The gap between learning and job market needs has long been a concern for people in the fields of education and industry. To take into account both theory and practice and to help nurture talent in Taiwan, Ming Chi University of Technology (MCUT) has established three bachelor programs in “Industrial Artificial Intelligence,” “Semiconductor Materials and Fabrication” and “Digital Marketing and Design” and will start to enroll students in fall 2022. This great news has also been included in Global Views Monthly’s special issue--College and University Guide for 2022.

Dr. Kevin, Fong-Rey Liu, the provost of MCUT, said in the interview for the special issue that the role MCUT is now playing is to bridge the gap between schools and businesses. He is also the chair of the bachelor program in Industrial Artificial Intelligence, leading a team which has been working closely with industry through a total of 90 AI projects. These hands-on experiences will definitely enable students to replace theoretical calculation with programming practice, to engage in interdisciplinary research via industry-academic cooperation, and to accumulate work experience through a one-year internship. As for the industry, the corporation with academia has also helped them with the advancement of production process, quality control and feedstock estimation.

Dr. Yung-Fu Wu, chair of the bachelor program in Semiconductor Materials and Fabrication, said that nowadays Taiwan is proud of its semiconductor industry on a global basis but no corresponding departments or programs has yet been found in Taiwan’s universities, leading to an awkward situation where college graduates find themselves failing to meet the needs of the semiconductor industry. In that regard, it is inevitable for MCUT to establish such a program in no time.

Dr. Li-Fang Sun, chair of the bachelor program in Digital Marketing Design, said that in the era of digital media, “marketing” and “design” should no longer be treated as two separate fields but be seen as a brand new combination, “marketing design.” As such a combination has become the current trend for businesses, MCUT strongly believes that marketing and design should go hand in hand by infusing the former into the latter from the very beginning. For each case, students will be taught to come up with all the possible creative and esthetic elements through brainstorming and to examine consumer behavior with careful data analysis, while the capability of gaining good customer acquisition rates could be cultivated digitally.

The mission statement of MCUT centers around practicality and feasibility. The sandwich-style of teaching, theory-practice-theory, has therefore been adopted as in students’ one-year internship program and the customized industry-academia partnerships. MCUT graduates’ employment rate has generally been as high as 90%, making them the most-needed cross-field professionals for the growing industry in Taiwan.

Traditional Chinese Edition: 縮短學用落差 明志科大三箭齊發