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Over 500 international students, from over 30 different countries gathered at National Cheng Kung University to participate in this year’s TICA Cup. The Cup is an annual athletic competitions event organized by the Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF) to promote cooperation and the spirit of competition among the students. 21 of Taiwan’s top universities participated in the event divided into 5 main competitions. The team from National Central University was represented by the College of Engineering, International Environmental Sustainable Development Master Program (IESD) and was composed of 12 students from 9 different countries. Although is one of TICA’s smaller teams by number of members, NCU conquered two trophies, winning second place on the “Every Body Shoots” competition, and fourth place on the “Basketball Relay Race” competition. It was the first time in the program’s 13th years that NCU conquered a trophy. “It’s an amazing feeling to go and win two trophies representing NCU, we were confident since the beginning that we could win something because we are a very united group”, says Jose Rafael Nunez Collado, one of IESD’s students. The very selective program has always been on top of academic competitions. Been awarded “excellence in Postgraduate Accreditation” twice by Taiwan’s ICDF, and been among the winners on Engineering Research Papers competitions the last two years. However it marked the first time the program came victorious on not one, but two athletic completions. “We faced challenges and we overcame difficulties together” says Sean Liu, the program’s manager. Dr. Jiunn-Chi Wu, Director of the IESD program, that is part of the College of Engineering at NCU, also expressed his satisfaction with the student’s performance “students practiced from the beginning and made through till the end. That is our team spirit”. As part of the introductory remarks on each TICA Cup, each university also gives a short performance. The group from NCU decided to mix Chinese culture with their own culture on a mixed dance performance that showed appreciation of Taiwan’s culture. The performance included two Chinese lions dancing to traditional music and other students dancing to cultural music from their respective countries with their flags. It was also one of the highlights of the event, showing the great overall performance by the group from the National Central University.
