Dr. PANKAJ VIJAY KHAIRNAR
India
Doctoral Program of Department of Chemistry
It’s my best choice
First of all, I would like to comment little bit about Taiwan and I can tell you that it is the safest country in the world according to visitors to an online database. Because always our first concern will be safety when we go outside of our own country and similarly when I decided to come to Taiwan for my doctoral studies my first concern was, how safe is this country and you won’t believe me after reaching here, in first week I realize that I did the best choice by choosing National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) for my PhD studies. NTNU is one of Taiwan’s elite institutions founded in 1922, NTNU was formerly an institute dedicated to teacher education, as suggested in the name “Normal”, that later evolved into a comprehensive university. NTNU was ranked 6th overall in Taiwan in 2018, and internationally ranked in the 308th spot in 2018 QS World University Rankings.
And my journey here starts from OIA (Office of International Affairs) this is your first home after your country, the staff here is so friendly and polite that they will help you for each and every single thing you want and will solve your every problem. The OIA also arrange some activities for international students such as cultural activities to share our culture and to get familiar with Taiwanese culture. There were a lot of host-family programs and cultural activities that were done just that international students could have a deeper appreciation and understanding of each other’s country. The universities in Taiwan offers many different scholarships programs for each level of studies and I think it’s the most important part for your graduation, along with scholarship, here they provide are very good living facility as per your convenience and at very low cost for students. The dormitories provided here are of different levels depends on your choice and fees affordable to you but I must say that all the dormitories are well maintained and clean, in most of the dorms they will provide a basic kitchen facility so that you can cook your meal at any time.
As I finished my PhD here, I think I should tell you a bit about the research labs and facilities here in NTNU, our department (Chemistry) provides very good and well equipped labs with very safe and friendly working environment also our department provides all the required equipment’s of high quality such as NMR, HRMS, X-ray, etc. Our department is in Gongguan campus and its well developed with all the amenities it’s has a huge library and very good and clean dormitories also a student discounted convenient store (7-11) so you don’t need to go always to main campus as you can get everything in this campus. If you love to travel and explore, then Taiwan is the best place in the world to explore, it’s a small island full of greenery, mountains and of course the beaches and the sea cost were you can hang out and take very nice pictures. The nightlife here is very exciting you can enjoy your dinner in nearby night markets with a wide variety of foods and also you can relax and enjoy in night clubs.
At last I will encourage all of the students and travelers from all over the world and specially from India who are thinking or already decided to come to Taiwan or NTNU for their studies then this is the best choice you are thinking about, so let become a part of the NTNU family and discover the heart of Asia Taiwan.