Asia University, Taiwan, together with its three overseas sister universities, co-hosted the 1st International Conference on Humanities, Education and Social Praxis in the Age of the New Normal (1st ICHESPAN 2022) on May 19, 2022. This joint effort marked a new development in academic collaboration between Asia University and its partners across the world, despite the difficulty and challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. This time the conference was jointly organized by 4 universities from 4 countries including the Universitas Negeri Jakarta (UNJ), Indonesia, Thu Dau Mot University, Vietnam, and Hindustan College of Arts and Science (HICAS), India. Over 150 experts, scholars and students from home and abroad participated in this online conference, and discussed the impact of the Coronavirus epidemic on social distancing, humanistic care and social practices.

Prof. Yinghuei Chen, Dean of International College, Asia University, stated in his opening remarks that the world has been facing a series of changes and challenges in the areas of communication, social welfare, and specifically education since the outbreak of Covid-19. “New ways of learning are now taking place of the conventional modes of teaching and learning,” Dean Chen observed. To respond to this “New Normal,” Asia University invited domestic and foreign experts, scholars, teachers and professionals in nursing, social work, early childhood education and other related disciplines, to present their research and share their findings. The aim of the conference is to analyze and evaluate social distancing from different aspects, to reshape the family functions, communication styles, human relationships, teaching methods and social welfare affairs under the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Many interesting and important topics were presented in this online conference. Dr. Hafid Abbas, Senate’s Head of Universitas Negeri Jakarta (UNJ), delivered a keynote on "Impacts of Covid-19 on Indonesia Education: A Child Rights Perspective," which was moderated by Prof. Yinghuei Chen. Dr. R. Sakthi Prabha, Dean and Head of the Department of Social Work, Hindustan College of Arts and Sciences, gave a thought-provoking talk on "The Challenges of COVID-19 on Social Work and Spiritual Care,” moderated by Professor Peishan Yang, Chair of the Department of Social Work, National Taiwan University. Prof. Yi-Chen Lan, Vice-Chancellor of Western Sydney University, Australia, presented in his keynote a new pedagogical approach of "The Coping of Higher Education during the COVID-19." The fourth speaker was Dr. Young-Chool Choi from Chungbuk National University, South Korea. His theme was "Higher Education in Korea under COVID-19," moderated by Prof. Songlin Huang, Vice Dean of College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Asia University. Lastly, Dr. Vo Van On, Director of the Prediction Research Center of Thu Dau Mot University, Vietnam, gave a speech on "Prediction of COVID-19 Evolution in Binh Duong Province Using SIR Pidemiological Model," moderated by Dr. He-Chiun Liou, Chair of the Department of Social Work, Providence University.

Prof. Yinghuei Chen, the chief organizer of this conference, in his concluding remarks mentioned that this year’s conference was very special as it was conducted online despite the close of national borders and the problem of international travel. However, it was able to attract more than one hundred and fifty participants and speakers to discuss the current impacts of the pandemic on our educational development in particular and the social life in general. He also expressed his gratitude to Professor Songlin Huang and Assistant Professor Hsiu-ching Chen for their hard work and dedication to this conference.