National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) serves as a premier hub for pioneering scientific development. Through the tireless dedication of every member of our community, the campus has become a gathering place for elite talent. The academic and research achievements of our faculty and students are recognized globally, with outstanding performance across all professional disciplines.
In the QS World University Rankings 2026, NTHU has ascended to 176th worldwide—a significant leap of 34 places from last year’s 210th.
Top Performance: The most significant improvement was seen in Citations per Faculty. Notably, our ratio of top 1% highly cited papers rose to 2.3% in 2023, ranking first in Taiwan.
Reputation: Our strongest metric remains Employer Reputation, where we rank 116th globally.
Subject Strengths: Three of our disciplines—Linguistics, Physics & Astronomy, and Electrical & Electronic Engineering—are ranked among the top 100 in the world.
NTHU’s progress is mirrored by the continuous growth of our resources. Under the second phase of the Higher Education Sprout Project (Year 114), the university was awarded over NT$1.26 billion. Additionally, we secured an extra NT$50 million through the National Key Fields Top Research Center Project.
To provide stable and substantive support for our community:
The Distinguished Talent Development Fund has reached NT$1.3 billion through successful fundraising. The interest generated provides flexible salary bonuses ranging from NT$30,000 to NT$1 million for faculty with exceptional academic performance.
The Administrative Bauhinia Award was established to honor outstanding administrative staff with prizes of up to NT$100,000, boosting morale and fostering a culture of proactive innovation.
This year’s anniversary fundraising in April surpassed NT$372 million, a more than 25% increase over last year’s NT$297 million. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our alumni and supporters from all sectors for their enduring trust and generosity.
Visionary & Comprehensive
NTHU promotes diverse learning and encourages students to courageously pursue their ideals and aspirations. To this end, the New Horizon Sustainability Fund has reached NT$370 million. In the 2024 academic year, over 70% of graduates engaged in cross-disciplinary learning. This year, we established the first "Discovery Learning Center" among domestic universities, providing systematic exploration courses, academic counseling, and resource matching to help students build their own learning blueprints.
NTHU has always prioritized support systems for the disadvantaged to ensure students can focus on their studies. Starting from the 2024 academic year, the "Rising Sun Scholarship" has increased from NT$100,000 to NT$120,000 per year, benefiting over a hundred NTHU students annually.
Over the past year, NTHU's influence has continued to expand. The merger plan between our university and Chung Hua University has been approved by the Ministry of Education. We will establish the "Tsing Hua Science Park" at the Chung Hua campus as a base for cultivating high-tech talent and interdisciplinary development; the College of Semiconductor Research will be the first to move into the Chung Hua campus.
The "National Key Field Intercollegiate Research and Education Park," where our Kaohsiung campus is located, was recently inaugurated. The central government has invested NT$13.2 billion to work with local authorities to promote tech startups and talent cultivation. Meanwhile, the "Taoyuan Medical and Education R&D Park" has reopened for investment bidding, with construction expected to begin by the end of 2027.
On campus, the College of Education has moved into its new home, and the Art Museum has been completed. Together with the already operational Museum of Literature and Museum of Archives, the vibrant diversity of the South Campus is just around the corner.
NTHU is a pioneer in sustainable development and social practice. In 2024, we established the interdisciplinary College of Sustainability to cultivate "green-collar" talent for the nation, and formed the Center for Sustainability and Resilience to integrate university-wide affairs related to sustainable development and social practice. Recently, we collaborated with five high schools and vocational schools in Hsinchu to form the "Touqian River Protection Action Alliance" to jointly promote river environmental protection, making "Sustainability" a signature brand of NTHU.
Next year, NTHU will celebrate the major milestone of its 115th anniversary and its 70th anniversary of re-establishment in Taiwan. We will launch a series of anniversary activities under the theme "Future by Us," encouraging NTHU members to move forward courageously and continue to innovate. The university will serve as the strongest backbone, striving to let every NTHU member achieve self-actualization! The future is ours to create together!
Academic Achievements
Establishing a High-Quality Research Environment and Developing Key Fields
NTHU is one of the top research universities in Taiwan, long dedicated to cutting-edge basic and applied research with an outstanding international academic reputation. In the past three years, annual research project funding has exceeded NT$3 billion, fueled by abundant research energy and the geographical advantage of proximity to multiple national laboratories and high-tech parks. In recent years, the university has been committed to enhancing the value of R&D results and industrial applications. Diverse campus-wide industry-academic collaborations are flourishing, with the goal of becoming a premier university that excels in both academic and practical applications—not only achieving "Academic Excellence" but also acting as a "Pioneer in Industry, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship."
The university supports the Center for Expensive Instruments in purchasing equipment to establish a high-quality research environment and assist faculty in improving research quality. In 2024, through National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) subsidies and university matching funds, the center replaced one piece of major equipment: an Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) spectrometer. Located in Room 137 of the Chemistry Building, it is expected to complete installation and open for external service in the second half of 2025.
With support from the Higher Education Sprout Project, the university has integrated internal research resources and R&D energy to establish seven featured research centers: the "High Entropy Materials Research Center," the "Research Center for Intelligent Sensing and Networking," the "Brain Research Center," the "Frontier Research Center on Fundamental and Applied Sciences of Quantum Technology," the "Resilience Research Center," the "Center for Underwater Archaeology and Underwater Cultural Heritage," and the "Center for Sustainable Development of Taiwan's Linguistic Diversity." These centers are dedicated to top-tier research. Furthermore, internal initiatives such as Competitive Projects, Interdisciplinary Projects, the Tinder Project, and Subsidies for Featured Research Equipment integrate university teams to boost R&D capacity. Launched in 2023, the Tinder Project encourages faculty to form interdisciplinary teams with innovative ideas that break traditional frameworks, helping them successfully secure external research resources and industry-academic collaborations in the future. In 2024, in addition to the "Creative Research" category, the Tinder Project added "National Key Fields" and "International Collaboration" categories. The "National Key Fields" projects align with the government's technology roadmap, encouraging interdisciplinary cooperation among faculty to achieve major breakthroughs and secure large-scale external integrated projects. The "International Collaboration" projects aim to successfully secure international partnerships, advancing the university's global ranking and national competitiveness. Finally, the "Tsing Hua Laboratories" provide high-quality research space and environments for top teams in physics, chemistry, chemical engineering, materials, and biomedicine to engage in interdisciplinary research.
Academic Excellence
NTHU encourages full-time faculty and researchers to actively publish high-quality academic research to enhance institutional reputation. The annual number of published papers (SCI, SSCI) has grown from 1,126 in 2005 to 2,240 in 2024. Papers in the top 15% of Impact Factor increased from 433 in 2005 to 804 in 2024, accounting for 36% of the total publications that year. Highly Cited Papers grew from 41 in 2005 to 276 in 2024; specifically, 31 papers published in 2024 have already been classified as Highly Cited Papers (WOS Database, June 26, 2025).
Yushan (Young) Scholar Sharing Session
In coordination with the supportive measures for teaching and research provided by the Ministry of Education's Yushan Young Scholar Program, the university held the "Yushan Young and Junior Faculty Research Exchange and Sharing Session" in March 2025. Academician Ann-Shyn Chiang and NTHU Distinguished Chair Professor Shangjr Gwo were invited to give keynote presentations on "Academic Research" and "Research Industrialization," respectively. The event also featured research presentations by seven Yushan Young Scholars and junior faculty members. A total of 32 scholars participated, using the exchange to deepen mutual understanding, share teaching experiences, and explore possibilities for interdisciplinary collaboration.
"Distinguished Talent Development Fund" Academic Research Rewards
To encourage faculty to conduct research with significant domestic and international academic influence, the university established the "National Tsing Hua University Distinguished Talent Development Fund Academic Research Reward Regulations." Each college sets its own reward criteria based on its developmental characteristics to encourage impactful research within specialized fields. The fund utilizes self-raised resources for sustainable financial planning, offering salary enhancements beyond government resources to incentivize researchers and boost R&D energy. The first round of rewards was issued on May 1, 2024, benefiting 29% of the faculty. To date, the fund has raised approximately NT$1.1 billion, and the award rate for the second round of applications in September 2024 rose to 36%.
Boosting Innovation and R&D Momentum, Promoting Industry-Academic Collaboration and Tech Transfer
The Operations Center for Industry-Academia Collaboration executes the NSTC "Research Institute Transformation and Industrialization Platform Project," recruiting experienced industry liaison experts to bridge academia and industry. Since September 2017, this has led to the formation of the "Tsing Hua Five-University Alliance" with National Chengchi University, Fu Jen Catholic University, Feng Chia University, and Tamkang University. By integrating key technical teams across complementary fields, the alliance promotes demand-driven collaboration in areas such as Information and Digital, Fintech, Biomedicine, Green Energy, National Defense, and Strategic Industries. It also coordinates resources from central government ministries to provide strategic services including patent maintenance, technology transfer, high-end talent cultivation, and startup incubation.
During the project period, the Center integrated various services to add value, including startup incubation, intellectual property, legal contracts, and government projects such as the NSTC Research Entrepreneurship Program and the ANCHOR UNIVERSITY project for biomedical translation. Industry liaison experts specialize in six major fields: Smart Manufacturing, Biomedicine, Semiconductors, IoT, Fintech, and Cultural & Creative Industries. By mapping internal R&D capabilities and following an "Industry Proposes, University Solves" model, the Center actively facilitates industry-academic collaboration projects.
Based on a solid foundation of industry-academic collaboration, NTHU has deeply promoted a joint R&D model with enterprises, characterized by five-year contracts with annual contributions of at least NT$10 million. Since 2017, the university has signed multi-year agreements with renowned domestic companies to establish several research hubs, including the "MediaTek-NTHU Innovation Research Center" (聯發科技-國立清華大學創新研究中心), "TSMC-NTHU Joint R&D Center" (台積電-國立清華大學聯合研發中心), "Unimicron-NTHU Joint Research Center" (欣興-國立清華大學聯合研究中心), "LITEON-NTHU Joint R&D Center" (光寶科技-國立清華大學聯合研發中心), "Delta Joint Research Center" (台達電聯合研究中心), "Zhen Ding Joint Research Center" (簽鼎聯合研究中心), "Acbel Joint Research Center" (康舒聯合研究中心), "Daicel Industry-Academia Research Center" (Daicel產學研究中心), "Formosa Plastics Joint R&D Center" (台塑聯合研發中心), "NTHU-NVIDIA Joint Innovation Center" (清華NVIDIA聯合創新中心), and the "Largan-NTHU Joint R&D Center" (大立光-清華聯合研發中心). These centers are dedicated to pioneering technological development and high-level talent cultivation.
To guide doctoral talent toward industrial employment and strengthen Taiwan's industrial upgrading and innovation momentum, the government, through the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), promotes the "Research Institute Transformation and Industrialization Program" (also known as the RAISE Program). From 2018 to 2024, the Innovation Incubation Center under NTHU’s Operations Center for Industry-Academia Collaboration served as a training unit, conducting seven rounds of training sessions. These sessions actively linked industrial resources to provide one-year on-the-job training for doctoral degree holders. As of 2024, 253 doctoral-level professionals have been successfully trained, with 225 transitioning smoothly into the industry, greatly benefiting industrial development.
Furthermore, through the organization of industry-academic bridging events, the university has increased the visibility of faculty R&D achievements. These efforts bridge the gap between enterprises and academia, successfully promoting NTHU’s research energy to facilitate collaborative projects.
Continuously improving the quality and quantity of patenting R&D results, aiming to enhance the value of campus intellectual property (IP).
In the process of patenting R&D achievements, NTHU collaborates with the Patent Search Center. This partnership strengthens the patent evaluation and review mechanism and enhances the quality and strategic layout of NTHU’s patent applications. Additionally, by introducing IP concepts to research teams through specialized training courses, the university consistently elevates the patenting standards of its R&D output.
Awards received in the past five years include the Chinese Institute of Engineers' "Outstanding Unit in Industry-Academic Collaboration" award in 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023, and 2025.
Exceptional performance in intellectual property management and technology transfer.
Over the past five years (2020–2024), NTHU has averaged 186 granted domestic and international patents annually. This includes an average of 94 international patents per year, accounting for 50.54% of the total.
Regarding U.S. patent grants in 2024, NTHU was ranked among the "Top 100 Worldwide Universities Granted U.S. Utility Patents in 2024" by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).
Intellectual property licensing performance has been excellent and steadily growing over the past five years (2020–2024), with annual technology transfer income averaging NT$100 million. The university provides diverse, flexible, and customized R&D result transfer/licensing services, with technology transfer income reaching NT$118.26 million in 2024.
The Innovation Incubation Center is dedicated to stimulating entrepreneurial potential and actively promoting cross-disciplinary collaboration between industry, academia, and research institutions. By integrating education, research, and practical application, the center connects valuable resources both inside and outside the university to assist in talent cultivation and innovative research.
Higher Education Sprout Project (高等教育深耕計畫)
The university actively promotes the "Higher Education Sprout Project," driving excellence through our key featured research centers. These include Frontier Research Center on Fundamental and Applied Sciences of Quantum Technology (前瞻量子科技研究中心), High Entropy Materials Research Center (高熵材料研發中心), Brain Research Center (腦科學研究中心), Research Center for Intelligent Sensing and Networking (智慧感知聯網研究中心), Resilience Research Center (韌性研究中心), Center for Underwater Archaeology and Underwater Cultural Heritage (水下考古學暨水下文化資產研究中心), and the Center for Sustainable Development of Taiwan's Linguistic Diversity (臺灣語言多樣性永續發展中心).
To complement these efforts, the university provides subsidies for internal competitive research teams and interdisciplinary projects. These initiatives incentivize senior faculty to lead junior researchers, or encourage junior faculty to form independent teams focused on specific research themes. The goal is to achieve significant breakthroughs or cultivate mature teams with shared excellence, enabling them to successfully secure large-scale external integrated projects. By advancing the quality of interdisciplinary and inter-collegiate research and actively integrating resources for cross-sector collaboration, we continue to further elevate the university’s overall R&D energy.
Frontier Research Center on Fundamental and Applied Sciences of Quantum Technology (前瞻量子科技研究中心)
Single-Photon Quantum Computer (Quantum Optics Lab 量子光學實驗室 – Prof. Chih-Sung Chuu’s Team)
By performing quantum prime factorization using only a single photon, our team has realized the world’s smallest quantum computer. As Taiwan’s first optical quantum computer, it discovers a new path for quantum computing architecture. Unlike the mainstream approaches currently pursued globally, its primary advantage is the ability to integrate with light-based quantum communication to form quantum networks. Furthermore, it operates at room temperature, marking a significant breakthrough. Notably, this technology can be combined with current silicon photonics and integrated with classical computers. This holds great potential for Taiwan to extend its semiconductor leadership and presents a prime opportunity for Taiwan to lead quantum computer development (Phys. Rev. Applied 22, 034003, 2024). These results were presented at a press conference at the NTHU Hall of Fame on October 17, 2024, receiving extensive domestic and international media coverage.
Breaking Traditional Perceptions of Magnetic Materials: New Magnetic Material Exhibits Strong Optical Activity Without Net Magnetic Moment (Quantum Materials Group – Prof. Chung-Yu Mou’s Team)
This research was led by Prof. Chung-Yu Mou (Department of Physics), Prof. Di-Jing Huang (Distinguished Research Fellow at NSRRC and Joint Professor of Physics), Yushan Scholar Prof. Atsushi Fujimori, and Prof. Sang-Wook Cheong (Rutgers University). The first author is Dr. Jun Okamoto (Assistant Research Fellow at NSRRC), with co-authors including Academician Chien-Te Chen (NSRRC) and Prof. Horng-Tay Jeng (Department of Physics). The international team discovered that the new magnetic material possesses strong optical activity despite having no net magnetic moment. This achievement was recently published in the top international journal Advanced Materials (IF=27.4): Advanced Materials 2309172 (2024), and was selected as the back cover article for that issue (2024, v36, issue 25).
Wafer-Scale Plasmonic Arrays Realize Brightness-Tunable Room-Temperature Single-Photon Sources (Quantum Materials & Quantum Communication Groups – Prof. Chih-Sung Chuu and Prof. Yi-Hsien Lee)
This collaborative work integrated the expertise of Prof. Chih-Sung Chuu and Prof. Yi-Hsien Lee to develop wafer-scale room-temperature hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) quantum emitter arrays integrated with sub-100nm single-crystal gold nanospheres. This innovation realizes a brightness-tunable room-temperature single-photon source. The integration of synthetic h-BN with artificial plasmonic arrays overcomes long-standing challenges in controlling the emission wavelength and position of emitters. The brightness was significantly enhanced by approximately 500 times, reaching $4.5 \times 10^6$ counts/s. This method is compatible with semiconductor technology and was published in Nano Letters 24, 3395 (2024), where it was featured as the cover article of Volume 24, Number 11.
Figure 1: Media coverage of the single-photon quantum computer, alongside the covers of Advanced Materials (2024, v36, issue 25) and Nano Letters (Vol. 24, No. 11).