National Cheng Kung University is a research-led comprehensive university in Tainan City, Taiwan. Its abbreviation is NCKU. Cheng Kung is named after Cheng Ch’eng-Kung, who defeated the Dutch and founded the Kingdom of Tungning in Taiwan.

NCKU is one of the most prestigious universities in Taiwan, with a high reputation in science, engineering, medicine, management, planning and design. According to Times Higher Education- QS World University Rankings and Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities, NCKU was ranked second or third among all universities in Taiwan. Many surveys throughout the years have shown that its students are most desired by Taiwanese companies. NCKU has 9 colleges, 40 departments, 82 graduate institutes, and 54 research centers, and it is also a major university, educational, and area-network center in Taiwan. NCKU is among the four universities of Taiwan’s Public Ivy – the Taiwan Comprehensive University System.

National Cheng Kung University was established under Japanese occupation in January 1931 as Tainan Technical College. After the end of Japanese occupation, the school name was changed to Taiwan Provincial Tainan Junior College of Technology, and then Taiwan Provincial College of Engineering.

When the central government of the Republic of China moved to Taiwan in 1949, it was one of the three existing colleges in Taiwan. As the number of colleges expanded, it was upgraded to a provincial university in 1956, and then a national university in 1971. Former Minister for Education Wu Jin served as the first president of the new National Cheng Kung University.