Taipei, Nov. 24 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian received Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) President Jared L. Cohon Monday at the Presidential Office and expressed hope that the CMU will increase exchanges with Taiwan's academic institutions.
Chen told Cohon that his administration attaches great importance to upgrading the academic level of Taiwan's universities and research institutions and hopes that they will gain a place in the international academic sector.
The president noted that Premier Yu Shyi-kun has just announced the allocation of NT$50 billion (US$1.47 billion) in the next five years for universities designated by the government to cultivate talented individuals, one tenth of a special budget of NT$500 billion for ten new major public construction projects from 2004 to 2008.
With this government assistance, Chen continued, at least 10 universities and graduate schools in Taiwan should be ranked No. 1 in Asia in various respects in the next five years and at least one university should be ranked among the world's 100 best.
Chen said he was pleased to be informed that the CMU has established sisterhood ties with National Chiao Tung University and that the Industrial Technology Research Institute has set up a research center on the CMU campus.
He expressed hope that the CMU will further increase academic exchanges with Taiwan's academic, industrial and government sectors.
Chen also expressed condolences to Cohon for the murder of Dr. Chen Wen-cheng, a CMU alumni who was murdered on the National Taiwan University campus in 1981 when Taiwan was under the authoritarian rule of the Kuomintang. The murder has never been solved.