2018-2022 Higher Education Sprout Project

Summary and Highlights of Achievements

With the funding support from the Higher Education Sprout Project (HESP) of the Ministry of Education, China Medical University has successfully completed the Project with the following notable highlights in four domains:

1. Implement Pedagogical Innovation & Promote the Teaching Quality

(1)CMU has strengthened its teaching support system, set up smart campus, and made the curriculum more flexible to cultivate students’ key competencies. CMU students’ UCAN score has increased with the advance of the students’ school year.

(2)In the past 3 years, CMU’s number of approved “National Science and Technology Council (NSTC)-College Student Research Project” is ranked the first among the private universities in Taiwan, indicating that CMU students are active in scientific research and practice.

(3)In 2021, the CMU I-Lab Innovation and Inspiration Base was established and 31 groups of innovation teams were formed. CMU students received 63 awards in national innovation competitions.

(4)All colleges of CMU have been continuing to strengthen their professional competency and distinguished features. In the past 5 years, the passing rate of 9 types of national license examinations is above national average. Notably, the passing rate of 4 types of national license examinations was higher than 90%.

(5)The professional ability and skills of CMU graduates are highly recognized by employers, with an overall satisfaction rate of over 88%.

(6)CMU encourages teachers to make innovation in teaching, and 40 teachers have honored with the Distinguished Professor’s Award”.

(7)In the past 5 years, CMU has newly recruited a total faculty of 214, including 4 academician-level professors and 4 Yushan Scholars.

(8)All departments of CMU have passed the accreditation by the Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan, showing that CMU has outstanding teaching quality and student learning outcome.

2. Develop Key University Features

(1) CMU has established university-level research centers, and the number of high-quality papers continues to increase. In 2022, 13 disciplines were on the top 1% of ESI, with 515 highly cited high-quality papers.

(2) CMU has established a biomedical research platform with world class universities include National University of Singapore, University of Tokyo, and Seoul National University. The number of publication resulted from international cooperation has significantly increased to 57.18%.

(3) CMU is highly recognized in many world university rankings and continues to excel. In 2023, CMU is ranked No.2 in Taiwan in Times Higher Education World University Rankings, No.2 in Taiwan in Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), No.3 of Taiwan in U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking; and all are No. 1 among private universities in Taiwan. According to the QS World University Rankings by Subject, CMU is ranked among top 100 in the world and No.2 in Taiwan in Anatomy and Physiology; top 150 in the world and No.2 in Taiwan in Pharmacy and Pharmacology; top 250 in the world and No.4 in Taiwan in Medicine. In the U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Subject Ranking, CMU is ranked No.1 in Taiwan in Cell Biology, and No.2 in Taiwan in subjects including Molecular Biology and Genetics, Oncology, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Food Science and Technology, and Agricultural Sciences.

(4) In the past 5 years, the academia-industry cooperation of CMU has received 53 National Innovation Awards, and CMU has mentored and set up 17 spin-off and start-up companies. Moreover, in the academia-industry cooperation cases, CMU has been entrusted with internationally renowned pharmaceutical companies for clinical trials, with the funding more than 860 million NTD.

3. Make Resources of Higher Education Available to the Public

(1) In the past 5 years, CMU had fundraised subsidies of 27.38 million NTD for economically disadvantaged students, and the amount of funds raised has increased year by year. So far, 5 million NTD has been raised for economically disadvantaged students for the year of 2023. A total of 187 underprivileged students have been encouraged and mentored to apply the “NSTC-College Student Research Project.”

(2) All undergraduate students of CMU participated in the service-learning courses. CMU was honored with the “2020 Ministry of Education-Character Education Feature School” and the “2021 Ministry of Education-Friendly Campus in Central Taiwan.” Five student service teams of CMU received the “Ministry of Education-Best Action Award”, and cultivated 30 students to commit as national lifelong volunteers.

(3) A “3D Meridian Bronze Figure Interactive Device” which received the first national invention patent in traditional Chinese medicine has been exhibiting in the CMU Lifu Museum of Chinese Medicine for public education. CMU has formed a close alliance with 18 high schools to share resources of higher education, and co-organized activities and micro-courses.

4. Fulfill Social Responsibilities

CMU actively integrates SDG issues into curriculum. CMU has linked the issues of aging in place and health into its micro-credit courses and the information platform of sustainable development, organized the “Sustainable Development Week”, and submitted reports. The achievements of CMU were highly recognized that received the “Executive Yuan-National Sustainable Development Award”. Morevoer, CMU is on the top 3 in competitions include TCSA, TSAA, TAISE, Global Views USR, etc. CMU’s third-party Social Return on Investment (SROI) is 2.22, proving that the implementation of USR program has achieved remarkable impact on CMU.