“Serving at a medical center means not only taking on the mission of treating acute, severe, rare, and difficult illnesses, but also shouldering the responsibilities of teaching and research. Even more crucially, it requires passing down clinical experiences and specialized expertise. Only through this can we cultivate physicians to possess both clinical competence and humanistic care.” Upholding this guiding philosophy, Professor Julia Yu-Yun Lee of the Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), has continued to return to NCKU since her retirement six years ago in August 2020 to teach dermatopathology, impart her decades of clinical insight, and guide junior colleagues. Her recognition with the Ministry of Education’s “Contribution to Education Award” in 2026 stands as an authentic testament to her lifelong commitment to medical pedagogy.

The United States approved the world’s first proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) drug this year for the treatment of breast cancer, marking a major advance in cancer therapeutics. Building on this emerging technology, an interdisciplinary, inter-university research team involving Assistant Professor Po-Han Chen of National Cheng Kung University’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology has developed togoPhosTAC, a novel programmable targeted dephosphorylation platform that extends the concept of targeted protein degradation to targeted protein dephosphorylation.

National Cheng Kung University’s 16th Freshman Camp, “Rise to Prime, Shape the Unknown” opened at the Chung-Cheng Hall on the morning of September 2. With the new academic year set to begin on September 7, around 3350 freshmen are joining the NCKU community this year. To welcome the new students, a student team of 330 senior students organized the 16th NCKU Freshman Camp. Integrating Tainan’s unique “Turning 16” coming-of-age tradition, the team has prepared a series of lively activities to welcome freshmen while encouraging them to think more deeply about what it means to grow up.

As global technological competition and industrial restructuring accelerate, European Union nations are actively pursuing semiconductor self-sufficiency and resilient supply chains. On the opening day of SEMICON Taiwan 2026, Warsaw University of Technology (WUT), a top-tier university in Poland, led a delegation to formally sign a Letter of Intent (LOI) with the Academy of Innovative Semiconductor and Sustainable Manufacturing (AISSM) at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU). The agreement, signed on-site with WUT's Faculty of Electronics and Information Technologies (WUT FEIT), marks a joint commitment to advance talent cultivation, academic exchange, and scientific research cooperation between Taiwan and Europe.

To deepen Taiwan–U.S. cooperation in semiconductor education and international talent development, Charles L. Welch II, President and CEO of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), led a U.S. higher education delegation on a visit to the Academy of Innovative Semiconductor and Sustainable Manufacturing (AISSM) at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) on the afternoon of September 2, 2026.