The Higher Education SPROUT Project entered its second 5-year phase starting from 2023. According to the Ministry of Education’s plan, the second phase of the Higher Education SPROUT Project will guide universities to develop their own strengths, cultivate talents that meet future needs and national development, and emphasize the development of six key student competencies, aiming towards the sustainable education vision outlined by United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).Our university is implementing the Higher Education SPROUT Project in close alignment with the mid-term vision of our institution. In the first phase of the Higher Education SPROUT Project, strategies were formulated to implement teaching innovation, develop specialties, enhance the public benefits of higher education, and fulfill the social responsibilities of universities. We gradually realized three major visions: “Creating University Educational Arena”, “Developing Future Life Experimentation Fields”, “Creating University-Nurtured Start-Up Companies” and continue to adjust them on a rolling basis. Based on the characteristics and action plans of the new mid-term institutional development, CCU’s second-phase Higher Education SPROUT Project focuses on promoting teaching innovation, social responsibility, industry-academia cooperation, and enhancing the public benefits of higher education. Emphasis is placed on initiatives such as English-medium instruction, information security, and technology education to cultivate interdisciplinary literacy in response to developments in internationalization, smart technology, and information security. Simultaneously, we actively promote university social responsibility and the corresponding support systems, reflecting the university's impact on society, and strengthen connections with industry to promote the development of distinctive features such as medical schools/departments and achieving zero carbon emissions. Another characteristic of the second-phase plan is the extensive involvement of execution teams encompassing 7 colleges, the Office of University Social Responsibility (USR), research centers, and collaboration with the Office of Institutional Research (IR) to establish key performance indicators and a self-performance management mechanism. By thoroughly reviewing the implementation status and issues from 2018 to 2022, the university conducts rolling adjustments, further extends, fine-tunes, or adds emphasis from 2023 to 2027. This includes deepening teaching models, fully fulfilling social responsibilities, and establishing closer connections with industry-academia cooperation, ensuring that the university's development strategies continue to evolve and achieve the expected goals.
In terms of teaching innovation, closely aligned with our university's mid-term institutional development plan "Smart", "Action", and "Sustainable", and based on the achievements of the first-phase teaching innovation project, we respond to severe global environmental challenges by formulating the vision of this period’s plan as "Cultivating a new generation of interdisciplinary professionals, aligning with international sustainable development goals". Through the cultivation of nine key student competencies, we aim to enhance students' learning ability, employability, and entrepreneurial skills. Concrete achievements in the years 2023-24 include:
1. Establishment of English-taught courses and promotion of international exchanges: With funding support from the Higher Education SPROUT Project, three colleges of our university were approved by the Ministry of Education for the "Program on Bilingual Education for Students in College" for the academic years 2023-2025, and was especially selected as Field Exemplary University in 2024. Throughout the year, a variety of English-language lectures, workshops, and activities were conducted.
2. Initiating curriculum reforms, loosening "micro-credits", and enhancing students' flexibility for self-directed learning.
3. Investment in cybersecurity talent development: Students took cybersecurity, ISMS, and PIMS courses, with participation from 21 departments. Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) were signed with international universities such as those in India and Vietnam to establish a cybersecurity alliance, linking international educational partners.
4. Optimization of interdisciplinary learning environments: In the academic year 2023, 131 students had obtained certificates.
In the aspect of social responsibility and enhancing the public nature of higher education, we have expanded the scope of the University Social Responsibility (USR) Projects by assessing local needs and aligning them with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2024, we proposed 11 USR HUB team projects and 1 MOE-sponsored Program covering areas such as human rights, intergenerational relationships, and cross-cultural communication. Through Project-Based Learning (PBL) teaching methods, we actively engage students in field learning, enhancing their social participation and facilitating joint actions among residents and students.
We have also expanded cooperation and exchanges with international academic partners, actively implementing international academic and industry research collaborations. In 2023-24, the number of residents in surrounding communities participating in our university's social practices reached over 1,300, and the number of students completing social participation courses exceeded 9,900. Additionally, we released 56 episodes of podcasts.
Furthermore, our collaboration with the US non-profit charity organization Give2Asia has expanded overseas donation channels. We have also promoted group counseling courses to provide CPAS and CA career anchor explanations, effectively increasing student counseling motivation by 7% compared to the previous year, with a particularly notable increase of 11% among outstanding students. In 2023, we launched immersive international career courses in English and international career lectures.
In terms of academia-industry collaboration, leveraging our university’s research and development strengths, we have invested in areas such as ultra-quiet electric vehicle motors and semiconductor packaging inspection in the field of "smart manufacturing". Simultaneously, building upon the foundation established in the first phase, we continue to deepen our involvement in precise health-related research within the smart healthcare industry cluster. Additionally, we harness our university’s strengths in the humanities and social sciences, focusing on sustainable human rights-related issues.
In 2023, there were a total of 8 academia-industry collaboration projects derived from the Higher Education SPROUT Project, with addtional 5 entities and 3 medical research instittutes in 2024. Faculty and students published a total of 25 papers in international journals or conferences. We also supported 44 students in participating as co-researchers (research award recipients).
Our university actively responds to the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. In 2023, we established the "Office of Sustainable Development" and organized the "Carbon Inventory Launch Meeting and Briefing Session", officially initiating ISO 140641:2018 greenhouse gas inventory operations. Through inventory and verification, we plan relevant action plans with the goal of achieving carbon neutrality through annual carbon reduction measures.