Achievement Summary and Highlights in 2022
The mission of National Chengchi University’s (NCCU) Sprout Project is to “guide the development of science and technology initiated with the insights and enlightenment of the humanities and social sciences so as to meet the needs of human civilization.” Its eventual accomplishment resides in building an NCCU “with neither external confines nor internal constraints.” The executive achievements of the Project are summarized below.
Implementing High-quality Innovation in Instruction
Instruction at NCCU focuses on cultivating “cross-disciplinary” expertise and skills. Over the past five years, the number of NCCU students pursuing double majors and minors has increased by 20%, and the number of undergraduates taking computing and information science courses doubled to 66.4%. In addition to cultivating students' ability of autonomous learning through its liberal arts curriculums, the University has also formed close alliances with the Taipei National University of the Arts, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, and the University System of Taiwan to bolster NCCU resources in the natural sciences, technology, medicine, agriculture, etc., with an aim to provide our students with more crossdisciplinary learning opportunities. In order to establish a “Digital NCCU,” we have developed the “NCCU Digital Knowledge City,” currently offering more than 160 autonomous learning courses both on and off the campus. We have simultaneously established an inter-university teacher training community, providing digital teaching workshops, supported by learning outcome tracking systems, and seminars on physiological and mental health to enhance the cross-disciplinary collaboration, digital operations expertise and intellectual and emotional literacy of teaching assistants. Going beyond the confines of the campus, we have established special classes and master's degree credit classes in the hope of introducing farmers and agricultural practitioners to innovative technology and operations management practices.
Advancing the Paragon of Humanities and Social Sciences
NCCU’s “Taiwan Institute for Governance and Communication Research (TIGCR)” is a critical unit that promotes “good governance” practices in Taiwan, the “Research Center for Chinese Cultural Subjectivity in Taiwan” promotes the reshaping of cultural values in Chinese society through the “International Sinology Project,” while the “International Graduate Lectures in Sinology” has been launched to expand the university’s global reputation for Sinology research. NCCU has established a number of openaccess humanities digital systems including the “Anthology of Mr. Lo Chia-lun,” the “Universal Type On Ming Text,” and the “CCSHub.” With 15% of the student body hailing from overseas, the NCCU campus is a multilingual and cross-cultural space, offering eight masters and doctoral programs taught in the English language. Besides, a total of 16 foreign languages are taught at NCCU, and the University has signed cooperative agreements with more than 700 international universities worldwide. On top of that, NCCU stands for one of the world’s leading centers for transnational and transregional Austronesian research. These initiatives are a critical part of NCCU’s ongoing pursuit of international excellence and recognition, bolstered by efforts at the individual department and institute level to comprehensively deepen international cooperation. For example, NCCU College of Commerce is actively engaged with the “Asia Silicon Valley Development Agency (ASVDA).” Likewise, NCCU has also joined the 15 leading universities throughout Asia in forming the “University Alliance in Talent Education Development (UAiTED)” to cultivate highquality talents for both industry and academia.
Promoting Cultural Brain Belt and Social Responsibility
NCCU promotes local innovation through the Office of University Social Responsibility, the Social Innovation Lab, and Alliance of Universities and Colleges in the Greater Wenshan Area for USR Affairs, actively participating in projects such as the “Prospering Ankang –Benefiting Wenshan Project,” the “Eliminate Inequality K-12 Humanities and Arts/Scientific Literacy in Rural Areas Project,” the “Inclusive Innovation USR Project,” and a good number of international practices such as the “Rural Sustainability–Asia-Pacific Cooperation Project.” These efforts are supported by a comprehensive ecosystem of theoretical foundations, curricula, faculty promotion, and models of practice. Such a system contributes to successfully creating mechanisms and institutions for preserving and transmitting cultural intelligence through “knowledge cocreation and mutual mentorship between teacher and student” in the hope of developing a “Cultural Brain Belt.”
Administering the Publicness of Sharing Knowledge
NCCU actively promotes transparency in all university affairs, developing an online searchable archive of university-produced documentation and resources. Available through the “NCCU Office of Institutional Research” website, the archive currently features 56 distinct resources. Other publicly available resources include the “NCCU Academic Hub,” the “Special Collections and Databases for Humanities and Social Science Research,” and the “NCCU Digital Knowledge City.” To improve accessibility for disadvantaged students, the University has developed a comprehensive student guidance system covering enrollment procedures, student counseling, and career guidance. As part of this initiative, the “Seeds of Hope Education Program” boasts a nearly 100% success rate in helping students improve academic performance when pursuing courses of the same module.