In the face of the changing world and the needs of emerging issues in the future, National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) is actively considering and integrating the cultivation of interdisciplinary and practical talents while cultivating professional talents. On the one hand, we are positively responding to and meeting the current demand for interdisciplinary talents. On the other hand, we are striving to create a new way of cultivating new talents in higher education by improving or even breaking away from the established framework and progressing gradually in a stable and minimally disturbing manner. During the first phase of the Higher Education SPROUT Project, NCKU has planned a transdisciplinary and innovative teaching and learning action plan that can support and deepen students' independent learning in the process of flexible teaching and learning. The program not only supports the cultivation of talents in the above-mentioned professions and interdisciplinary practices but also demonstrates the maturity and completeness of the university's talent cultivation policy and achievements.
In the process of the first phase of the Higher Education SPROUT Project, the Office of Academic Affairs of NCKU has been working at the university level to integrate the resources of the entire university, relax the system, reduce departmental boundaries, and create an interdisciplinary friendly environment. To deepen professional and interdisciplinary teaching and development of Education - Pedagogical Content Knowledge (E-PCK), various issue-oriented or regular faculty communities are operated on a regular or irregular basis. 482 faculty members participated in 2022, which is 167% more than in 2018, and 211 of these faculty members are involved in offering innovative courses in 2022. In recent years, nearly two-thirds of the facilitators of the MOE Teaching Practice Research Program have been members of the faculty community. In order to strengthen the interdisciplinary learning model, NCKU has combined micro-credit, intensive teaching, and online learning to form the "New 18 Weeks (15+3)" and has implemented the "University-wide Interdisciplinary Learning Day" to support faculty innovation in teaching and learning flexible curriculum models. In order to strengthen the interdisciplinary learning model, the University has combined micro-credit, intensive teaching, and online learning to form the "New 18 Weeks (15+3)". It has implemented the "University-wide Interdisciplinary Day" to support faculty innovation in teaching and learning flexible curriculum models. In order to sustain interdisciplinary teaching and learning, College X, a virtual college, is connected to the faculty of the nine colleges and combined with the N3 online learning platform to support a blended online/physical interdisciplinary, innovative curriculum design. In addition, in line with the MOE's interdisciplinary faculty development and talent cultivation program, by 2022, NCKU will be the university with the highest number of dual-teacher interdisciplinary teaching certifications in the country, demonstrating NCKU's full energy and determination to promote interdisciplinary teaching.
In order to cultivate students' " interdisciplinary learning habits,” in the first phase of the program, NCKU has encouraged each academic unit to develop special courses and to enhance students' learning motivation through curriculum restructuring and renovation of teaching contents and methods. For example, the College of Liberal Arts has developed the "Exploring Tainan" course based on local culture, which has been taken by more than 10,000 students in the past five years and has extended the cross-college cooperation model; the College of Science has successfully operated modularized courses, with a total of 224 new courses from 2017 to 2022, which not only nurtures university students but also provides high-quality high school AP courses; the College of Engineering actively promotes industry-academia-research institutes, and enhances the learning habits of students through such measures as certification of laboratory equipment operation, assessment, and corporate internship. The College of Engineering actively promotes industry-academia-research academies and enhances students' knowledge and practical skills through such as certification of experimental instruments and enterprise internships; the College of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science has established a virtual online learning platform to meet students' needs for self-directed learning; the College of Planning & Design is practicing the local creation of academics who have entered the world, from the peripheral areas of old Tainan County, Kaohsiung, Pingtung, and Matsu and Penghu. The School of Management has a faculty-centered curriculum, and through the Bobson Business School program, faculty members' teaching knowledge is enhanced; the School of Medicine has the highest number of applications and approval rates for teaching practice research projects among the nine colleges and in the 2022 academic year, it received nearly one-half of the university's teaching excellence awards. The College of Bioscience and Biotechnology
continues to develop fieldwork courses on its unique SDGs to understand the community’s needs, with faculty guiding students to develop solutions to help upgrade community industries.
With the spirit of "practice" as the core value of academic accession to the international community, students at NCKU take SDGs as the theme and extend the "Service Studies 2.0" in the framework of practical courses that can be articulated to the international community, supplemented by the innovative education model of university-level Academy of Innovative Semiconductor and Sustainable Manufacturing, the Miin Wu School of Computing and College X, and the rare "Global High USR Program" in Taiwan. Our faculty, students, and staff will become socially conscious and practical in academics.