(Source: Ministry of Education)
In 2018, the Ministry of Education (MOE) established the "Technical Universities' International Talent Cultivation University Pilot Project" to encourage technical universities to focus on the development of technical fields with distinctive characteristics and energy and to cooperate with benchmarks of international technical universities to cultivate professional talent with international vision, sophisticated technology use, and internationally competitive technical abilities.
Approximately 300 students participated in this project and the MOE selected six technical universities to participate in the first year. These schools focused on the fields of Building Engineering, Health Care, Mechanical Engineering, Aquaculture, and Animal Husbandry. These six universities cooperated with benchmark technical universities, such as the Dalum Academy of Agricultural Business in Denmark, and introduced professional teachers and courses from those universities to deepen the technical skills of students and to cultivate talent with both sophisticated technology and international perspectives needed by these industries.
The technical universities that participated in this project for the first year included National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, National Taipei University of Technology, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, National Formosa University, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, and National Pingtung University of Science and Technology. The international cooperative universities included Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Cincinnati, Osaka Institute of Technology, the Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Lean Systems of University of Texas at San Antonio, Auburn University, Nagasaki University and Dalum Academy of Agricultural Business.
Each Taiwanese university with their international cooperative universities conducted measures such as short-term exchanges and internships to establish the basis of cooperation, introduce the experience of talent cultivation from abroad, focus on professional talent cultivation that would fit the needs of society and industry, encourage students to obtain the international licenses that could be utilized in industry, and finally, introduce technical courses to invigorate teaching content in Taiwan.
In 2018, the National Development Council announced that Taiwan has become a senior citizen society and estimated that it will develop into a super-aged society by 2026, and under these circumstances, there will be a lack of health care personnel and the needs of health care would be redoubled, with Artificial Intelligence (AI) playing a crucial role in all fields of life. The Osaka Institute of Technology established the first 'Department of Robotics and Design' in Japan to improve the quality of life of the elderly population and pay attention to the fields of home care service robots and healing robots. Therefore, the National Yunlin University of Science and Technology cooperated with the Osaka University of Technology, taking "students to Japan for exchange and learning" and "foreign scholars to Taiwan for teaching" as the main implementation modes, so that students would have the professional abilities and understanding of the main technology of intelligent robots to cultivate talents needed by the industry.
In support of the coming era of the smart industry, Taiwan's precision machinery has been upgraded to smart machinery. The National Formosa University took technological upgrading, quality assurance, and industrial and academic links in the machine tool industry as main concepts to cooperate with the 'Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Lean Systems' of the University of Texas at San Antonio, which is renowned for promoting industrial product assurance systems. Outstanding students were selected to go overseas for international practical training to enable students to acquire the knowledge and technology of intelligent machinery. In order to enhance the efficiency of productivity and industrial competitiveness, the integration of precision management and the promotion of the Six Sigma management system are indispensable elements, and students of this program are expected to obtain Lean & Six Sigma Green Belt Certificates in May this year to reach the needs of industrial technology and cultivate students as professional and technical talents with management practice.
After more than a year of trial, the project has shown initial results in terms of deepening technical exchanges, enhancing students' practical learning, providing professional teacher cooperation, and the introduction of course teaching models between schools and international cooperation schools. Students participating in this program can not only enhance their international experience but also acquire the professional skills and become the high-quality professional and technical talents required by the industry.
Source: Ministry of Education
