Summary and Highlights of First-Phase Goal Achievements
This project aims to implement education innovation, develop unique institutional characteristics, improve the publicness of higher education, fulfill social responsibility, and promote research in areas of interest. The university has accomplished multiple key achievements in the first project phase:
- Implementing education innovation: (1) The university ranked 324 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023 (third in Taiwan) and 384 in the QS World University Rankings 2023 (seventh in Taiwan). (2) In 2022, papers published by the university entered the top 1% in 10 Essential Science Indicators Research Areas. (3) In the 2022 top university rankings published by Global Views Monthly, the university ranked first among private universities and medical universities in Taiwan for 5 consecutive years. (4) In 2018, the university won the ASPIRE award issued by the Association for Medical Education in Europe and became the first university in Asia to win this award. In 2022, the university passed the Accreditation of Healthcare Simulation Program of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare for the second time and became the only accredited training center in Taiwan. (5) The university promotes interdisciplinary talent cultivation in the field of smart innovation by requiring all undergraduate students to complete programming courses. Accordingly, the university won the ITSA excellence award of the Ministry of Education. (6) The university also won the Digital Learning Excellence School Award and created 144 massive open online courses (31 courses are taught fully in English), which have been studied by over 300,000 students worldwide.
- Developing unique institutional characteristics: (1) The university focuses on the development of four translational medicine fields (i.e., cancer translational medicine, neurology, innovative smart medical device, and chest medicine) and other emergent fields (e.g., cell therapy, regenerative medicine, and research and development of biomedical equipment and materials). Basic medicine and clinical research teams are assembled under the leaderships of scholars with academician titles. (2) The number of SCI papers published by the university increased from 1,816 in 2017 to 2,561 in 2021 (a 41% increase). Among the papers published in 2021, 227 and 1,133 had an IF of ≥10 and ≥5, respectively (accounting for 44% of all the papers). (3) From 2017 to 2022, papers published by theuniversity achieved FWCI of 1.39. (4) In 2022, the university won the Distinguished Academic and Research Institution Innovation Award in the Living and Healthcare Technology Category of the National Industrial Innovation Award, becoming the first medical higher education institution in Taiwan to win this award. (5) The international coauthorship rate of the university increased from 31.0% in 2017 to 42.2% in 2022. (6) The total fund for industry–academia collaboration projects reached NT$2.998 billion in 2018–2022, during which 448 patents were acquired, and the worth of technology transfer totaled 360 million; the university ranked first in Taiwan in terms of the proportion of patents licensed to other entities through technology transfer.
- Improving the publicness of higher education: (1) Miscellaneous fee waivers and scholarships are provided to financially disadvantaged students, who receive more than NT$100,000 of financial aid on average. In 2018–2022, all financial aid applicants received their requested financial support. (2) The quota for admitting financially and culturally disadvantaged students were increased from 35 in 2017 to 75 in 2022.
- Fulfilling social responsibility: (1) The university won 11 awards pertaining to the fulfillment of social responsibility and sustainable development; for example, it was ranked first among general private universities in the 2021 and 2022 university social responsibility surveys conducted by CommonWealth Magazine. (2) The university is the only higher education institution in Taiwan that stations medical teams for a long-term period in various countries that have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, including Eswatini, Somaliland, and the Marshall Islands.
- Promoting research in areas of interest: (1) Cancer translational medicine: Three drugs developed by the university passed the Investigational New Drug Application of the United Stated, and eight affiliated startup companies were founded. (2) Neurology: The university has played a leading role in brain consciousness and trauma research in Taiwan. It has partnered with the University of Lille in France to conduct research and development in relevant topics and found theaffiliated startup company Invenus. (3) Innovative smart medical device: The university has won 5 FutureTech Awards and 17 National Innovation Awards. Moreover, it has founded nine smart medicine startup companies. (4) Chest medicine: The university ranks first domestically in research on pulmonary fibrosis and has created an academic alliance by collaborating with Imperial College London. Its research achievements have contributed to the revision of the international guidelines for treating multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.