National Taiwan Normal University

National Taiwan Normal University, or Shīdà, is an institution of higher education and normal school operating out of three campuses in Taipei, Taiwan. The university enrolls approximately 17,000 students each year. Approximately 1,500 students are international.HistoryThe National Taiwan Normal University opened its doors in the early 20th century during Japanese rule in Taiwan. Taiwan's Japanese governors established the school as Taiwan Provincial College. Soon after they gave it the name Taihoku College (Taihoku is "Taipei" in Japanese). The school's purpose was to nurture a native educated class qualified to assist the government in matters of administration. Many buildings on the university's main campus date from the Japanese colonial period, including the Administration Building, the Lecture Hall, Wenhui Hall and Puzi Hall. Japanese civil engineers incorporated features of the Neo-Classical, Gothic and Gothic Revival styles often encountered on European university campuses. A room in the Lecture Hall housed the traditional Japanese document that authorizes and formalizes campus construction.In 1946 China's Kuomintang government assumed control of Taiwan and redefined the school as Taiwan Provincial Teachers’ College. Some school publications still display 1946 as the institution's founding date in reference to this regime change. A number of Taiwan's leading authors, poets, artists, educators, musicians, and researchers have passed through the university's doors as students and faculty. Puru, a famous painter and cousin to the last emperor of China, was a professor in the art department from 1950 to 1963. In 1956 the Mandarin Training Center opened its doors as an extension of the college. The school acquired its present name, National Taiwan Normal University, in 1967. By now the school had established itself as a recognized center of learning in arts, literature and the humanities; its fundamental mission, though, remained the preparation of teachers.