National Taipei University Higher Education Sprout Project
The results and highlight strategies of project implementation in 2019
Goal One covers the interdisciplinary plan with the core of college-oriented base, the plan of streamlined courses and value-added degrees, the plan to increase featured courses, the aim of improving the career placement system and counseling, and surveying teaching evaluation and the career development of graduates in order to enhance the students’ learning effectiveness. Additionally, NTPU continues introducing experts from the industrial, governmental, and academic fields to co-teach courses, launching the interdisciplinary courses with the focus on innovative industries (5+2), implementing the measures of streamlined practicum courses and systems for the purpose of fortifying students’ professional and practical competences. Moreover, with the goal of cultivating students to be equipped with critical capability through the measures of diversifying foreign language courses, bettering ESP/EAP/A-EGP courses, innovating Chinese courses in the freshman year, combining the interdisciplinary course of programming, taking advantage of the approaches of flipped classroom and the innovative startup park. The next goal is to strengthen the support system of teaching by amending the regulations, increasing the related budgets, integrating the inter-college resources, activating the system of teaching innovation, promoting digital courses like MOOC. Furthermore, improving the environment of interdisciplinary learning, adopting teacher-student co-learning community, innovating AOL 2.0, developing capstone courses, holding co-reading activities for the young and the old, and adopting measures for innovative plans of teaching as core highlight strategies. In the 2019 calendar year, the percentages of students taking all-English instructed courses, second foreign language courses, and programming courses were 10%, 21%, and 17% respectively higher than those in the 2017 calendar year. Likewise, in 2019, the response rate of graduates’ career development survey, the number of the soon-to-be graduates taking a double major, a minor, and a credit program, the increase in those taking credit programs and micro credit programs, the groups of teacher community, the percentage of courses with innovative teaching were 11%, 15.6%, 176%, 114% and 26% respectively higher than those figures obtained in 2017. In 2019, according to the data related to college and university published by the Ministry of Education, NTPU ranked the second nationwide in 2018 in its number of graduates who successfully completed a double major.
Goal Two covers implementing talent improvement projects in different colleges, actualizing discipline-based centers, developing deep-sprout sustainable features, promoting the collaboration between the industrial and academic circles, releasing the first-ever highly-credible index of Taiwan’s sustainable value, combining research teams for increasing the efficiency of public administration education with talents from different colleges and countries, building the wood-craft classroom for general education, upgrading research momentum of teachers, adopting the cultivation of excellent talents in political and economic fields, and strengthening featured inter-disciplinary studies and think-tank role. Moreover, NTPU strives to build itself as the role model of university city through connecting local Sanxia-Yingge resources, offering courses with local features, promoting the industries and crafts with Sanxia’s traditional features, and establishing the local Sanxia-Yingge-Shulin collaborative platform. With the goal of “aiming at the Asia-Pacific, embracing the world,” NTPU takes pride in expanding and deepening the cooperation with South-bound countries, signing new MOUs with 34 universities, building a campus friendly to international students, extending featured alliances/partnerships, enhancing transnational theme-based research with practical features, enlarging overseas workplace practicum and volunteering service, and increasing students’ international mobility. In the 2019 calendar year, the total of courses with local features, the number of students for short-term overseas studies, and the total of participants attending two-way exchange forums increased by 54%, 18%, and 780% respectively when compared to those figures in 2017.
Goal Three places its emphasis on making university operation and financial information public and transparent, implementing IR special case studies, establishing the IR information integrated platform, and revamping the new NTPU official website, with the goal of creating a public, transparent, and available-to-all system. NTPU has set the goals of offering more admission opportunities available to economically and culturally disadvantaged students, establishing a new set of learning counseling guidelines, expanding investment from external funding, establishing a sound system for study-related assistance. From 2017 to 2019, the percentage of NTPU’s admitting economically and culturally disadvantaged students increased from 6.8% to 9.5%. In 2019, the total number of economically and culturally disadvantaged students receiving study-associated counseling and the total funds raised for students with excellent learning performance increased by 169% and 219% separately when compared to the figures in 2017. In addition, NTPU strives to upgrade teaching quality through the practices of launching diverse channels for teachers seeking the academic promotion, initiating a reward system of teaching excellence, realizing the system of teacher counseling and evaluation, and hiring more teachers to lower the teacher-student ratio. Finally, NTPU has worked hard to increase the flexibility of course-taking for students seeking continuing education, encouraging such students to audit courses for earning credits, and offering new credit programs and the in-service programs for the ultimate goal of lifetime learning.
Goal Four includes establishing a university-level office for USR cases and the committee for university social responsibility, integrating the resources effectively, providing the financial aid for USR teacher community, and providing monetary incentives for teachers to offer USR-featured courses. From 2017 to 2019, the number of USR teacher communities increased from 1 to 5, and the USR-featured courses increased from 0 to 30. NTPU envisions the realization of two featured plans of highlight (Embracing the Hai-Shan Area and Connecting Deeply with the Bei-Da District: Building and Accomplishing a Culturally Innovative Cityand Building a Plan to Cultivate an NPO for the Sustainable Development for the Local Society: Enacting the Serving, Collaborative, and Organized Characteristics) to proudly bring back the good old days, connect deeply with the locals, and boldly shoulder NTPU’s social responsibilities.
