University Social
Responsibility Program
University Social Responsibility Program
I. University Social Responsibility Program Implementation Mechanism
CYCU upholds the “holistic education” philosophy. Article 1 of the philosophy, which states “the entire creation through the wise and prudent utilization of professional knowledge of the sciences and the humanities”, is considered as the best performance of the “USR”. The 2020-2022 mid-term and long-term university affairs development plans are focused on “performance of holistic care and fulfillment of social responsibility”, and integration of teaching through USR to achieve knowledge-action integration. Deepen social responsibility for it to connect with the university affairs system, promote international cooperation, and act in line with the SDGs of the United Nations to exert influence as a university. It appears to be unique among colleges/universities throughout the nation engaged in promoting social responsibility that CYCU practices its educational philosophy and integrates it into the university affairs development plan through USR.
Promote the University Social Responsibility (USR) development roadmap
To enable USR to promote “upside down and parallel communication”, with macro vision for university-wide sustainable management, CYCU institutionalizes on-campus resources and matches off-campus resources to help teachers and students exercise the university knowledge and influence through fulfillment of social responsibility. These practices include:
(a) Systematic promotion of USR in the aspect of organization
(b) Provision of resources and assistance to teachers and students in the aspect of the
system
(c) Release the USR report periodically
University-wide USR integration and coordination mechanism
II. USR external resource links and promotion
(I) Boost regional development and local creation
To boost regional development and local creation, CYCU uses its best effort to strive for resources that are matched and invested by governments, enterprises, and communities, hoping to help train the local youth creative ability. USR external resource links and promotion are described as following:
a. Organize diversified tangible activities to promote the USR philosophy and exercise
influence
b. Combine the CSR influence to improve the USR momentum
c. Link with the central and local governments and develop the USR domain
d. Combine the social community media to spread the USR philosophy
(II) USR external resource link execution results
a. Combine USR and CSR to connect with the SDGs of the United Nations
CYCU combines the “holistic education” philosophy with USR and strengthens USR-
related courses, programs, and activities in line with 17 SDGs through institutionalized
on-campus operation and investment of off-campus resources to achieve the goal of
sustainable development.
b. Establish a bond and trusting relationship with local communities and physical
practicing fields
CYCU works with the Taoyuan City Government in the Youth Participation in SDGs Sustainable Development Action Plan and adds momentum and resources from the Youth Development Administration, Ministry of Education to construct the young talent training roadmap in North Taiwan to develop the partnership for CYCU’s USR plan team.
(III) Execute holistic education service-learning courses and the USR project
In 2021, CYCU has executed three USR programs and five USR Hub incubation programs of the Ministry of Education, in line with the SDGs of the United Nations, and corresponded with field issues and built a local community consensus.
USR Characteristic Plan 1:
Sustainable business plan for connection with the Taoyuan Liangzhen Cultural Green Corridor from Siaoli
CYCU's College of Design works with local groups in Zhongli and university partners to communicate its experience to UCSI University in Malaysia. By practicing USR, it establishes a vision for educational connections in greater Taoyuan. By allying with domestic universities, it cares for local senior high schools, junior high schools, and elementary schools, so that institutions USR practices will positively affected and be communicated to the entire Taoyuan.
Correspond to the SDGs interdisciplinary issue framework
USR Characteristic Plan 2:
A plan of retaining the endangered schools: re-thriving the industrial environment in Zhuo-Lan County
CYCU's team found that the home of fruit of Taiwan, "Zhuolan Town, Miaoli County", is experiencing pressure from industrial transformation. CYCU organized courses and trained a student team to guide the students to solve real problems in rural areas and show their care for rural area issues and social sustainable development.
USR Characteristic Plan 3:
Solidarity Economy and Cultural Partnership - Taoyuan Dahai Community Cultural Creation Project
CYCU encourages teachers and students to utilize their professional knowledge to grow together with the local community and leads students to understand the importance of local cultural preservation in Dayuan Dahai Community, engaging in activation and reconstruction of the community to drive cultural creation and development in the community.
Service-learning Characteristic Course 1:
Preserving the Zhongli No. 5 Warehouse as a historic building
Teacher Chen Li-Yu from the Department of Interior Design led teachers and students to work with the “Taoyuan Art and Culture Front” to integrate courses into the community and practice them, and connect the old stores. Therefore, students may practice their professions and cherish local cultures to pass down the historical stories and energy.
Service-learning Characteristic Course 2:
Practice Schweitzer Program in Dapo Junior High School
The CYCU Center for Teacher Education selected “Dapo Junior High School” situated in Dapo Village, Xinwu District, a coastal area to the southeast part of Taoyuan City, as a place to practice the Schweitzer Program. A team consisting of teachers and students from CYCU has cared about the students in these rural areas and taken Dapo Junior High School as the service-learning base permanently, hoping to combine teachers’ professions to help improve the learning performance and fix the behavioral deviation of the School's students. As a result, CYCU achieved remarkable results in this regard, which were highly recognized by the School’s teachers and parents in the community.
International Collaboration Project
To establish exchanges and collaboration in the field of professional social responsibility and link and integrate with overseas resources, CYCU set up the international network for sustainable development based in CYCU. CYCU works with overseas sister schools or international institutions to provide service learning, assists people of developing countries to improve their life quality, promotes CYCU’s social responsibility from their home country to the world, and uses their best effort to facilitate the vision of sustainable development.
Convene the “2021 Future X International Design Conference”
.
Organize an international camp to conduct an in-depth visit to the social design base
Convene the “2021 Future X International Design Conference”
Foreign Service-learning Result 1:
“Love.Binti” in Kenya, Africa
One kind of love is communicated in person by traveling over 10, 000 kilometers. According to The Guardian, “According to the data collected by Dr. Penelope from 3,000 Kenyan teenage girls in 2015, one out of ten 15-year-old girls trade their bodies in exchange for money to pay for their sanitary napkin expenses each month.” The data shocked three college students, Yang Yi-Ting, Tseng Min-Ting, and Chang An-Yu, who brainstormed for a whole afternoon and finally created the “Love.Binti” program. The three college students utilized simple cloth sanitary napkins to establish a bond between Taiwan and Africa.
Yang Yi-Ting arrived in Africa for the first time to join CYCU’s service-learning overseas volunteer group. As the executive director of the “Love.Binti” program, she hoped to help women prepare their own sanitary products, learn to help themselves and others, and change their life value.
In three years, the "Love.Binti" program has distributed more than 40,000 cloth sanitary napkins to remote villages, taught around 7,000 local women and girls, and successfully communicated this knowledge about cloth sanitary napkins from Kenya to Uganda, Zambia, Tanzania, and Swaziland. The “Love.Binti” program aims to benefit 1 million persons and plans to help refugees about correct health education concepts and availability of cloth sanitary napkins.
Foreign Service-learning Result 2:
“IT Skills of Children and Juveniles” in Salvador, Central America
El Salvador, a country in Central America, is a permanent diplomatically of Taiwan. A CYCU overseas volunteer group has gone to Salvador to engage in IT education, cultural exchange, and sharing of supplies in rural areas for two years consecutively. CYCU became the first group of Taiwan’s colleges/universities that entered El Salvador in Central and South America.
CYCU’s service-learning activities have been valued by the El Salvador Government. The service group members were met by the First Lady of El Salvador and Vice President couple at that moment. The First Lady of El Salvador restated her appreciation of Taiwan and hoped that the CYCU volunteer group could engage in cultural exchange with juveniles in El Salvador in addition to providing the IT teaching service during their stay in Salvador in order to help “Santa Ana Children and Juveniles City” improve disadvantaged juveniles’ IT skills in El Salvador and signify that the cooperation between Taiwan and El Salvador was not limited to that between governments, but extended to exchange and cooperation between nationals of both countries.
Foreign Service-learning Result 3:
“Meteorological System Construction” Project on Oceania’s Solomon Islands.
With the subsidy granted by CYCU’s overseas internship mechanism, students from the Department of Environmental Engineering requested to assist in installation of the semi-automatic weather station and SoSAFE platform on the Solomon Islands. In this project, Teacher Wang Yu-Chun led students to participate in the meteorological cooperation project between the Central Weather Bureau and the Solomon Islands to help the Solomon Islands improve its ability in management of disaster prevention, public health, weather forecast and data collection, and eventually establish a complete SoSAFE platform accessible by the Government of the Solomon Islands for data storage, automated connection, and early warning. Students believe that this should be able to broaden their global view, learn communication skills, direct a developing country, and help Taiwan develop a sustainable global partnership.
