National Taipei University Higher Education
Sprout Project
The results and highlight strategies of project implementation in 2020
Goal One covers the interdisciplinary plan with the core of college-oriented base, the plan of streamlined courses and value-added degrees, the plan to increase featured courses, the aim of improving the career placement system and counseling, and the plan of assessment of learning (AoL) as well as the feedback in graduated students’ career development in order to enhance the students’ learning effectiveness. Additionally, NTPU continues introducing experts from the industrial, governmental, and academic fields to co-teach courses, launching the interdisciplinary courses with the focus on innovative industries (5+2), implementing the measures of streamlined practicum courses and systems for the purpose of fortifying students’ professional and practical competences. Moreover, with the goal of cultivating students to be equipped with critical capability through the measures of bettering ESP/EAP/A-EGP courses, expanding the scope of foreign language courses, innovating Chinese courses in the freshman year, setting up a digital humanities multifunctional classroom, combining the interdisciplinary course of programming, introducing the cloud resources provided by Amazon Web Service (AWS) gradually, promoting the innovative startup certificate program, and taking advantage of the innovative startup park. The next goal is to strengthen the support system of teaching by drafting/ratifying new regulations, lowering the application threshold for the related budgets, integrating the inter-college resources, activating the system of teaching innovation, and promoting digital courses like MOOC. Furthermore, improving the environment of interdisciplinary learning, emphasizing on the courses of computer programming (specifically setting up the pertinent regulations to mandate the university’s regular programs for day-time students admitted in/after the 2021 calendar year to take programming-related courses for fulfilling the stipulated graduation threshold),adopting measures for innovative plans of teaching as core highlight strategies, cultivating in-depth reading and writing competences through combining digital technology, and making known the local features of the Hai-Shan area through giving English introduction to tour activities about the local tourism and culture. In the 2020 calendar year, the percentages of students taking second foreign language courses and programming courses were 2.4%, and 8% separately higher than those in the 2019 calendar year. Likewise, in 2020, the response rate of graduates’ career development survey, the number of the soon-to-be graduates taking a double major, a minor, and a credit program, the increase in those taking credit programs and micro credit programs, and the percentage of courses with innovative teaching were 3%, 25%, 36%, and 4% respectively higher than those figures obtained in 2019. From 2019 to 2020, according to the data on the operation of colleges and universities compiled and released by the Ministry of Education, NTPU, among all public universities in Taiwan, has ranked the second nationwide in its number of graduates who successfully completed a double major.
Goal Two covers elevating professionalism and excellence of enrollment, launching master’s degree programs taught in English, implementing talent improvement projects in different colleges, developing deep-sprout sustainable features, promoting the collaboration between the industrial and academic circles, releasing the first-ever highly-credible index of Taiwan’s sustainable values and yearly efficiency reports of public administration education, emphasizing general education of wood-craft, upgrading research momentum of teachers, cultivating excellent talents in political and economic fields, and strengthening featured inter-disciplinary studies and think-tank role. Moreover, NTPU strives to establish itself into the model as a university city through connecting local Sanxia-Yingge resources, offering courses with local features, empowering a mechanism through cultural tours, conducting field research, exploring the local culture and history, promoting an environment of low-carbon emission as well as the issue of food and agricultural safety, and establishing a designated room for special collections. With the goal of “aiming at the Asia-Pacific, embracing the world,” NTPU takes pride in expanding and deepening the cooperation with South-bound countries, signing new MOUs with 12 universities, building a campus friendly to international students, extending featured alliances/partnerships, enhancing transnational and bilateral theme-based research with practical features, enlarging overseas workplace practicum and volunteering service, signing overseas internship projects for prospective talents in New Taipei City (NTPC), and increasing students’ international mobility. In the 2020 calendar year, the total of courses with local features and the total of participants attending two-way exchange forums increased by 54% and 432% respectively when compared to those figures in 2019.
Goal Three places its emphasis on making university operation and financial information public and transparent, implementing IR special case studies, expanding the functions of IR information integrated platform, and implementing myNTPU website (a single access system) with the goal of creating a public, transparent, and available-to-all system. NTPU has set the goals of assisting and perfecting school attendance for economically and culturally disadvantaged students via offering more admission opportunities for students and improving student enrollment/counseling as well as the external funding mechanism. In addition, NTPU spares no effort in upgrading its teaching quality through the practices of launching diverse channels for teachers seeking the academic promotion, initiating a reward system of teaching excellence, realizing the system of teacher counseling and evaluation, and hiring more teachers to lower the teacher-student ratio. Finally, NTPU has worked hard to increase the flexibility of course-taking for students seeking continuing education, encouraging such students to audit courses for earning credits, and offering new credit programs and the in-service programs for the ultimate goal of lifetime learning. From 2019 to 2020, the percentage of NTPU’s student admission as well as the headcounts for granting subsidies and assisting students’ continuous education through fundraising for the economically and culturally disadvantaged students increased by 0.4%, 16%, 12%; the percentage of night school freshmen enrolment increased by 2%.
Goal Four includes integrating the resources, executing pertinent plans, and building a physical base as the USR Hub under the supervision of the university-level USR office. With all these endeavors, NTPU strives to deploy rewards and subsidies as the means to encourage teachers to offer USR-featured courses and formulate new learning communities. Via the promotion of USR teacher-student co-learning communities, NTPU extends its footprints into the associated communities for “cross-sectoral” learning and activities for the ultimate goals of building a deep connection with the locals and taking up NTPU’s social responsibilities. In 2020, NTPU sponsored five USR teacher communities. Moreover, thanks to the monetary incentives for teachers, the number of USR featured courses has increased from 30 to 37.
