Soochow University Business School was chosen by Ministry of Education as one of the Blue-Ribbon Colleges for bilingual education
On September 2, 2021, Ministry of Education (MoE) announced the Phase one subsidy list according to the “Bilingualized Learning Program for College Students”. Since 2021 academic year, MoE has totally approved to subside 4 Blue Ribbon Universities, 41 Blue Ribbon Colleges (within 25 universities) and 37 universities having been popularizing and promoting bilingual education. The approved subsidy was 587.48 million NTD in total. Soochow University Business School is the only private business school in northern Taiwan being chosen as one of the Blue Ribbon Colleges for bilingual education, and our bilingual program has been launched since September 2021.
The "Bilingual Learning Program for College Students" aims to strengthen students’ English abilities, promote English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) and holistically improve the international competitiveness of our higher education. The program is divided to two tracks: “Blue Ribbon University/College Track” and “Popularization and Promotion Track”. Five years as a round, there are two phases between 2021 to 2030. The solicitation was launched publicly for Phase one. In summary, 18 universities applied for “Blue Ribbon University Track”, 76 colleges from 35 universities applied for “Blue Ribbon College Track” and 52 universities applied for “Popularization and Promotion Track”. The Phase one subsidy list was approved after a professional deliberation through the committee composed of EMI global experts/scholars invited and jointed by MoE.
With solid foundation and clear bilingual promotion goals, Soochow University Business School was chosen as by MoE one of the Blue Ribbon Colleges, becoming the cradle to cultivate bilingual talents for national key industries and for stepping forwards to the world. By implementing this program, MoE has intended to assist every universities/colleges gradually promoting EMI, develop the EMI support system, introduce international teaching staff with EMI-based teaching experience and establish learning environments for EMI. Also, by taking students as the main body and cultivating English abilities, we can then enhance their international mobilities and add values on their employment competitiveness. For this round, the Blue Ribbon Universities/Colleges subsided by MoE shall at least achieve the following goals:
- Reach "25-20-20" in 2024:
By 2024, at least 25% of sophomore students in benchmark universities/colleges will have achieved fluent proficiency level in English, i.e. above CEFR B2 in listening, speaking, reading and writing. Meanwhile, at least 20% of sophomores and first-year graduates will have earned more than 20% of their credits from EMI-based teaching modules. - Reach "50-50-50" in 2030:
By 2030, at least 50% of sophomore students in benchmark universities/colleges will have achieved fluent proficiency level in English, i.e. above CEFR B2 in listening, speaking, reading and writing. Meanwhile, at least 50% of sophomores and first-year graduates will have earned more than 50% of their credits from EMI-based teaching modules. Also, promote the accreditation of EMI-based credits on graduate certificate to bridge worldwide industries.
Since 2021, Soochow University has set up a university-level “Bilingual Teaching Promotion and Resource Center” to implement this program. The first-level supervisors such as Vice President Dr. Weiliang Zhao and Provost Dr. Qianlong Zhan etc. have coordinated the promotion of EMI-related affairs and resource allocations. To effectively conduct and promote every scheme in this program, our Business School will also establish “Business School Bilingual Program Center” to step-by-step advance our EMI-based teaching affairs with following the concept of “popularization, professionalization and elitism”.
In recent years, our business school has actively promoted AACSB accreditation and improved bilingual teaching environment. In 2017, we obtained AACSB international accreditation, and our quality of teaching was affirmed by international evaluation standards. So far, we have consistently strived for excellence to become the best business school where cultivates international talents in business and management. To achieve our goal, we will introduce EMI-based teaching in our teaching areas of professional business and management and apply “promoting EMI-based teaching and creating an international environment” as our main executive projects. In terms of strategy, we have adopted a 3-stage “point -> line -> surface” concept, i.e. point as the curriculum, line as the degree program and surface as the cluster of subjects, to gradually propel and consolidate our EMI-based modules. Through college-level bilingual program, bilingual teaching and international learning have been facilitated, and the oversea study experience could be forged at Soochow University. With the core value of “SCU as abroad”, our students are allowed to learn the knowledge of business operation and finance in our EMI-based study environment.
- News source：The Secretariat
- Translator：Pao-Sheng Chang
