President Frank Dievernich of Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences (FRA-UAS), Germany, and Director Andrea Janssen of the International Office at FRA-UAS, visited the College of Engineering and the Graduate Institute of Vehicle Engineering at NCUE in October and was impressed by NCUE’s positive and friendly learning environment. Both universities expect to promote internship programs that arrange for exchange students to participate in practical training at the local companies. The education at FRA-UAS gives weight to theory-practice integration. Currently there are three NCUE exchange students studying there.

NCUE President Kuo’s visit to FRA-UAS during his trip around Germany in November 2016 contributed to the establishment of a partnership between the two institutions. With the cooperation agreement, the exchanges of faculty and students have become frequent. Dr. Friederike Schöfisch, Deputy Director of the International Office at FRA-UAS came to visit NCUE in March 2017, while NCUE sent students to FRA-UAS for exchange studies.

When meeting the visitors, President Kuo expressed his hope that both universities offer exchange students the opportunity of practical training at the local companies to master their vocational competence. This idea coincides with that of FRA-UAS, which is planning to provide for exchange students internship and research opportunities in the thriving Greater Frankfurt region. President Dievernich holds high expectations for sending FRA-UAS students over on exchange and joining the programs. Further discussion is expected.

There are five German exchange students studying at NCUE this semester. President Kuo expressed his hope to see more, including those from FRA-UAS, on campus in the future, providing the students of both universities the opportunity of cultural exchange. According to Dr. Dievernich, with strong disciplines of engineering and sciences, FRA-UAS looks forward to starting the collaboration with joint research with the College of Engineering and the Graduate Institute of Vehicle Engineering at NCUE. Since NCUE has a study-friendly environment and offers the opportunity for international summer camp attendees to volunteer in local communities that helps foster a commitment to social responsibility highly recognized by Dr. Dievernich, close collaboration and exchange between NCUE and FRA-UAS in the future are expected.

FRA-UAS was founded in 1971, same as NCUE. Frankfurt, in which FRA-UAS is located, is the largest city in central and southwestern Germany, a European hub for transportation and the financial center of Europe and Germany with the headquarters of the European Central Bank and German Federal Bank