◎ History of the
Department
Our department was called “Department of Social Studies
Education” previously. Founded in 1987, it was the first
“Department of Social Studies Education” approved to be
established in Taiwan at that time. Since the 2002 academic
year, its Graduate Institute has begun to recruit students.
In the 2006 academic year, its In-service Master’s Program
was established. It lays profound foundation on cultivating
excellent elementary school teachers. During recent years,
in order to respond to the teacher education policy proposed
by Ministry of Education, expand research directions, and
revise focal points in our development, it has been
transformed into “Department of Regional and Social
Development” formally in the 2010 academic year, to be a new
department emphasizing both education and specialty.
◎ Academic Features
Our department has prosperous developments of academic
researches and activities. We regularly publish periodicals
such as the Department’s Journal, Valley Breeze(谷風), and
Research on Regional and Social Development. All the three
periodicals have explicit attributes and orientation. In
addition, our department arranges academic seminars for more
than three times regularly in every semester, in which all
the lecturers are domestic/foreign experts or scholars.
Every year, our department holds a release for all the
department’s teachers and students to publish their theses,
so that teachers and students can share their research
results.
◎ Teachers
At present, our department has 9 full-time teachers and 23
part-time teachers, and they all acquired domestic/foreign
master’s or doctor’s degrees.
◎ Curriculum Planning
As for the curriculum design for the department’s college
department, in addition to common compulsory courses,
selective courses of general education (28 credits in
total), and professional courses on education (40 credits),
we also organize common compulsory courses in the entire
department (27credits), courses in learning groups (53
credits), and optional courses (20 credits) aimed at
cultivating students’ specialties. Among them, the courses
in learning groups are divided into Regional Learning Group
and Social Development Group; students can choose to study
one of the learning groups as they wish. Besides, for the
sake of the needs for cultivating students’ second
specialties, we provide optional courses (20 credits);
students can acquire necessary knowledge and skills in
different departments or institutes, depending on their
personal needs.
◎ Specialty Enhancement
In order to enhance students’ quality and cultivate their
ability of second specialties, in addition to strengthening
the structure of professional courses, our department has
additionally established “Courses on Enhancing Public
Service Personnel’s Legal Knowledge”, “Courses on Enhancing
Knowledge of Tour Guiding”, and “Courses on New Immigrant
Education Culture” in the college department. Also, we hold
regular verifications on the specialty-enhancement of
homeland teaching, so as to reinforce students’
competitiveness in workplaces.
◎ Future Developments
1. Regional planning: To engage in the work related to
urban-rural regions and community development planning.
2. Teaching: To acquire credits of elective courses on
education, to serve as elementary school teachers.
3. Research and writing: To engage in researches on regional
development, explanations for Community Building, or the
work of compiling and writing histories and literatures.
4. Governmental public service: To pass Senior Exam, Junior
Exam, or Special Exam, to engage in public service, such as
General Administration, Social Administration, etc.
5. Tourism and leisure: To engage in tourism/leisure
industries, such as tour guiding.
6. Culture, education or supplementary education: To engage
in jobs related to culture, education, publishing
industries, or supplementary education.
7. Social service: To engage in jobs in non-profit
organizations or social welfare organizations.
8. Further study: To pass the entrance exams for attending
domestic or foreign research institutes related to the
domain of Social and Regional Development.
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