Summary of Great Love Century 2.0

      Since the year 2013, our school has continuously received the Ministry of Education's Instructional Excellence Project for five consecutive years, accumulating a total of NT$161.5 million in grants. In 2017, we were honored with a full subsidy of over NT$6.16 million for the Vocational and Technical College Innovation Pilot Project. From 2018 to 2023, we have been awarded a total of NT$238.44 million under the Higher Education SPROUT Project (SPROUT Project). Throughout the implementation of these projects, we have remained committed to our core values and focused on cultivating both humanistic and professional talents, aligned with the Medium to Long-term Institutional Plan.

      We have proposed the second phase of the SPROUT Project "Great Love Century 2.0" based on the 4 major dimensions provided by the Ministry of Education’s 2023 SPROUT Project together with our Medium to Long-term Institutional Plan and past project. This project seeks to build upon, continue, and deepen the vision set forth in the first phase of "Great Love Century" and further advance into the new century.

      We have outlined 4 main dimensions in our execution framework: "Teaching Innovation and Improvement", "Perform social responsibility", "Industry-Academia Collaboration Linkage" and "Enhance the Public Nature of Higher Education" which will serve as our educational performance goals. The implementation of these strategies is as follows:

1. Teaching Innovation and Improvement

1. Enhance guidance for certification/national examination pass rate. Promote collaborative teaching with industry professionals; encourage interdisciplinary learning through practical visits to develop widespread internships that focus on core foundational knowledge and career development skills.

2. Improve English teaching proficiency among teachers; develop digital teaching models; strengthen teacher professional networks; encourage teachers to enhance their teaching practices through research; refine the teaching assistant system; optimize working conditions and benefits for teachers; incentivize outstanding faculty through flexible salary schemes, progressively increase the hiring of full-time teachers, or optimize the faculty structure.

3. By integrating Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) into the curriculum as a compulsory subject, we aim to develop diverse STEM education. We will establish a digital technology micro-program to enhance teaching equipment and recruit industry experts to introduce STEM-related courses. Additionally, we will deepen students' trilingual abilities (Chinese, specialized English, and programming language) to strengthen their foundational skills.

4. Character education and internationalized learning are built upon the foundation of Tzu Chi's humanistic education. We will strengthen courses and activities related to humanistic and life education, foster a spirit of humanitarian service, implement interdisciplinary micro-courses, incorporate the spirit of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), create an international learning environment, and cultivate professional talents with cross-cultural competence to facilitate international collaboration and resource integration.

2. Perform Social Responsibility

Combining the resources of the Tzu Chi Foundation's charitable, medical, educational, and humanitarian endeavors, we are dedicated to fulfilling our social responsibilities. We are committed to investing in the health, education, and economic well-being of the Eastern region and overseas locations. Through a five-year long-term commitment, our mission is to improve the care and support for remote and tribal communities.

1. Health and Well-being: Establish community caring center/point, integrating teaching internships to provide medical services to the community residents. Creating a collaborative model between youth and seniors to assist community producer and marketing groups or cooperatives, increasing sales performance or conducting processing research to enhance the added value of agricultural products.

2. Quality Education: Collaborating with teaching hospitals in Taiwan to jointly plan experiential activities, enabling high school and vocational school students to understand the operation of hospital departments and the medical process. Organizing high school and vocational camp activities for local students to learn about information technology, AI, and big data, enhancing their personal interest in learning and future career directions, fulfilling the responsibility of providing quality education to society.

3. Sustainable Cities and Communities: Implementing the United Nations SDGs, organizing various themed seminars and related activities such as life education, multiculturalism, and global perspectives at the library, establishing community-friendly lecture halls that open for public to participate. Promoting indigenous cultural parks and conducting interviews in tribal areas, preserving the traditional culture, language, and knowledge of indigenous peoples.

3. Industry-Academia Collaboration Linkage

Enhancing Research and Teaching Quality, Industry-Academia Collaboration, and Revitalizing the Campus Innovation and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem:

1. Student Creativity, Innovation, Entrepreneurship Strength - Strengthening students' motivation for innovation and entrepreneurship, inspiring their innovative and entrepreneurial thinking.

2. Gender-Friendly Strength - Creating a gender-friendly environment for innovation and entrepreneurship.

3. Youth-Senior Collaboration Strength - Promoting youth-senior collaborative activities and providing a platform for innovative exchanges.

4. Enhance the Public Nature of Higher Education

1. Uphold the original mission of the founding of the school by ensuring equal opportunities for economically or culturally disadvantaged students in the eastern region to enroll. This includes providing scholarships and offering assistance in terms of living, academic, and career guidance to support their academic pursuits and successful completion of their studies.

2. Drive poverty alleviation through education; promote inclusive education to foster a campus environment that embraces racial diversity and education about aboriginal cultures for all students. Implement initiatives that transform the "Hope Project" for students facing economic or cultural disadvantages, aiming to enhance their learning stability and opportunities for growth.

     The implementation of this project is supported by the Tzu Chi Foundation, which serves as a solid educational foundation. Following the Medium to Long-term Institutional Plan, we will progressively implement quantifiable indicators year by year. Our vision is to connect with the local community, align with international standards, and embrace the future. We aim to inspire teachers' enthusiasm and vitality in their teaching, enhance students' learning motivation and achievements, establish the school's unique characteristics and advantages, ultimately become a high-quality internationalized technical and vocational institution in Eastern Taiwan.

Summary of Great Love Century 1.0

1. Implement Teaching Innovation and Improve Teaching Quality

   1. Curriculum:
      Offer cross-disciplinary courses, collaborative teaching by both professionals and teachers, practical projects, innovative entrepreneurship courses and professional English courses, participation in industry cooperation and visits; strengthen students' mathematical logic and Chinese reading and writing skills supplemented by liberal arts micro-courses and arts cultural activities to cultivate outstanding talents with both professionalism and humanities.

   2. Teachers:
      Develop innovative teaching models, encourage teachers to set up professional communities, and conduct in-depth practical research at home and abroad; actively train three creative teachers and provide teachers and students with innovative research and development funds.

   3. Highlights:

      1. In 2018, the rate of passing the national examination for nurse practitioners by general students was 84%, and the rate of passing the national examination for nurse practitioners by aboriginal students was 77.27%, which were both higher than the national passing rate of 51.56%; in 2019, the rate of passing the national examination for nurse practitioners by general students was 80.58%, the rate of passing the national examination for nurse practitioners by aboriginal students was 67.11%, which were both higher than the national passing rate of 49.08%.

      2. Professional English courses improve students' professional foreign language proficiency, and the students have repeatedly achieved good results in competitions.

      3. In January 2019, the ratio of teachers to students was 17.8:1, which is higher than the Ministry of Education standard of 27:1.

2. Develop University Characteristics

   1. R&D and industrial cooperation:
      Encourage teachers and students to engage in research and development, patents for invention, innovation and entrepreneurship, industrial cooperation, and local creation.

   2. Strengthen international exchanges:
      Arrange international lectures or courses, exchange visits and exchanges with international friendly universities, and provide overseas volunteer services to expand international vision.

   3. Inherit indigenous culture:
      Construct a network of diverse cultural characteristics and industrial chain resources; offer relevant cultural courses and tribal experiences; integrate the university's Southeast Asia area and audiovisual book resources to create a featured teaching field.

   4. Highlights:

      1. 26 teachers and 213 students were selected and subsidized to go to 14 countries in Europe, America, Asia, etc. for internships, competitions, study and volunteer services from 2018 to 2019 by making use of the resources of overseas Tzu Chi branches.

      2. Produce medical and nursing electronic audiobooks of ethnic language, aboriginal’s studio documentaries and aboriginal teaching CD-ROM, and construct aboriginal teaching resource network and new aboriginal teaching resource platform, etc.

3. Improve the Public Nature of Higher Education

   1. Assist economically or culturally disadvantaged students:
      Provide academic guidance, incentives and student assistance measures.

   2. Create a friendly environment:
      Provide entrepreneurship and employment counseling seminars, workshops or visits.

   3. Strengthen aesthetics and cultural literacy:
      Organize a series of activities of scholar gatherings, academic competitions, cultural and artistic appreciation, etc., for on-site visits to enhance civic literacy and humanistic vision.

   4. Highlights:

      1. The five-track tutoring mechanism can effectively play the effectiveness of tutoring and learning.

      2. Combine internal and external resources to provide multiple assistances for economically or culturally disadvantaged students.

4. Perform Social Responsibility

   1. Set up a healthy reading story house:
      Guide reading activities and lectures on healthy picture books to enhance parental reading education knowledge; develop students' ability to guide and express, combine professional knowledge, and implement service learning.

   2. Set up a health promotion action vehicle:
      Use books, picture books and coffee equipment to go to rural areas to provide stationed health services, and implement lifelong learning.

   3. Provide learning resources and promote social services:
      Invite teachers and students from eastern universities to visit and experience, and enhance cooperation and interaction.

   4. Highlights:

      1. Become the first health-themed picture book library in Taiwan with story picture book design activities or hand-made experiences by the joint efforts of teacher and student volunteers inside and outside the university.

      2. Choose suitable health story picture books to extend the service targets from children to the elderly.

      3. Strengthen local learning, expand community services, and fulfill social education responsibilities.

5. Strengthen Teaching Support System

   1. Provide teachers with teaching support system:
      Formulate relevant methods to reward teachers for teaching and improve teachers' practical ability.

   2. Establish a university affairs research system (IR):
      Establish a database to provide statistical analysis of issues as a reference for administrative improvement and teaching improvement.

   3. Highlights:

      1. The various teaching subsidy and reward methods are complete by combining the teaching guidance mechanism and the flexible salary reward system to promote the development of teachers' teaching.

      2. The university affairs research system is promoted, and the data analysis model is established as a basis for enrollment strategy, curriculum adjustment and teaching improvement.