This January, Jack Sun (孫元成), Dean of the Industry Academia Innovation School at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU), donned his doctoral regalia to congratulate the first batch of graduates from his school. He encouraged the young people to make the academy proud by pursuing a career in the semiconductor sector. 

“They are the first to graduate after the Training Act was passed,” says Sun.

Formally titled The Act for National Key Fields Industry-University Cooperation and Skilled Personnel Training, the Training Act was promulgated by the government in May of 2021 to foster industry-academia collaboration in the fields of semiconductors, artificial intelligence, smart manufacturing, circular economy, finance, and other sectors of national interest. The goal was to produce highly skilled.

Since the Act was passed, 13 academies have been established at 12 universities President Tsai Ing-wen made a personal appearance at nearly every one of the opening ceremonies.

Semiconductors and AI lead among “key field” academies
University	Name	Key Field(s)	Established
NCKU	Academy of Innovative Semiconductor and Sustainable Manufacturing	Semiconductors, smart manufacturing	2021/10
NYCU	Industry Academia Innovation School	Semiconductors, AI	2021/12
NTU	Graduate School of Advanced Technology	Semiconductors	2021/12
NTHU	College of Semiconductor Research	Semiconductors	2021/12
NSYSU	School of Banking and Finance	Finance	2022/3
NCCU	College of Global Banking and Finance	Finance	2022/5
NSYSU	College of Semiconductor and Advanced Technology Research	Semiconductors	2022/7
NCHU	Academy of Circular Economy	Semiconductors, smart manufacturing, circular economy	2022/9
Taipei Tech	Innovation Frontier Institute of Research for Science and Technology	Semiconductors, AI	2022/9
Taiwan Tech	Industry-Academia Innovation College	Semiconductors, smart manufacturing	2022/10
NTNU	College of Industry Academia Innovation	Semiconductors, smart manufacturing, circular economy	2023/10
NCU	Graduate College of Sustainability and Green Energy	Circular economy	2023/11
Source: Official university websites

The first four academies were opened at the end of 2021 at Taiwan University (NTU), Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Tsing Hua University (NTHU), and the aforementioned NYCU. With government funding and resources from the private sector, and with semiconductor giant TSMC alumni Burn-Jeng Lin (林本堅) and Jack Sun at the helm in NTHU and NYCU, respectively, the four new establishments became media darlings as well as the dream schools of many eager young applicants.

Taking the Industry Academia Innovation School at NYCU for example, the number of applicants quadrupled over the course of two years, from 283 in 2021 to 1,228 in 2023. Due to the increased number of applicants, the rate of enrollment dropped from 30% to 8%.

After two years, we are beginning to see graduates emerge from the four semiconductor academies.

NCKU and NYCU both delivered their first graduates last June. More students graduated from NYCU at the end of this semester. Over twenty have applied for their oral thesis defense. 

(Photo: Ming-Tang Huang)

What have these students learned? Have the schools succeeded in accomplishing the goals set forth by the Training Act? Has a new group of highly needed high-tech talent appeared to become the standard bearers and trailblazers of the “key field” industries?

Applying for jobs while writing theses

The answer could be seen just by watching the graduation ceremony.

Among the eight special guests in attendance were TSMC deputy director Chih-Sheng Chang (張智勝); Wu Jen-ming (吳仁銘), director of the Next-generation Communications Research Center at the Hon Hai Research Institute, and Wen-Yue Zhang (張文岳), senior director of the DRAM Technology Research Center at PSMC. Some of the guests even invited the graduates to send in resumes.

Bor-Sung Liang (梁伯嵩), Senior Director at MediaTek Advanced Research Center, teaches  at NYCU every Friday evening. He feels strongly that his students are passionate about the industry. Even though classes end at nine-thirty, there are always students who stick around to ask questions.

Tzi-Dar Chiueh (闕志達), Dean of the Graduate School of Advanced Technology at NTU, reveals that many students in the second year of their Master’s program have already received job offers. They’re preparing for interviews even as they work on their theses.

Sun says that the teachers at the academies represent a treasure trove of academic knowledge and practical experience, including the master of semiconductor devices physics, Professor Yuan Taur (陶元), and renowned academic Peter Ye (葉培德) from Purdue University.

In addition to these academic heavyweights are teachers who are currently working in the field. They hail from Taiwanese tech giants such as MediaTek, Micron, Macronix, and others.

This close adherence to current industry trends have led some university deans to wonder if the focus on semiconductors will result in a bottleneck in the future.

But Sun holds a different opinion. He says that so long as technological developments rely on semiconductors as a basis, these schools and their students can look forward to a bright future.  

Jack Sun (孫元成), Dean of the Industry Academia Innovation School at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU). (Photo: Ming-Tang Huang)

Burn-Jeng Lin, who is also Dean of the College of Semiconductor Research at NTHU, also feels that such criticism is without merit.

A closer look at the faculty list reveals names like Douglas Yu (余振華), Distinguished Fellow and Vice President at TSMC; S.Z. Chang (張守仁), Vice President at PSMC; and Anthony Yen (嚴濤南), Vice President at ASML. All of these industry leaders are teaching classes at NTHU.

While some may think that these academies will push their graduates to immediately enter the industry to help close the talent gap, both NTHU and NYCU are actually encouraging their students to pursue doctorates.

According to Lin, both academia and the industry need high-level research talent. He looks forward to the day when pursuing a doctorate at a Taiwanese university will be seen as a source of pride. Two students he personally mentored announced their interest in getting doctoral degrees during the first semester.

Unable to outbid Harvard, success is not yet certain

In spite of this, both NTHU and NYCU admit to facing difficulties.

For example, higher pay will be needed to attract well-known professors and experts in the field. But NYCU President Chi-Hung Lin (林奇宏) says that, out of respect for other members of the faculty, the administration has refrained from renegotiating the school’s hiring rules. This means they cannot offer better salaries to their guest teachers, many of whom are here to show their personal support for the endeavor. 

Burn-Jeng Lin also notes that, although the Training Act loosened some of the restrictions, many members of the school administration are still stuck in the old way of thinking. Teacher hiring and faculty promotion are still stymied by red tape. In the international market for talented teachers and students, these Taiwanese academies are often outbid by the likes of Stanford and Harvard. 

Even so—“They are the seeds, and we are the plants,” says Sun. The industry experts of his generation were inspired by semiconductor legend Simon Sze (施敏) to seek knowledge abroad. Now, they are paying it forward.

These days, Taiwanese talent doesn’t need to go abroad to seek enlightenment. They can start right here with these academies supported by both the Taiwanese government and the local industry. 

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Have you read?

• Revelations from Mark Liu's last shareholders' meeting before retiring from TSMC
• How MediaTek left Huawei in the dust
• TSMC in Arizona: Who wins in dispute with labor union?

Translated by Jack Chou
Edited by TC Lin
Uploaded by Ian Huang