As our city has developed from Dayuan, to Anping, to Fucheng, to Tainan over the last 400 years, – it has always been diverse and outward-looking. In the 85 years since our school’s founding, its identity has evolved too: from Tainan Technical College in 1931, to Taiwan Provincial College of Engineering in 1946, Taiwan Provincial Cheng Kung University in 1956, and National Cheng Kung University in 1971. Named after Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga), a heroic pioneer of Taiwan’s development, NCKU’s history has been closely bound up with the changes that have affected our nation and society. While training countless talented students, the school has grown symbiotically with the city of Tainan, staying in touch with the pulse of society and forging links throughout the world. Four hundred years ago, people from afar came to Anping, Tainan, and now NCKU is reaching out from this historic city as a university with a pragmatic academic climate, solid research strengths, an internationalized learning environment, interdisciplinary innovation, effective academia–industry cooperation and a pragmatic approach to issues – a school that is able to actively exert a positive influence in different sectors in Taiwan and also embrace the world. For the future, NCKU aims to be a university that is the pride of Taiwan and an inspiration to Tainan, an institution that our partner schools respect and are happy to work with. NCKU is positioned as a university of global importance that develops high quality, well-rounded citizens. 

"Pursuit of truth through exhaustive reasoning" is NCKU’s motto, and the school therefore features a very down-to-earth academic climate conducive to steadfast pursuit of knowledge and truth. Since its inception, NCKU has undergone tremendous transformation and growth. Today the school comprises nine colleges: Engineering, Management, Liberal Arts, Sciences, Medicine, Social Sciences, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Planning and Design, and Bioscience and Biotechnology, with 43 undergraduate programs, 36 independent graduate institutes, and nine degree programs. The colleges are located on the main campus, while the Kuei-Jen, An-Nan and Dou-Liu campuses are home to respectively the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Tainan Hydraulics Laboratory, and NCKU Hospital Dou-Liou Branch, making the school the most academically comprehensive research university in Taiwan.