A historic moment for Fu Jen Catholic University!
　　On November 14, Professor Charles Joseph Reynold Verret, the President of Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA) at USA, visited us at the invitation of Taiwan Ministry of Education and signed an academic cooperation agreement with our President Professor Chiang, making Fu -Jen and XULA become partner university as sister school. Professor Verret has been the President of XULA since 2015 and also is the head of one of Louisiana's major higher education institutions. Founded in 1925 and located in New Orleans, XULA is the only Cath olic university on the list of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) and has a special historical position and mission in the United States. With a student capacity of approximately 3,700 students,XULA is known throughout in the United States for its science and technology programs and is ranked fifth in the 2022-2023 US News & World Report Historically Black Colleges and Universities Rankings.
　　XULA is dedicated to professional education in the arts, sciences, and medicine and is encompassed by two schools, the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Pharmacy. Nearly 50 undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees are offered in several departments, such as Biological and Public Health Sciences, Business, Education and Counseling, Fine Arts and Humanities, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Philosophy, and Social and Behavioral Sciences. In addition, since 2012, XULA has been committed to promoting Chinese learning and has hired part-time teachers from Taiwan to support teaching guidance.
　　Before Professor Verret’s visit, we contacted Dr. Yu Jiang, the Director of the XULA Division of Global Engagement, and learned that Professor Verret is highly interested in public health, healthcare, and hospitals. Based on this, we invited Dr. Wei-Lun Liu, the Director of the Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine of our hospital to give a tour of the hospital and introduce the hospital’s environment, which included an in-depth tour of the Innovation Center and the Health Screening Center.
　　Thanks to all the guests who participated in the signing ceremony; so far, the number of sister schools of FJCU has increased to 446, and the partners are all over the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania. The two sides expressed their hope to cooperate more closely in the areas of exchange students, graduate and post-graduate students, faculty exchanges, Chinese language programs, and particularly medical and cross-country service learning, creating more cross-cultural and international exchange opportunities for students and faculty of both universities.   DANASLOT