Introduction
The Office of International Affairs: a
window opened to the whole world
Globalization in
the 21st century has dramatically reshaped employment patterns in
which students need more sophisticated skills to be prepared for the century
life, work, and citizenship. To response to the shift in the economic landscape
and labor markets, STUST has been doing its best to equip students with a
variety of competencies and skills and to build up our international reputation
with the slogan "Stand firm in Taiwan and bring best to the world." To recruit and
inspire many talented students worldwide to study at STUST for a more just, fair,
and promising world, OIA, originally the International Exchange Division, was separated
from the Office of Research and Development in January 2009. Ever since, OIA
has been dedicated to initiating international strategic alliances, creating an
international environment, handling international affairs, and assisting other
departments to organize international events.
Positive steps towards
internationalization and connection with world-class elite universities
Over the past few years, STUST has established
a variety of programs through cooperation with internationally renowned
universities, so that our students can have the opportunity to study abroad.
STUST signs inter-institutional agreements with 244
partner universities in 32 countries, including Austria, Czech, Croatia,
Estonia, France, Germany, Holland, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Spain,
Switzerland, UK, Danmark, Canada, Peru, Paraguay, US, New Zealand, Australia,
China, Indonesia, India, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia. STUST is now also cooperating with
many universities worldwide in offering dual degree programs, providing
students with a broad selection of overseas programs, and advancing various student
exchanges and cooperation. So far, there have been around 500 students studying
abroad. In addition, STUST offers unsurpassed
resources in terms of visiting scholars and guest lecturers, and other visitors
in a variety of both formal and informal activities—lectures, luncheon series,
colloquia organized by various departments and committees. By doing this, STUST
strives to strengthen students’ knowledge, foster research cooperation, and build
a strong future for STUST.
Enrollment of
foreign students as a way of campus internationalization
International student recruitment is one
of the key objectives of the international exchange. STUST has recruited many
excellent international scholars and lecturers for its English-taught graduate
programs, including GMBA, Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. STUST also features a Chinese Language Center, which offers
courses for international students from more than 20 countries, such as Japan,
Indonesia, India, Croatia, Bolivia, the United States, Thailand, Peru,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Mongolia, Austria, Cambodia, Estonia,
Romania, Swaziland, Singapore, Macau, and South Africa. We have around 300
international students at STUST. In addition, STUST supports our international
in many ways to improve their living and study experiences. Furthermore,
international students are encouraged to join multiples events happening every
week at STUST such as a series of "International Social activities", "Cultural
Tours for International Students" and "International Art Festival” to
enhance international students’ understanding about Taiwan's traditions and customs.
STUST also regularly hosts extracurricular activities to celebrate important traditional
festivals in Taiwan, such as the Ghost Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, and
the Mid-Autumn Festival. International students also host cultural events to introduce
and share their cultures with their lecturers and friends at STUST community. We
have put our great efforts to organize these international activities to build
up our campus with a friendly and familiar atmosphere because we believe that
those activities are the fondest memories of our international students’ lives.
Additionally, OIA provides international students with career consultation to
help them identify strategies related to career planning and job search so that
they can find suitable jobs at many big companies and factories in Taiwan.
In addition, STUST organizes the
"Chinese and Taiwanese Culture Experience Camp" integrating three
major short-term experience camps namely "Learning Chinese
Intensively," "Understanding Taiwanese Culture," and
"Experiencing Taiwanese Traditional Arts” to share our common values and promote
international students’ awareness of Taiwanese culture that is based on mutual
respect and understanding.
Vision for the Future
STUST has made great steps towards
international development. In the future, we are going to implement more plans
and programs to promote synchronous and asynchronous distance learning, English-taught
programs, dual degree programs, overseas internships, and student exchanges.
Moving towards our major goal of education: “Take the lead and be the best,”
STUST commits to improving the teaching quality as well as student learning
outcomes to guide our students toward inclusive excellence. future.