Achievement and Highlights of NCYU Higher Education Sprout Project in 2020
As the only university that equips itself with dual professions in agriculture and education, National Chiayi University actively solves the educational and cultural disparities in urban and rural areas via investing campus resources and nurturing professionals. Additionally, NCYU continues to apply the institutional research analysis to remodel itself as a Center of the Knowledge and Social Welfare Promotion in Chiayi-Yunlin-Tainan Region. Related highlights of the year are as follows.
- Listening to students’ opinions to expand the execution of Higher Education Sprout Project (HESP): Students were encouraged to further understand the promoting items of NCYU HESP. We have held two achievement exhibitions (pic1,2) and received eight creative micro-movies and 23 pieces of work in movie and graphic design competitions, all showing students’ creativity and connection to the university project.
pic1 Achievement Exhibitions
pic2 Achievement Exhibitions
- Constructing an interdisciplinary learning environment and cultivating students’ multi-competence via business-oriented capstone courses and informal courses:
(1)After the empowerment courses, students showed their excellent learning achievements, such as earning the first place in 2020 MAKER in Chiayi competition(pic3) and the first place in International ICT Innovative Services Awards 2020.
(2)Students from Department of Horticulture applied what they had learned in courses and retrofitted the free space in “Farmer’s Ice Farm” into a small garden.
(3) Worked with Chiayi City Children’s Welfare Service Center, NCYU held outreach activities of science for elementary pupils to experience minerals, board games(pic4), reptiles, and so one, hoping to promote their learning motivations and to fulfill the function of local popular science education sites.
pic3 earning the first place in 2020 MAKER in Chiayi competition
pic4 worked with Chiayi City Children’s Welfare Service Center, NCYU held outreach activities of science for elementary pupils to experience minerals, board games
- Demonstrating brilliant research results: Students were assisted by faculty members to study and develop agricultural machines and won awards accordingly. NCYU has signed an industry-academia cooperation project with IBASE Technology, building a Smart Agriculture Combat Information Center. We also invited Chiayi County Magistrate Weng to attend NCYU Smart Agriculture Research and Development Achievement Meeting and demonstrated our capability in creating smart agricultural machines(pic5). Furthermore, NCYU faculty members have published multiple research achievements on smart agriculture, and one of them even had an honor to brief on his research achievement to President Tsai in person(pic6).
pic5 Chiayi County Magistrate Weng to attend NCYU Smart
Agriculture Research and Development Achievement Meeting
pic6 NCYU faculty members have published multiple research achievements on
smart agriculture, and one of them even had an honor to brief on his research
achievement to President Tsai in person
- Attending to issues of sustainable development goals (SDGs) via popular science services: NCYU has recognized the necessity of strengthening the foundation of popular science education and continued expanding the popular science education services to the public, over ten thousands of people(pic7); continuing picturization of agricultural knowledge in picture books and publishing the second picture book of food and agriculture education—Chiabao Field Adventure(pic8): Sweet potato weevil; and sending 240 copies of the picture books to the middle and elementary schools in Chiayi City and Chiayi County, hoping to guide pupils to understand that agriculture and ecology are inseparable and thus to get closer to the land.
pic7 NCYU has recognized the necessity of strengthening the foundation of
popular science education and continued expanding the popular science education
services to the public
pic8 continuing picturization of agricultural knowledge in picture books and
publishing the second picture book of food and agriculture education—Chiabao
Field Adventure
- Excellent achievement of disadvantaged student recruitment and counselling: The enrollment of socioeconomically disadvantaged students has been growing and their passing rates from learning warning subjects have raised, too. The amounts of scholarship and assistantship added up to 10.37 million, subsidizing totally 847 students.
- Expanding the capability of institutional research: NCYU has established an open system for school affairs information, as well as a website in June 2020 in order to share and fairly utilize the information. In addition, in 2020 eight faculty groups has attended several competitions related to institutional research analysis and promotion of higher education accessibility of NCYU(pic9,10).
pic9 competitions related to institutional research analysis
pic10 promotion of higher education accessibility of NCYU
- Setting up a student think tank for discussion in university policy making: Students who had been student representatives organized a think tank and discussed school policy related to student needs or issues. Based on their opinions, NCYU has set up a student feedback platform and run NCYU Instagram in order to invite more students to understand and participate in school affairs.
- Assisting local youth business: NCYU owned 166 industry-academia cooperation projects totally in 2020, and five of them were SBIR, total 4.73 million, subsidized by Ministry of Economic Affairs to help local industry innovation and research.
- Assisting aboriginal industry: NCYU faculty members and students have assisted aboriginal tribes in Ali Mount with agricultural product processing, packaging, designing and selling in stores(pic11,12). Moreover, those tribes were helped to strive for four project subsidies from public sectors, totally 3.77 million, which enable the local aboriginal industry to develop sustainably and improve the local economic conditions to keep the aboriginal youth.
pic11 NCYU faculty members and students have assisted aboriginal tribes in Ali
Mount with agricultural product processing, packaging, designing and selling in
stores
pic12 NCYU faculty members and students have assisted aboriginal tribes in Ali Mount with agricultural product processing, packaging, designing and selling in stores
- Student practicing in long-term care service station: To continue the cooperation project with Chiayi Christian Hospital—Neighborhood Long-Term Care Center "Chia-Yuan," along with more local neighborhood long-term care centers this year, NCYU student associations have paid 19 visits to those centers and provided services and activities for the elderly so that they could more enjoy their lives physically and mentally.