National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology (often abbreviated NKFUST) (traditional Chinese: 國立高雄第一科技大學; Tongyong Pinyin: Gúolì Gaosyóng Kējì Dàsyúe; Hanyu Pinyin: Guólì Gaōxióng Kējì Dàxué) is a national coeducational university in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. It is colloquially known as Gaokeda (高科大, Pinyin Gaōkēdà) or Gaoxiongkeda (高雄科大, Pinyin Gaōxióngkēdà). Its campus is set upon 750,000 square meters in Kaohsiung's Nan-Zih district. NKFUST, formerly known as National Institute of Technology at Kaohsiung (often abbreviated NITK), was established on July 1, 1995 by the Ministry of Education (Republic of China) to educate students to develop Taiwan into an Asia-Pacific Regional Operations Center (APROC). The Ministry of Education approved the upgrade of its status to university on July 1, 1998 and it was renamed National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology, the first higher education institution of technical and vocational education system in Kaohsiung. The university consists of the colleges of Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Management, Finance and Banking and Foreign Languages with 15 departments and 27 graduate institutes.