【Highlights】Online Orientation Meeting 2022
The Office of International Affairs (OIA) held its Orientation Meeting with the freshman international students last Tuesday, February 15, 2002, from 10:30 AM to 12:00 noon. The purpose of the orientation is to officially welcome new students and inform them of the academic policies, regulations, registration processes, and arrival requirements (e. g., quarantine and documents) of NTOU. The event was hosted by participated by approximately 50 participants coming from the university officials headed by the NTOU President, OIA staff, and both new and current students of NTOU. For this academic year 2021-2022, NTOU registered 53 new students for the fall semester, and it is expecting to welcome 23 new students for the spring semester.
The orientation program started with opening remarks from NTOU President Prof. Tai-Wen Hsu. He acknowledged all the university officials and division directors and greeted everyone good morning. The president began his speech on the celebration of the lantern festival, where locals enjoy the specialties, especially the rice dumpling for dinner. This year, the Lunar Year is the Year of the Tiger that symbolizes strength, health, and power. He extended his wishes to the students to have a prosperous new year and strongly encouraged everyone to have and make their dreams come true, which is a powerful tool for success. In studying, the President emphasized the importance of making good and right decisions for a career To have a good life. Students were encouraged to dream their academic endeavors. He also emphasized the importance of health and taking care of one's body as part of the process. A healthy body is helpful to accomplish goals and dreams, most especially in this time of the pandemic. For its achievements, NTOU is a top university related to oceans offering more than 90 courses providing varied options for students to choose with English and Chinese language as the medium of instruction to these courses. The university is pushing towards more English course offerings at the moment. One-third of its English courses include language, culture, and social sciences to provide information more about the Chinese and Taiwanese culture and important events. For today's program, the President assured the students of the available assistance from the OIA for academic and other related concerns while staying in Taiwan and also encouraged students to ask for clarifications or give suggestions. He wished everyone a smooth and productive learning experience in NTOU.
Vice-President Ming-An Lee also gave his special message to the new students. He acknowledged the event as an opportunity to provide an academic guide to all international students. He encouraged students to listen carefully and learn from the talks and extended his wish for all students with a prosperous year of the tiger. Vice-President for Academic Affairs Tai-Yuan Lin greeted the new students as well. He emphasized that every step provided by his office aims to help everyone. He encouraged students that if problems are encountered related to academics, they can go to the Office of Academic Affairs to ask for help. The Dean of International Affairs also gave his warm welcome to everyone. Prof. Yi-Shiung Chen is delighted with the presence of the students at the event and assured everyone of their best to provide information and cater to the students' needs. He also thanked the department head for participating. Prof. Sha-Yen Cheng, the Dean of Student Affairs, in his welcome speech, assured the students of his service and willingness to assist.
Prof. Hsiao-Chun Tseng, Director for the Division of International Student Affairs, provided the information regarding entry to Taiwan, especially during the pandemic, due to many rules and added requirements. Her talk emphasized the three steps to enter Taiwan, (1) preparation before departure to Taiwan, (2) arrival in Taiwan, and (3) enrollment process. Questions will be entertained at the last part of the program.
The Director for the Registration and Curriculum, Prof. Chun-I Wu discusses the academic guidelines. With the division's commitment to enhance the culture of high performance and improve the student experience, they have team members with specialized expertise in functions such as enrollment, academic records, degree certifications, and diplomas, grade collection and recording, transfer credit processing, classroom and event scheduling, curriculum, and catalog. He also reminded students of the schedule for the online course enrollment for new students and to discuss the plan of study with the adviser or department chair before enrolling in any course.
Prof. Shih-Chao Lin, the Director for the Division of International Teaching and Languages, presented the English for Medium Instruction (EMI) courses, which are courses offered in English. He shared the information about the guidelines, curriculum, and specific classes, and they will be available to assist students' concerns on such courses under their division. Visit the EMI Courses Website for the details.
For the last part, the students were also encouraged to raise their questions, concerns or clarifications. The concerns or questions raised were on registration, arrival, scholarship, and advisor selection. Tony Janer, a new student from Malaysia, hosted the event.
For those who missed to event, you can watch the full proceedings in this video: