gisela Concepcion, Fernando Siringan, Porfirio Alexander Aliño, and Lilibeth Salvador-Reyes of the MSI.
The NKMU delegation, accompanied by staff of Taiwan’s Manila Economic and Cultural Office, was also set to visit UP Visayas, which is the ocean sciences and fisheries campus of UP. (Jo. Lontoc, UP MPRO)
