On December 20^th a graduation ceremony was held in the conference hall at the university Library and Conference Center for students who successfully completed the 36^th Session of the Overseas Youth Vocational Training School. A results exhibition was also set up on the first floor of the library to display some of the students’ accomplishments.

NPUST President Chang-Hsien Tai hosted the ceremony and addressed the students, many of whom were accompanied by family members and friends who traveled from Malaysia, Myanmar and Brunei to be present for the occasion.

President Chang-Hsien Tai pointed to hurdles that lay ahead while offering practical encouragement, stating: “it is becoming more difficult to face future challenges such as climate change and labor shortages – for this reason, it is becoming increasingly pressing to adopt new technologies and tools to strengthen production, processing and marketing. For this, students should be encouraged to organize teams to work across domains so as to maximize the value of each individual—and so that you can give back to your home communities.” Li Lian-Hong, the student representative for the graduating class of Plant Industry and Sophisticated Tropical Agriculture students addressed his peers, saying: “during the two years spent at NPUST, we have experienced growth, and now, with mixed emotions, we can look back upon and cherish our precious memories. After graduation, I hope that every student will be able to do his or her best and work towards fulfilling his or her dreams.” 

There were a total of 35 students graduating in the current session. These students came from Malaysia, Myanmar and Brunei to take part in the highly reputed two-year training program. The Overseas Chinese Youth program has been in place for 52 years, and has offered a total of 37 sessions to-date. Over the years, 1,725 students have graduated from the training program, the majority of which (1,650) hail from Malaysia. The programs have covered such areas of study as farm operations, livestock veterinary medicine, aquaculture, food processing, woodworking, business administration, information management and vehicle engineering. When the students graduate and return home, they have been able to contribute to their local communities with what they learned —and because of its success, it his highly regarded by overseas Chinese and Chinese youth.