Imec proud to host PhD students from NCKU (Taiwan)

On March 20^th, 2018, imec’s Guido Groeseneken was in Taiwan to visit National Cheng Kung University (NCKU). At the occasion, Groeseneken and NCKU president Huey-Jen Jenny Su signed an agreement to allow students from NCKU to come to Leuven and pursue a PhD or internship.

“What we have signed is a three-party agreement between NCKU, imec and KU Leuven,”says Groeseneken, who is both a professor at KU Leuven and an imec Fellow, imec’s highest accolade for scientific expertise.“The students who qualify and take up the offer will be supported by open-ended scholarships from NCKU to do part of their PhD research at imec. Eventually, when they are successful, they will be awarded a dual degree by both the KU Leuven and NCKU.”

“NCKU has especially strong departments in engineering, computer science, medicine, and planning and design”, adds Groeseneken.“And that is an excellent match with imec and KU Leuven, which form a strategic tandem based in Leuven (Belgium): imec as the world renowned R&D center for nanotechnology and digital technologies and KU Leuven, one of Europe’s oldest universities, with a long tradition of ground-breaking research and high-quality education.”

“The new agreement is a win-win for all parties,” says Groeseneken.“The NCKU students get a great opportunity to start their research career at imec and to contribute to research projects that have a lasting impact on society. And it allows imec and KU Leuven to attract top talent from Taiwan, which will help advance our long-term research.”

“Imec has always had strong contacts in Taiwan,”continues Groeseneken. “We have longstanding partnerships with some of the big names in high-tech that are based in Taiwan; we’ve got our own successful Taiwanese subsidiary with over 30 employees; and we’re also creating stronger bonds with the academic world. First with NCTU in Hsinchu and now also with NCKU in Tainan, a top tier university with 1,500 academic staff and over 10,000 postgraduate students. In the longer term, we have good hopes that these agreements will also result in a stronger collaboration between our academic staff.”

The new agreement fits in with imec’s broader effort to establish collaborations with major universities worldwide. Collaborations and contacts on the level of the academic staff and the research, but also to attract great minds and offer them one of the best environments to pursue their research.