CTU hosts conference to promote the success of instructors with technical expertise
英譯者/應外四甲 黃苑婷 指導老師/Alex Lobdell
In November 2006, the Ministry of Education (MOE) revised the way the qualifications of teachers at the college level and above are evaluated in order to allow teachers with practical experience to engage in technical projects as a factor for promotion. Although the revision has already been put into effect, a significant number of the technical projects that have been undertaken since that time have not passed the evaluation process. This has led to some confusion among educators. For this reason, Chienkuo Technology University was commissioned by the MOE to host a conference to discuss and clarify this issue. The meeting took place on October 17, and representatives from more than 200 colleges and universities across Taiwan took part.
The conference began with welcoming remarks by CTU President Huang Yan-Fei. Joining him as speakers at the conference were Yang Yu-Hui, Vice Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Department of Higher Education; Xiao Yu-Zhen, Chief of Technological and Vocational Education; and Lin Cong-Ming, President of the National Yunlin University of Science Technology.
The speakers shared their expertise in the regulations regarding how technical and industrial-academic cooperative projects are evaluated. CTU President Huang pointed out that seven CTU teachers have had technical projects successfully evaluated since 1999, so it is possible to have such projects pass review if the instructors understand the evaluation procedures. He added that instructors at CTU who had gone through the process would be willing to share their insights with other instructors who wished to engage in such projects.
MOE Vice-Secretary Yang spoke to clarify the rationale and history of the evaluation process. After explaining the basis of the procedures, Yang offered a history of how the procedures have been followed from January 2001 to December 2007. According to statistical data, instructors in the field of medical biotechnology had the highest rate of successful evaluation of technical-projects: 87.5 percent. The field with the second highest success rate was art and design, with 69.2 percent. The field with the lowest rate of successful evaluation was financial management, with 21.73 percent. Yang stated that these rates of success did not mean that certain academic fields were evaluated more loosely than others. The differences in success rates, he suggested, were due to the fact that not all instructors fully understood the evaluation process.
Yang went on to talk about the unique contributions of such projects and their importance in producing practical research, in bringing about the creation of new products and patents, and in promoting university-industry cooperation. He encouraged teachers to engage in such projects based upon the beneficial and practical results they produced for both instructors and industry. He recommended that instructors plan their projects with care, choose good partners in industry, apply for patents, and participate in national and international invention competitions. He added that, even when involved in such projects, instructors should still remember to participate actively in traditional academic pursuits.
President Lin of the National Yunlin University of Science Technology offered a very well-received presentation in which he shared his experience with industry-university cooperation and cited examples of past successes, such as CTU’s plan for assisting towel producers in Taiwan. He encouraged instructors to understand and use the evaluation process for their own benefit and for the benefit of universities, industry, and the nation.