Origin of the Program

    For the purpose of nurturing talents for various industries, promoting the adjustment and optimization of the national industrial structure, and enriching the manpower required for industrial innovation and development, there is a strong demand for higher education institutions of science and technology to establish a mode of fostering talents with strong skills and know-how. In line with the Ministry of Education's “Talent Development Program for Technical Excellence,” the University has established the Interdisciplinary Practical Elite Program in the College of Environment and Resources, recruiting students who are enrolled through the “Technical Excellence Selection Program” from the departments of Materials Engineering, Chemical Engineering, as well as Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering. With “learning by doing” as the main educational principle, the program aims to cultivate talents with cross-domain professional and practical competencies to meet the demands of different industries, and to achieve the goal of “employment upon graduation” through interdisciplinary practical training. Starting from the 2025 academic year, the Interdisciplinary Practical Elite Program, College of Environment and Resources (hereinafter referred to as “the Program”) will not only admit students from the departments of Chemical Engineering, Materials Engineering, as well as Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering but will also include students from the Bachelor Program in Semiconductor Materials and Fabrication. Renamed as Bachelor Program in Energy and Battery Technology, the Program will focus on the training of professionals in green energy technology.

Features of Teaching and Learning

    The Higher Education Sprout Project of the Ministry of Education subsidizes the University with over NT$90 million annually, among which the promotion of the special teaching of specialized programs for technical excellence is one of the most important tasks. From 2023 onwards, the University has been supporting the Ministry of Education's Talent and Technology Development Project of the Energy and Battery Industry, with a three-year funding of NT$100 million, to establish a second specialty credit program for energy and battery science and technology.

    The key features of teaching and learning in the Program include “Industry-Research Exchange,” “Diversified Faculty,” “Interdisciplinary Learning,” and “Adaptive Exploration,” which are summarized as follows:    

1. Industry-Research Exchange: Overseas visits during the summer vacation or study trips to external industrial or R&D organizations during the semesters will be arranged to broaden students’ horizons. The University will subsidize the costs of these visits, where faculty members will provide guidance to students, and mentors from professional organizations will be invited to facilitate interdisciplinary learning.
2. Diversified Faculty: The Program combines the quality faculty members from the departments of Materials Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering, and utilizes state-of-the-art research equipment from the three departments and university-level research centers to facilitate teaching and learning.
3. Interdisciplinary Learning: Members of the Battery Research Center of Green Energy (BRCGE) of Ming Chi University of Technology, along with industry experts and scholars, are invited to offer courses related to energy and battery technology, such as “Battery Materials and Analysis Practice” and “Lecture on Lithium Battery Industry Practice,” “Battery Materials and Analysis Practice” and “Lectures on Lithium Battery Industry Practice.” Faculty members from the Department of Electrical Engineering are invited to offer the course “Numerical Analysis and Computer Programming,” which teaches programming languages related to computer programs, instrumentation, and robot control. Faculty members from the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management are invited to offer the course “Practice of Engineering Statistics and Data Analysis,” which will serve as a foundation for learning about big data and AI in the future. Furthermore, faculty members from the Department of Industrial Design are invited to offer courses such as “Engineering Graphics” and “Industrial Design and 3D Digital Prototyping” to strengthen the interdisciplinary design skills of students with engineering backgrounds.
4. Adaptive Exploration: The Program includes 23 credits of flexible elective courses allowing students to take electives across departments, colleges, and universities and assisting them to explore their interests and develop a second specialty.

Curriculum Planning

1. Interdisciplinary Courses in Technical Excellence：For the purpose of implementing interdisciplinary teaching, faculty members from other departments of the University will be invited to offer interdisciplinary courses, as shown in the table below. The faculty will utilize an educational approach that integrates theory and practice to train students to become the talents needed by the “5+2 Industries,” thus contributing to the development of semiconductor, biomedical sciences, green energy, and artificial intelligence industries.

2. Promotion of Research Work：Students with technical excellence generally have outstanding practical skills, and therefore are encouraged to enter the research lab as soon as possible to hone the skills they have previously acquired. For the purpose of guidance and matching of students with faculty advisors, coupled with the expectation that students from different departments can share their experiences with each other, the College of Environment and Resources has established a Regulation Governing the Selection of Supervisors for the Interdisciplinary Program for Technical Excellence in the College of Environment and Resources, in which faculty members from the three departments of the College of Environment and Resources will offer extra slots for advising the students in the Program. In addition, in order to familiarize the students with the expertise of the faculty members of each department, a special seminar on research topics will be held, in which faculty members with practical research experience from each department will be invited to give lectures, and then the advisors will guide the students in choosing their supervisors, arranging them to be admitted to participate in research work in various laboratories. Meanwhile, the College of Environment and Resources will launch the “Capstone Project” course for third year students (1 semester, 1 credit), in which each group consists of one faculty member from the Program as well as the departments of Chemical Engineering, Materials Engineering, as well as Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering, with supervisors leading the students to engage in interdisciplinary research on specific topics.

3. Off-Campus Study Trips：For the purpose of broadening the professional horizons of students with technical excellence, the Program will actively promote off-campus professional exchanges. In November 2021, there was a 5-day professional course at the Plastics Industry Development Center and the National Health Research Institute. The course covered a wide range of topics, including polymer structure and morphology, physical properties of polymers, processing of plastic materials, optimization of processing conditions, measurement and analysis of nanomedicine, biomedical imaging, optoelectronics, and the smart Internet of Things. In the 2022 academic year, the Program joined the “Principles of Semiconductors and Process Inspection Technology Practical Workshop” organized by the Center for Nanotechnology, Materials Science, and Microsystems of National Tsing Hua University, the “Biodegradable/Compostable Materials for Recycling Economy” organized by Minima Technology Co. Ltd., and the “Training Course on Cosmetics and Raw Materials for Manufacturing Processes” organized by MerryLife Cosmetics & Beauty Co. Ltd.

4. Overseas Study Trips：After the COVID-19 pandemic subsided, the Program has been actively promoting international interdisciplinary exchange activities for students with technical excellence to enrich their international perspectives, and has completed a one-week visit to our sister institution, the Shibaura Institute of Technology in Tokyo, Japan. The visit combined the specialties of the departments of Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering, Materials Engineering, and Chemical Engineering, including guided tours of museums and industrial exhibitions, as well as cross-national group discussions, allowing students to explore both academic theories and practical applications, enhancing their international vision. In the 2023 and 2024 academic years, there are international courses on interdisciplinary and cross-country educational exchange at the sister institution in Tokyo, Japan.

5. Promotion of High-value Professional Licenses：The Program actively promotes the preparation for examinations leading to high-value professional licenses (e.g., certificates related to chemical engineering or environmental safety and health, MOS Master and TOEIC), and expects students to obtain at least two such licenses before graduation. Professional teachers from the industry will be recruited to provide courses to assist students in obtaining these licenses. At the same time, both the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Department of Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering offer related courses to provide students with additional guidance in preparing for licensing exams.

Future Vision

    This program is based on the concept of “combination of theory and practice” and aims to provide opportunities for students to explore aptitudes and develop their career in different fields. Therefore, by offering a diversified curriculum, modifying the framework of the established disciplines, and advocating innovative learning, students will be able to chart the broadest and most promising paths in an ever-changing world.