NTNU Campus
Formerly Taiwan's leading institute for teachers' education, National Taiwan Normal University (國立臺灣師範大學, or Shida 師大) has transformed in the last twenty years or so into one of the top comprehensive universities in Taiwan, noted in particular for research and education in arts, literature, linguistics, and education. The university enrolls about 11,000 students each year, including approximately 1,500 international students. NTNU is also internationally known for its Mandarin Training Center, which attracts more than 1,000 international students from over 60 countries every year. SIAAS 2015 will be held on the library side of the NTNU Heping Campus (Main Campus), which is located at the cultural hub of Taipei City in the historic Daan District.
The NTNU Main Campus was formerly founded by Taiwan Governor Government (Taiwan Sotoku Fu 台湾総督府) as Taihoku College (Taihoku koto gako 台北高等学校) during the Japanese colonial era in the early 1920s. The main purpose of this establishment was to nurture students that were competent for educations at Imperial Universities (Teikoku Daigaku 帝国大学). For the extremely limited enrollment then, students who could enroll were all educated as high elites. For example, former Taiwanese President Lee Tong-Hui (李登輝) is one of the alumni.
After the Second World War, the former Taihoku College was redefined as Taiwan Provincial Teachers College by the Kuomintang Government in 1946. The school gained its present name, National Taiwan Normal University, in 1967. With the establishment of the Mandarin Training Center in 1956 and the mergence of former National University of Preparatory School for Overseas Chinese Students (currently the Linkou Campus in New Taipei City) in 2006, NTNU has transformed into a well-structured hub of international education for students around the world.
Many buildings on the Main Campus remain from the time of Taihoku College. These include the Administration Building, the Auditurium, Wenhui Hall and Puzi Building. Incorporated in these buildings is neo-Gothic architectural vocabulary, which lends the cmapus a sense of European universities.
