NDHU embraces innovative teaching, higher education
for the public, industry-community connection and global/international visibility
to create a sustainable and livable campus. The university has gained deeper
insights into the learning needs of students and has formulated various nursery
programs by relying on teaching creativity, application of digital
technologies, and innovative teaching approaches. Public education activities are
organized in line with the utilization of management science to further adaptive
career development. Teaching quality is deepened via institutional research with
learning data. In the field of social responsibility, NDHU cultivates the civic
literacy of its students. Socio-technology is utilized to develop local
helpfulness and placemaking in Hualien. The university actively promotes an
international outlook and makes optimal use of information technology to create
a learning environment universe and to realize learning ubiquity with the
ultimate goal of building a sustainable and livable campus conducive to
learning.
Pioneering courses based on the concepts of innovation,
creativity, and entrepreneurship that encourage instructors to make the full
connection with local organization to rich the teaching contents. Students have
the opportunities to be actively involved in and gain first-hand practical
experiences from the area of humanistic care for local communities, and further
facilitate the cultivation of professional talent in line with industry needs. Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program that
faculties create projects around their scholarly interests to team up
long-term, large-scale and multi-disciplinary teams. Students can develop their potentialities of scholarship and
exploration through those project teams. Online
learning is employed to bridge the gaps from traditional learning models. Digital
courses, of which the design is centered upon topics of specialty courses, are
made available as extracurricular autonomous learning for non-university
members (including foreigners) and senior high school students. The goal is to
satisfy the needs of students in the field of autonomous and interdisciplinary
learning and thereby enhance learning results and efficiency.
In order to
promote faculty community and student learning autonomy programs. Instructors and
students are encouraged to form peer groups for the discussion of topics of
mutual interest. The NDHU faculty community encourages faculty members from
different disciplines or industry instructors to form communities and jointly
offer interdisciplinary courses with the incorporation of new industry
knowledge.
Student learning autonomy aim to guide students
in the application of knowledge and skills acquired in their courses and
motivate them to extend their personal interests and take the initiative in
implementing local service practices. Students plan and execute various
activities under the guidance of supervisor and thereby achieve the triple
effect of learning by doing, doing by learning, and in depth cross-disciplinary
thinking.
In 2020, NDHU had 110 Pioneering courses, 13 VIP
teams, 33 faculty communities, 76 student autonomous learning communities and
online courses had been enrolled 1127 times by senior high school students.
These experiments not only help us to explore any possibility of teaching
innovation but also accumulate the energy for the transformation of future
education.
Based on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), end poverty in all its forms everywhere (Goal 1), ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all (Goal 4), and promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all (Goal 8), workshop trainings of the 2020 project were focused on the skills of communication and expression, interpersonal Interaction, and lifelong learning. We organized potentials development project that have 1028 low socio-economic status (SES) students got involved with these training activities. There were 64 supporting groups from 23 departments provided mentors to assistance and counsel 206 SES students to have better adjustment on campus.
The database of pioneering courses, faculty community and student autonomous learning community programs had been visualized by institutional research (IR) team(https://reurl.cc/GdrVNZ). Moreover, report of student’s University Career and Competency Assessment Network (UCAN) also had been established to provide colleges more understanding of student needs(https://reurl.cc/GdrVNZ). The analysis of those data storage can help school to improve its decision making process.
NDHU relies on the professional expertise of all
colleges to connect diverse cultures and ethnic groups as well as humanistic,
social, and environmental spheres and implement practices in the following
three categories: local social practice, educational practice in remote areas,
and industry talent cultivation.
With regard to local social practice, we have
established a Humanistic Innovation & Social Practice Base in Fuli Township
in Hualien County and have designed local social practice courses based on
seven course development trajectories and three corresponding course cluster
dimensions. Students are brought into contact with communities in a series of
intensive courses involving residential learning with local linkages. They
engage in innovative learning including autonomous learning, observation
experiences, teamwork and social practice. Co-learning courses (e.g.,
indigenous pottery, cultural learning, indigenous rituals and culinary culture)
in tribal communities are offered to pass on indigenous culture. This also
includes classroom activities in Puyuma, Saisiat, Rukai and Bunun communities.
Indigenous pottery courses cover the whole process from gathering clay,
kneading and pinching and firing to the exhibition of finished pottery pieces. These
activities serve the purpose of activating indigenous cultural assets and developing
multi-literacy and practical competencies.
In the field of educational practice in remote
areas, we strive to strengthen the scientific and practical competencies.
Scientific inquiry and practice competencies are emphasized in the 2019
curriculum guidelines. We have organized popular science camps, which combine inquiry
and practice, to assist natural science teachers in remote areas at the senior
high, junior high, and elementary school levels in the successful development
of practice-oriented courses and the provision of guidance for students in
inquiry- and practice-oriented activities. In addition, students’ horizons have been expanded and teaching competencies have been
strengthened through reading and practical activities in remote areas, the
dissemination and promotion of popular science, and adventure education. The
goal is to enhance the university’s contribution to
local communities and society and thereby improve the professional competencies
of teachers and students and generate deep-rooted local links.
With respect to professional talent cultivation,
we have developed an oncampus entrepreneurship database through external links
to industry-government-academia-research collaboration activities and relevant
industries. Training courses and seminars are organized to incorporate
innovation-, creativity-, and entrepreneurship-oriented courses into learning
spheres and thereby increase the width and depth of knowledge and the practical
experiences of students. We aim to broaden the international outlook and deepen
the local links of our students through participation in national and
international competitions. We also provide our students with internship
opportunities, multi-dimensional competencies, and guidance and counseling in
addition to developing their problem-solving skills. If students intend to create
startups or run a business, the NDHU Industrial Innovation – Incubation Center offers in-depth guidance, different activities,
and industry advice to achieve positive results in the field of
industry-academia collaboration.
COVIE-19 had
disrupted virtually all aspects of higher education in 2020. NDHU made the
connection with oversea schools though the online promotions, recruitments and expositions
with Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Canada, UK and so on. At the same time, we
have intensified US-Taiwan cooperation in the field of higher education by
concluding a cooperative agreement with the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange
(Fulbright Taiwan). Since 2021, the project provides American students one year
Chinese language course and two years graduate study in Department of Ethnic
Relations and Cultures. The Times Higher Education announced its 2021
World Ranking of Academic Performance in 2020. NDHU had well performance in the
field of Computer Science ranked
as 5th high, Engineering ranked as 9th high
and Physical Science ranked as 11th high
in Taiwan.
Figure: NDHU progress ranking in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2021. NDHU is the ranked top 10 of Taiwan universities.