International Cooperation

Learning from the University of British Columbia’s Example of Excellence in Academic Administration

On March 10th NTNU invited Anna Kindler, a professor at NTNU’s sister university the University of British Columbia (UBC), to lead a forum discussing school operations and share how committees operate at UBC. It is hoped that her guidance can help NTNU to further enhance the quality of academic administration.

The University of British Columbia is renowned world-wide its academic excellence. To date, seven Nobel Prize winners have come out of UBC. Moreover, UBC has achieved impressive rankings, 3rd in Canada and 43rd in the world, according to the QS World University Rankings.

During the forum, Anna Kindler discussed organization practices and committee member selection standards, as well as meeting scheduling and procedures, at UBC. Kindler pointed out that for all campus activities a variety of factors must be kept under control, including managing of school accounts, assessment of achievement, etc. She also emphasized the importance of student participation in committees, stating that students are an integral part of the academic administrative system.

NTNU Vice-president Cheng-chih Wu indicated that in addition to offering guidance related to her field during her time serving as chair professor at NTNU, in order to enhance the quality of NTNU’s administrative system, he hopes she can serve as a consultant in the area of administrative organization and procedures. In the future, more forums will be held to discuss how to improve the quality of education and academic administration, in the hope that NTNU’s world ranking will continue to climb.