(AU welcomes the delegates from Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan to take the on-site visit to the campus)
In December, 2020, Asia University’s academic departments passed teaching and learning accreditation authorized by Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan. All 17 departments and programs which were required for accreditation passed the evaluation after a long day’s site-visit on campus by five reviewers dispatched by the Council. The reviewers gave their favorable comments on the general performance of AU in departmental features, effective mechanism between internship and job markets, and vibrant international mobility.
The accreditation this time focused on four categories: 1) “Departmental development and management”, 2) “Teaching and its supporting system”, 3) “Learning and its supporting system”, and 4) “Departmental unique features.” Like the first-round accreditation three years ago, AU in this second-round also performed well in these four categories. The results of this year’s evaluation reconfirmed President Tsai’s ideal of running the university by laying primary emphasis on the quality of teaching and learning.
The committee members of the accreditation team pointed out that AU has done an excellent job in bridging the gap between academic studies and industry by creating ample opportunities for students to do their internship in many fields. For instance, the university provides students of the Department of Healthcare Administration with a simulation-based education to foster their occupational ability with internship experience at AU hospital and other related institutes at AU’s partner universities overseas.
The Department of Psychology, one of the reviewers observed, is known for its effort to promote “internet addiction control,” which meets the needs of the society today. And its Center for Clinical Psychology also plays an important role in the evaluation of mental health and cognitive impairment for the elderly. As the committee members stated, AU is able to envision the future and quickly responds to the future challenges.
The committee members also mentioned the incredible achievement of the Department of Visual Communication in the international competition. So many Red Dots and If design awardees are the living proof of how the department has committed itself to maximize students’ potential to learn, to grow and to become mature via international competition. To provide a better learning environment, the department invites more than twenty international scholars and specialists to give lectures and hold workshops on campus. Students in this manner can meet the world-famous designers and learn from them directly.
The reviewers also praised highly the Department of Social Work for its astonishing funds generated by the industry-academia collaboration. For three consecutive years, the department has been granted with the national Award of Excellent Performance for sending many student volunteers every summer to serve the underprivileged and the needed in Cambodia, India, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Last but not least, the Department takes an innovative approach to combine social work with phycological counselling, rendering them into a double-major program which is a timely adjustment to meet the government’s policy of social security networking and long-term care. Equipped with these two majors, students can empower themselves in their professional knowledge and their future job markets as well.
All in all, this year’s teaching and learning accreditation marks a new milestone in AU’s development; it not only highlights the university’s outstanding performance in its twenty-year history but also points to some directions for the university to make itself a world-renowned university.
