The paper studies the achievements of the presidents and architects involved in the planning and construction of National Tsing Hua University from August 1928 to July 1937, a period usually divided into two stages, the Luo-Yang stage and Mei-Shen stage. The paper explores each stage’s academic targets, campus ideas, strategies and corresponding results , before investigating the president-architect interaction. Focus on this interaction provides not only a new, dynamic perspective for understanding campus construction during the National University era spanning from the stage of Luo Jialun and Yang Tingbao (design of the 1930 campus plan and begin of implementation) to the stage of Mei Yiqi and Shen Liyuan (gradual deviation from the original plan). It also reveals some hitherto unseen dimension of consistency behind the controversial topic of deviation.