U9 Intercollegiate League creates a new future for education

In this ever-changing contemporary environment, only the π-type people with double professional specialties are competitive on the job market. An U9 Intercollegiate League is thus composed by nine universities in Taiwan: Tatung University, Chinese Culture University, Taipei Medical University, Shih Hsin University, Tamkang University, Soochow University, Ming Chuan University, Fu Jen Catholic University, and Shih Chien University.

All these nine universities have been established for over five decades and have acquired in total over $400 million grant for Teaching Excellence Project in the 2015 academic year from the Ministry of Education. These nine universities also have respectively specialized in various fields: engineering, business, agriculture, medicine, media, law, linguistics, education, environmental protection, art design, etc. The U9 Intercollegiate League hopes to enrich students with in-depth and interdisciplinary acknowledge of different professional fields.

Collaborations in Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and General Affairs

These nine universities have accomplished since 2012 several projects of collaboration in terms of Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, and General Affairs, by offering open courses and lectures and by sponsoring extracurricular activities for students to attend. With more and more international students coming from Mainland China, these universities have also shouldered up tutoring responsibilities for them. Besides, more attention is also given to gender issue and equality on campus. These universities have also embarked on joint purchases and student insurance plans to maximize benefits with limited resources.

Joint Programs and Double Degrees  

In the future, the nine universities of the U9 Intercollegiate League will offer joint programs and double degrees for students. For instance, students in the Law Department of Soochow University, after taking enough required credits, can obtain diplomas from Department of Catering Management at Shih Chien University.

Besides, these nine universities are going to promote a platform to certify credits students have taken in other universities. Students are also to free to take similar courses in other universities or jointly offered during summer breaks. The purpose is to allow students to develop diverse interests in learning, and to enable these universities to fully utilize their academic resources.

Sharing Education Resources

Facing the competition of globalization, fighting alone is no longer enough to confront the ever-changing contemporary world. Only by working together with others can we make the best use of limited education resources and take different types of future challenges. Only through allying with other universities can we hold onto the idea of cross-region innovation. The U9 Intercollegiate League enables students to attend one university and share education resources of nine universities.