The Cheers Magazine sent a questionnaire survey to the 147 university presidents in the country, asking them to recommend universities with significant improvement or growth in school performances (recommending 1 to 3 schools). As mentioned above, the survey period is from October 26 to December 24 in 2020, and 127 presidents responded to rank the “Top 20 Universities.” The Cheers Magazine pointed out that AU promotes internationalization actively and establishes teaching and research characteristics, which are the reason why AU enters the “Top 20 Universities.” Specifically, the recommend reasons include: 1) focus on teaching and research; 2) the establishment of a big data center, an AI center, a financial technology and blockchain center, a center for 3D printing for medical research and development, a semiconductor center, etc.; 3) enhancing the research energy of teachers and students; and 4) good internationalization results and outstanding student performances. According to Prof. Jeffrey J. P. Tsai, the President of AU, the Artificial Intelligence College of AU has cooperated with Microsoft, Amazon, and Nvidia Corporation of the United States, and Taiwan AI Academy to establish AI master and doctoral degree programs, and AI elite classes for students. The College of Information and Electrical Engineering set out to cooperate with the other five colleges of AU, namely, the College of Medical and Health Science, the College of Nursing, College of Management, the College of Creative Design, and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The cooperation includes cross-field teaching and practices, such as innovation and other business management like AI smart catering, e-commerce, financial technology, AI smart medical and precision health, medical rehabilitation equipment research and development, creative modes of AI interior design, English teaching for AI robots, etc., so that students can be trained to be AI talents, and has outstanding performances. According to the survey of the Cheers Magazine, AU has won the two No. 1 internationalization items in the country, including the item of “overseas exchange students” and “foreign exchange students” in 2019. In more detail, AU is ranked No. 1 by the facts of supporting 499 outbound exchange students and recruiting 2149 incoming exchange students, respectively. The outbreak of the Covid-19 in February 2020 has greatly tested whether universities are prepared for E-learning and remote teaching. According to Prof. Ying-Huei Chen, Dean of the International College of AU, said that E-learning is definitely the mainstream of higher education, and both e-learning and face-to-face teaching is important in the future. In response to the Covid-19, AU proposed a “dual-track” plan for virtual and summer exchange courses, and 30 online courses were offered in February last year, and 38 courses in September. Dean Ying-Huei Chen pointed out that international students from the sister schools of AU have responded enthusiastically to the “virtual exchange” courses. In addition, 531 international students, who came to AU to take online courses and used English throughout the course, is widely recognized by foreign students in the first semester in 2020. Furthermore, 1132 students have participated in the course because of the great performance of the “virtual exchange” course after the winter vacation in the new semester, and these students are from 31 universities in five countries including Japan, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. The international mobility of AU students is strengthened, and nearly a thousand students go abroad to become exchange students every year, including those seeking dual degrees, training, internships, international competitions, etc. Dean Ying-Huei Chen said that AU has granted more than 24.39 million dollars from the Ministry of Education this year, by which 395 students can be send abroad, and plus the quota of students in 2019, a total of 602 students can be sent abroad. The implementation period of the project will be retained until the end of 2021. The numbers of students of AU who go overseas is 499, the highest in 2019 in Taiwan. President Jeffrey J. P. Tsai said that AU has always been an excellent university for teaching, reforming teaching curricula continuously, paying attention to teaching innovation and integration of teaching and learning, teaching students and guiding their careers, encouraging teachers to conduct practical teaching and research, and providing diversified faculty promotions. As mentioned above, AU was granted 31 practical-teaching projects by the Ministry of Education in 2020 and ranked No. 4 in Taiwan. |
