In 1902, during the late Qing Dynasty, the Liangjiang Governor-General Chang Chih-tung established Liangjiang Normal School in the Chinese city of Nanjing. This was the birth of modern-style education in China and also the founding of NCU.

NCU was re-established in Taiwan in 1962 as part of the country´s response to the International Geophysical Year. The school was initially located in Miaoli, but was relocated to Jhongli in 1968, and gradually developed into a comprehensive university. NCU has now become Taiwan´s leading school in the fields of geophysics and space science, and was selected as one of the major research-oriented universities in 2001. It is a first-rate university with solid international qualifications.

NCU now has seven colleges in different areas, including College of Liberal Arts, College of Science, College of Engineering, College of Management, College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, College of Earth Sciences, and College of Hakka Studies. Its facilities and faculty are tremendously improved, and it has gained an international reputation for research and academic excellence. Cooperative education programs and cooperative research projects have grown in number over the years.

In the future, NCU will continue to apply the down-to-earth attitude and vigorous spirit to leading-edge research and innovative learning, pursuing our excellence as a first-rate university in Taiwan.