Higher Education SPROUT Project

Abstract of Achievements and Significant Features

The Higher Education SPROUT Project of Hsuan Chuang University is consistent with the same-named project of the Ministry of Education of Taiwan. It is built upon the decision-making strategies derived from IR and connects to the middle- and long-range school development plan. The project contains four dimensions and 19 sub-projects with well-established monitoring and evaluating mechanisms to achieve the key performance indices of 2021. The main achievements and significant features of this project are listed below.

1.Innovative Teaching & Professional Assessment

We used IR to connect a supporting system for teaching and to figure out the students' propensities from the very start. We also promoted the teaching practice research, subsidized innovative teaching projects, and recruited and retained excellent teachers with faculty merit payments to establish a complete training and supporting system for teachers. Because of the Coivd-19, we had hosted online conferences to share new international viewpoints about higher education assessments in the post-epidemic era with Japanese and Korean university presidents to add a flavor of worldwide participation to the journal's current volume. In addition, we also fully implemented the multi-track promotion system and kept updating the environment for maker education. One of the significant features in this dimension was the charity event of CowParade. In that event, the faculty and students of the Art and Design College had implemented the integration of innovative teaching, innovation and entrepreneurship, and interdisciplinary maker education. (Fig. 1)

Fig. 1: 2021 CowParade EXPO.

2.Knowledge-Skill Integration & Talent Cultivation

We coordinated inner and outer resources to develop several course packages for featured industries according to corresponding setting goals of different colleges, including Communication with New Media, Hospitality for Elders, Cultural and Creative Design, and Social Caring. The Art and Design College faculty and students have realized the importance of combining creativity with new technologies and fulfilled the integration of art and science to create plenty of masterpieces with augmented reality. (Fig. 2)

Fig. 2: AR design and application

3.Benefiting People & Public Welfare

To benefit the disadvantaged students, we provided relevant subsidies to relieve economic stresses. We also evaluated disadvantaged students’ self-efficacies with a diagnostic system of learning. Further, we strengthened the learning guidance to achieve the ideal goal of upward social mobility. This year, one aboriginal student and one disadvantaged two students of the Department of Hospitality Management have launched the Snluan Robot Studio with the support of the U-start Plan and led the pupils of the Xiangshan Primary School to earn the silver medal of the competition of the 2021AERC. (Fig. 3)

Fig. 3: Award of the U-start Project

4.Social Engagement & Social Responsibility

With accumulated experiences of fulfilling the university social responsibility, the USR Hub Project in 2021 propelled four sub-projects, including the Xinpu Cultural and Creative Project, the Xiangshan Vitality Project, the Romantic Provincial Highway 3 Project, and the Wufeng Leisure Tourism Project. In addition, the interdisciplinary local chaining project continued to upgrade the relationships between the school and local communities. Based on the last year's achievements, the Xinpu Cultural and Creative Project urged students to reflect on the community's critical needs and gain insights to benefit the community pragmatically. (Fig. 4)
Fig. 4: Xinpu Cultural and Creative Project