Since August 2020, National Taipei University (NTPU) has been subsidized by the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) to implement the "Taiwan Indonesia Urban Environmental Change and Land Resource Management Overseas Research Center (TIUL)". Following the signing of MOU with Al-Azhar University (UAI) in Indonesia in 2021, the center had become the first overseas research center of NTPU. Besides, TIUL also established the network connecting the Indonesia’s universities as Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Universitas Negeri Semarang (UNNES), Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) and Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB) etc.
Photo in Front of TIUL Indonesia Office (Feb 27 2023)
TIUL aims to establish the cross-field integration partnership of teaching and academic research collaboration, which can help the sustainable development on society, economy, industry and government policy. Through practical exchanges and mutual learning on research topics such as resource and environmental governance, urban planning, urbanization and environmental change and disaster risk assessment, it is expected more collaborative research projects can be promoted between Taiwan and Indonesia. In addition, the cultivation of talents in surveying and mapping technology, and urban planning is also one of the important goals of TIUL.
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Photo of Mosque in UAI Campus
Founded in 2000, the University of Al Azhar is a private institution of higher education located in Jakarta, including six colleges in law, science and technology, economics and business, cultural sciences, psychology and education, and social sciences and politics. The school attaches great importance to international exchanges, and cooperates with world-renowned universities such as Cambridge University in the UK and Shizuoka University in Japan. UAI has established multiple strategic partner networks based on the concept of Triple Helix Collaboration (academic and research, business and government). The ability to face the challenges and overcome them is also the potential of UAI on academic research. In recent years, many achievements have been made in teaching and student communication between Taiwan and Indonesia. For example, TIUL and UAI hold online guest lectures and workshops several times in a year. The students from both sides can cooperate to complete the case studies. Through the efforts of all colleagues, TIUL was successfully recognized by the departments of UAI and the other cooperated Indonesia’s universities as Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Universitas Negeri Semarang (UNNES), Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) etc.
The PI of TIUL project and Vice President of NTPU, Prof. Daxin Chen; the co-PI of TIUL project and Dean of Sustainable Innovation Collegue, prof. Wanming Wei; the co-PI of TIUL project, prof. Ta-Kang Yeh; the Director of TIUL, Dr. Hsuan-Chang Shih; the assistant prof. of International Program on Urban Governance (IPUG), Dr. Chantalle Rietdijk and other members visited UAI in Indonesia at the end of February this year (Feb 27 2023).
Photo of Discussing the Teaching and Research Collaboration (Feb 27 2023)
Prof. Daxin Chen mentioned that it is a great honor to finally visit UAI after the epidemic. In order to promote the new southward policy proposed by our country, Indonesia's unique history, culture and geographical environment are taken into consideration. Due to factors such as location and transportation, TIUL actively looks for the opportunities for educational and academic cooperation with universities in Jakarta. It is a great honor to sign MOU with UAI and carry out educational and academic exchanges. Although the epidemic has changed many existing forms of cooperation, it has also brought new opportunities and possibilities. In the past two years, TIUL and UAI used online and remote methods to complete exchanges on teaching and students, and discuss research topics such as resource and environmental governance, urbanization and environmental change and disaster risk assessment. Therefore, I hope that the academic research and educational resources of the two universities can cooperate more closely, not only to share research results, but also to encourage students and teachers to exchange, to enhance the international competitiveness. Prof. Wanming Wei also announced that he hopes to promote the high education cooperation between the two countries in the future, and hopes to cooperate with UAI in educational programs. Including strengthening and expanding the educational cooperation between the two universities, whether it is research cooperation projects, or teacher-student teaching cooperation projects, in order to broaden the teaching horizons of the two universities and implement the sharing of educational resources.
Photo of TIUL Delegation and UAI Members (Feb 27 2023)
Vice President of UAI, Ir. Ade Jamal also responded that the environmental change issues caused by land development in Indonesia are relatively extensive at present, involving multi-level and complex issues such as ecology and land, cities and humans, industries and energy, disaster risks and the rule of law. In the future, NTPU and UAI will cooperate on the research direction and goals proposed by the TIUL, and promise to do their best to support the resources needed by TIUL in research and technology. In the past few years, TIUL and UAI have established a good relationship with each other, and I believe this relationship will be more fruitful in the next few years. Looking forward to the future, the higher education cooperation projects between the two universities will have long-term and international teaching experience and promote the cultivation and exchange of more talents.
By means of this visiting opportunity, the Director of TIUL, Dr. Hsuan-Chang Shih and Dr. Chantalle Rietdijk formally present the integrated research project to UAI teachers and students: The Impact of Climate Change and Natural Disasters on Social-Ecological System in Urban Areas: Phenomenal Observations, Coping Strategies and Policy Analysis, which includes 1 main project and 5 sub-projects. The duration of the integrated research project is two years (112/01 to 114/12) and the funding is NT$1.89 million for the first year. The team consists of researchers from NTPU International College, TIUL and four Indonesia’s universities such as UGM (Universitas Gadjah Mada), ITB (Institut Teknologi Bandung), UNNES (Universitas Negeri Semarang), UAI (Universitas Al Azhar Indonesia). The project aligns with NTPU’s internationalization goals and the New Southbound Policy to strengthen collaboration with southeast-asian nations. The topics of the 5 sub-projects are related the following areas: (1) coastal flood and subsidence model estimation; (2) real estate and urban development; (3) urban tourism development; (4) community resilience etc. Again, the abovementioned research areas also align with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) presented by the United Nations in the report, Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development - a Plan of action for people, planet, and prosperity. Therefore, it is expected to establish long-term research partnerships with these universities in Indonesian.