National Central University (NCU, Chinese: 國立中央大學, Kuo-Li Chung-yang Ta-hsüeh, or 中大, Chung-ta) was founded in 1915 with roots from 258 CE in mainland China. Founded in Nanjing in 1915, NCU was the leading academic center in the Southeast China; the phrase “North the Peking University; South the Central University” at that time revealed the significance of NCU. After NCU in Nanking was renamed Nanjing University in 1949, and the former campus has been used by Nanjing Institute of Technology which was later renamed Southeast University since Nanjing University relocated in 1952, NCU was re-established in Taiwan in 1962. The school was initially located in Miaoli, but was relocated to Zhongli in 1968, and developed into a comprehensive university. It has now become Taiwan's leading school in the fields of drama, film studies, cultural studies, and gender studies, Hakka studies, geophysics, space science, remote sensing, astronomy, optoelectronics, nano scitech, and business management as well as Economic Development studies (Taiwan's most prestigious Consumer Confidence Index academic research is released monthly by NCU). In 2001, NCU was selected by the Ministry of Education as one of the eleven research-oriented universities in Taiwan.
NCU now has eight colleges in different areas, including College of Liberal Arts, College of Science, College of Engineering, College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, College of Biomedical Science and Engineering, College of Earth Sciences, College of Management, and College of Hakka Studies, also with areas in sociology, law and government studies, etc.
The undergraduate population is represented by the Associated Students of National Central University.
