A An Overview 1 Higher Education System Taiwan has excellent global competitiveness in spite of limited land and natural resources. The key reason is its quality human resources and higher education. Higher education institutions in Taiwan include two-year junior colleges, fiveyear junior colleges, and universities. Like most countries, the study period is four years for an undergraduate university degree, one to a maximum of four years for a master’s degree, and two to a maximum of seven years for a doctoral degree. 2 Faculty and Students The popularization of education has led to a rapid increase in the number of universities, colleges and students, although the figure has leveled off in recent decades. In SY2020, there were 152 universities, colleges and junior colleges, totaling 203,460 students. Reforms in teacher training have played an important part in the popularization of higher education. Significant improvements in teacher quality can be attributed to policy adaptations and the newly implemented evaluation system. Currently, PhD degree holders account for over 80% of faculty in universities. important to expand the scope of social participation and promote public awareness of local issues so the USR Program can be adapted according to local needs and universities’ sustainable development. By collaborating with local teams, the faculty and students of NCNU developed a PM2.5 detector to monitor air pollution, an LED light to help water bamboo farms save energy and reduce light pollution, and distance learning solutions to ensure a quality education for students in rural areas. Its local sustainability program has extended to rural parts of Southeast Asia. Through a joint effort between Taiwan and Cambodia, efforts to promote workshops on water resource management and cooperation attained various SDGs, including “no poverty,” “quality education,” “reduced inequality,” “sustainable communities,” and “clean water.” NCNU has highlighted sustainability on its campus by increasing its green space, using more green energy, and reducing waste. In 2021, the school was 31st in the GreenMetric World University Ranking. As all USR initiatives require careful planning that responds to industrial demands as well as the public’s various concerns, it is crucial for staff working on these programs to visit local communities and conduct field research, according to Su. This allows local voices to be heard, thereby enabling programs to identify problems and produce practical solutions. Response to COVID-19 pandemic: bridging the digital divide, promoting international alliances Since the USR Program’s launch in 2017, it has encountered many challenges originating from communities, schools, and society. Su said the program strives to assist and facilitate communication objectively without getting directly involved. In response to challenges posed by the pandemic, NCNU actively helped local businesses by establishing the “Hometown Cloud” online platform and training them on how to expand their markets online. During Taiwan’s local COVID outbreak in 2021, NCNU’s “rural education cooperation team” provided both online and inperson extracurricular mentoring to schoolchildren in rural areas to ensure that their education was not interrupted due to school closures and the shift towards distance learning. In 2021, the Center for USR also held a series of events called “USR’s Right Turn,” adding a section in the USR Online Expo dedicated to sharing local stories related to the pandemic and natural disasters. According to Su, it is important that universities be able to exchange experiences, share resources, and learn from success stories. Despite obstacles, the center promotes international exchanges. Recently, by cooperating with Humanity Innovation and Social Practice (HISP), the center coordinates academic and practical exchanges between universities in Taiwan and Japan, in local economies, disaster prevention, and aging populations. The center expects to replicate these experiences and promotes more international exchanges with other countries in the post pandemic era. + 33 32 +
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