Pennsylvania State University (PSU) is one of the famous "Public Ivy League" universities in the United States. The College of Medicine of Chang Gung University selects several outstanding students each year to participate in the summer exchange program in PSU. This year, being the fourth year to participate in this program, a cumulative number of six students have been sent to PSU. In order to enhance the level of communication between both parties, the representatives of the two universities signed the second memorandum of cooperation on the morning of March 15th. In addition to continuing the summer exchange program, the two universities will also explore the possibility of establishing a dual degree program.

The signing ceremony was held at the First Medical Science Building of Chang Gung University. The Chang Gung University was represented by Prof. Chih-Wei Yang, dean of the College of Medicine, and Prof. Sebastian D. Fugmann, deputy director of the Center for International Academic Cooperation (IAC). The PSU was represented by Dr. Jamie Arnold and Dr. Craig Cameron, who were in charge of the exchange program. While in Taiwan, the two professors also personally interviewed students who applied for this years’ summer exchange program to show that they valued this program.

The opportunity for cooperation between the two universities was initiated by Associate Professor Robert Y.-L. Wang of the Department of Biomedical Sciences and the two PSU professors who visited Taiwan this time. After several discussions, both parties decided to arrange three students from the Department of Biomedical Sciences of Chang Gung University to a PSU laboratory in 2016 to complete a research project in six weeks. At the end of the research project, they had to publish the results through posters and oral presentations. Two credits were given to the students after they passed the review. Because the students performed well, the PSU decided to sign a memorandum of cooperation with the College of Medicine of Chang Gung University in the following year.

 Yuan-Wei Su, a student of the Department of Biomedical Sciences who participated in the exchange program last year, shared his experience with teachers, students and juniors during the signing ceremony. He said that the most valuable thing about this trip was that he could experience the laboratory environment and education methods of an elite university in the United States, and could communicate with teachers and students from different regions and countries at close range. Yuan-Wei Su felt that it was worthwhile. He had this opportunity to expand his horizons and broaden his global vision. He said that although he felt strongly that he was incapable in the beginning, but he quickly adjusted his mentality, learned from failures, and realized that he must be more independent, capable, confident and positive in addressing and solving every challenge he encountered in experiments.

Associate Professor Robert Y.-L. Wang said that students must study, research and publish results in English in PSU. The whole process is not easy, but fruitful and rewarding for everyone. He gave the example of Bo-Wen Xu, a Chinese student who graduated last year. The reason why Bo-Wen Xu chose to come to Taiwan then for his tertiary education was because of Taiwan’s full English teaching materials and medium. The university provided him with more opportunities for research.  Furthermore, studying here gave him an advantage to continue to study in European and American countries. The “added value” of the PSU summer exchange program was believed to contribute to his admission into a doctoral program of University College London (UCL). He finally achieved the dream that brought him to Taiwan.