Chang Gung University's "University Social Responsibility (USR) Promotion Office" held another "Intercollegiate USR Learning Meeting" on March 11th in the conference hall of the Second Medical Building. It invited teachers from the university who implement USR courses and partners from Hsiuping University of Science and Technology to share the bits and pieces and gains from the implementation process. The purpose of this intercollegiate USR learning meeting is to share and exchange experiences of implementing university social responsibility across universities, enhance the atmosphere of social innovation, and cultivate cross-disciplinary knowledge and abilities among teachers and students. USR is a program directed by the Ministry of Education, emphasizing that college teachers and students should step out of the campus and into the community, deeply explore problems and support professional technology through the school, and jointly achieve local revitalization and future policy recommendations. Nowadays, USR and various universities and colleges are committed to promoting field teaching practice courses, where teachers offer USR practice courses that integrate theory and practice. Through interaction with community residents, it is hoped to solve community-derived problems and also enhance students' opportunities for active learning.

       The learning meeting was hosted by Hsu Kuang-hong, the Vice President and Director of the USR Office of the university. In the two discussions, Assistant Professor Xie Guorong from the Department of Industrial Design of the university and Director Li Wenming of the Fog Taidali Office of Hsiuping University of Science and Technology were the main speakers. The comprehensive discussion part was hosted by Assistant Professor Sun Jiahong, the executive secretary of the USR Office. Through the brilliant sharing of the speakers about the overall creation model of local social problems encountered during the implementation of USR, the spirit of the plan reached more teachers and students inside and outside the school, leading everyone to provide diverse ideas for social issues together.

        Director Li Wenming from the USR Office of Hsiuping University of Science and Technology in the central region gave a lecture on "Agricultural Revitalization System with LBS (Location Based Services) Function." Taking the agricultural foundation of Taiwanese society as the main axis, he pointed out the main problems of the current agricultural market in our country—lack of agricultural labor and imbalance of production and marketing. The solution to the agricultural labor gap lies in the mandatory service-learning course in the school—farming experience, and the implementation of food and agriculture education, allowing students to have the opportunity to recognize crops and the farming experience of "knowing every grain on the plate is hard-earned." Director Li Wenming passionately shared that the biggest change in this service-learning course was the students, and the biggest gain was the teachers; because the students interacted with the field residents, they gained a sense of achievement and encouragement, and therefore grew and learned to give back. In solving the imbalance of crop production and marketing, because the instability of agricultural harvest is a concern for farmers; therefore, by setting up convenient pick-up stations and promoting agricultural contract farming, farmers can work with peace of mind and create new job positions. In addition, Hsiuping University of Science and Technology uses the regional university alliance as the core of technical research and development, and through data monitoring and analysis of production technology and soil testing at the place of production, it improves the production technology of high-quality crops.

▲Teacher Li Wenming from Hsiuping University of Science and Technology shared experiences from entering the field.

       This year, Teacher Xie Guorong from Chang Gung University, conducted the USR field practice course. He combined the design expertise of the industrial design department with the social care practical course from the management college to provide creative guidance and teaching assistance to the indigenous areas, hoping to cultivate students' broad-mindedness for social care and promote the cultural characteristics and creative industries of the indigenous tribes. Although the Fuxing District in Taoyuan City has abundant natural tourism resources, it also faces economic and generational upbringing problems due to its remote location. When designing the course content, the students found that the field targets were different from their usual college life, so they adapted the promotion method by adding phonetic symbols to make it suitable for elementary school children. During the course execution, the students were deeply moved and changed after entering the field; they not only invested seriously in the pre-arranged rehearsals but also actively performed in the field practice. Even students from other classes of the department wished to participate in this USR course. Teacher Xie emotionally expressed that, in the USR field practice course, he observed that the students of the department and the indigenous children learned respect and gratitude for each other through the interaction of creativity and painting. The students gave positive feedback on the value and responsibility of giving.

▲Professor Xie Guorong shared his experience of entering the field.

       In the final comprehensive discussion, the executive secretary of the USR office, Teacher Sun Jiahong, introduced the current situation of the USR office's field development and reported the school's teacher incentive system to encourage fulfilling social responsibilities. With the support of the school, the USR office has proposed and approved the "Chang Gung University Social Responsibility Practice Course Certification Method" at the academic affairs meeting; teachers who arrange social responsibility practice content in the course, and the related field teaching time reaches more than 1/3 of the total course hours, can apply for double the teaching hours. This incentive method is a pioneer among universities nationwide, arousing envy from teachers of other schools. The USR office will continue to provide assistance to teachers in the school in terms of system, administration, and funding during the implementation of the USR course. It hopes that teachers and students in the school, whether in courses, clubs, or deep-plowing volunteer service learning, will work together for the land we grow on and the future home to gather wisdom.

       The USR inter-school joint study meeting successfully concluded, and thanks to the enthusiastic participation of 59 teachers and students inside and outside the school. However, community field issues continue to arise and require the joint support and efforts of professionals, students, alumni, local industries, and influential local leaders. The practice of social responsibility by the school is a heavy and long-term task. The USR promotion office hopes to inspire more teachers in the school to join the USR, use the university as a local think tank, educate and support our next generation, and let the campus and the neighboring community coexist and prosper to achieve local regeneration.