Introduction
In August 1997, our institution was upgraded from the former National Yunlin Institute of Technology to the National Formosa University of Science and Technology, and the Department of General Education was established that same year to oversee the teaching and coordination of the university's general required courses and liberal education. The department incorporated the original seven teaching and research groups: Chinese, English, Mathematics, Sociology, Physics, Chemistry, and Computer Science, continuing to be responsible for teaching general required courses for the four-year and two-year university programs. Each group had a convener to assist with curriculum scheduling, faculty allocation, and the planning and execution of teaching and research work. The English group merged into the Department of Applied Foreign Languages in 2001, and due to course relevance, the Chemistry group merged into the Department of Biotechnology in 2004.
Additionally, our university's Center for General Education and Teacher Education Program originated from the "Liberal Education Forum" courses offered by the Department of General Education. It was later widely recognized that general education is considerably important for cultivating students' knowledge and character. Thus, in August 2002, the then-president, Dr. Chien-Chang Lin, assigned Associate Professor Jyh-Jou Wu from the Department of General Education to establish the center.
Currently, this center was formed by the merger of the Department of General Education and the Center for General Education and Teacher Education Program on August 1, 2006, and was renamed the "Center for General Education," which comprehensively manages the teaching of common foundation subjects and liberal arts general education.
In response to the demands of society and industry, we use general education to cultivate elites who can better society and serve the industry. In cultivating students to be generalists, we use general education to foster talents with broad perspectives and integrated knowledge. We aim to balance the needs of social development with students' career development, constructing a general education philosophy that unifies "caring for others" and "developing the self."
The Correlation between the University Motto and the New General Education Development Competencies。
- Promotion of Informal Curricula (General education passports, general education scenarios/contexts, general education blogs, etc.).
- Diverse Development of General Education Courses that are suitable for individual student aptitudes and adapt to societal demands.
- Movement Toward Interdisciplinary Integrated Courses: Leveraging the expertise of the center's faculty and collaborating with other teaching units to develop programs/curricula that are beneficial for student employment.
