TAIPEI, Taiwan - National Taiwan University (NTU) President Lee Si-chen encouraged students of the prestigious tertiary institution to be more open-minded and tolerant regarding personal criticism.

Lee made the remarks in responding to reporters' questions following a ceremony marking the school's 81st anniversary yesterday.

NTU became again a focus of public attention after Prof. Hung Lan at the National Central University recently admonished students at the university's medical school to change their habits of being late to classes as well as eating food and dozing off in the classroom.

Hung, an authority in the field of brain and neurological science and wife of Cabinet Minister Ovid Tzeng who formerly served as education minister, said the students should either shape up or give up their coveted medical education opportunity to other more serious students.

Her candid and sharp remarks, which appeared in a front-page story of a leading local newspaper, led to loud complaints and protests from some students. NTU President Lee said he and the school are open to public comments and criticism.

All students should adopt the same attitude instead of totally brushing aside or repulsing all unpleasant comments, he said, adding the best way is to carry out sincere reflection for further improvement.

Criticisms serve the purpose of helping people encourage themselves, even if some of the chiding and reprimands are not warranted, he said.

NTU students should always be open to public examination and tolerate upsetting comments because these are what they will face in their careers as society seems to have especially high expectations for the graduates of the school, Lee stressed.

Lee noted that all at NTU should strive for higher standards in terms of excellence as the school now ranks among the world's top 100 universities.

The NTU achieved 95th place in the Higher Education league table of The Times of London, having advanced from 124th spot in 2008.

But he also added that there are thousands of classes at the NTU and the attitude of the criticized students in a single classroom could not truly represent the whole student body.

Lee said he saw no students among the more than 2,000 participants dozing off during the ceremony celebrating the university's anniversary.

But the images grabbed by TV news channel showed there were still students munching on bread, wearing headphones, and yawning with open mouths though more were seen taking a nap during the ceremony.

When asked about this by reporters, Lee said it would be best for the participants to have a more serious attitude at official events.

He also repeated the ancient Chinese adage ? ?one should rectify themselves when their misdeeds are pointed out, but encourage themselves to carry on if criticisms are determined unjustified after sincere reflection.?