January 2010 turned out to be a very eventful month for the WIETE, which culminated with the Association of Taiwan Engineering Education and Management (ATEEM), Taichung, Taiwan, under the Presidency of Professor David W.S. Tai, presently Dean of the College of Management at Hungkuang University, Taichung, Taiwan, becoming the WIETE’s tenth partner.

This relationship is a further extension of the highly successful collaboration between Prof. Tai and the WIETE Director, which was initiated in the early 2000. It is the work of Prof. Tai, the then Head of the Department of Industrial Education at the National Changhua University of Education (NCUE), Changhua, Taiwan, that resulted in the NCUE becoming a Supporter Member of the UNESCO International Centre for Engineering Education (UICEE) in 2000, This membership was upgraded to full partnership in November 2002, during the time when Prof. Tai was the Dean of the College of Technology at the NCUE.

The wide range of joint activities includes the organisation of the 3rd Asia-Pacific Forum on Engineering and Technology Education held at the NCUE in July 2001; the publication of a special edition of the Global Journal of Engineering Education (GJEE), Vol. 5. No.2, 2001, titled: Engineering and Technology Education at the National Changhua University of Education, with Prof. Tai as the Guest Editor; the establishment of the North-East Asia Centre for Technology and Vocational Education (NEACTVE) at the NCUE as one of the satellite centres of the UICEE in 2002; and the establishment the North-East Asia International Conference on Engineering and Technology Education, held at the NCUE in November 2003, and further in December 2005, and in May 2008, as well as others.

Prof. David Tai has received numerous prizes and awards for his outstanding achievements, including the UICEE Silver Badge of Honour in 2001 and the UICEE Gold Badge of Honour in 2003. In 2008, he received the highest UICEE Award that is the prestigious UICEE Order for Excellence in Engineering Education for his exceptional services to the globalisation of engineering education and the UICEE in particular.

We look forward to our fruitful cooperation with the ATEEM, Prof. David Tai and his extended group of collaborators.

The picture shows Professor David W.S. Tai.