Shih Hsin University

The University has an undergraduate day program, an undergraduate night program, along with master's and doctoral programs. To meet the needs of people who are already working but wish to continue their education, the University offers continuing education programs leading to bachelor, master's, and doctoral degrees, along with a special undergraduate program for graduates of three-year vocational colleges.

SHU continues to provide a hands-on and practical approach to instruction of students to give them a head start in their professional careers. A 2012 survey conducted by the prestigious Commonwealth magazine listed SHU as the most outstanding university in the field of media and communications by parents and industry managers. An assessment of the university’s resources and strengths convinces me that SHU’s goal is to strive for being a teaching excellence university rather than one that is research-oriented. With this in mind, it is imperative that SHU should expand beyond its hallmark disciplines of media and communications and branch into other fields to enhance its competitiveness.

Founded as a vocational school for journalism, SHU has a history and reputation rooted in media education. Since its elevation to a university, media research and studies remain pivotal to its curriculum design. This is unique among all the private universities in Taiwan and has won the approval of parents and business owners. The appeal has spread to China as the enrollment of short-term and degree-seeking Chinese students increased from 213 in 2009 to 1313 in 2014, with 65% of them choosing media-related areas as their concentration. In response to this demand, the university has undergone curriculum reforms, creating interdisciplinary modules such as Financial Reporting as well as Innovation and Communication in the College of Management; Humanities and Communication as well as Internet Content Creation in the College of Humanities; and Digital Confluence and the Law in the law school. This list is being extended to science, health, and cultural creativity and communications.

A strong faculty is essential to the research and development of a university. SHU has been able to recruit outstanding teachers through a host of measures such as supporting teachers for advanced studies, reducing teaching hours, instituting flexible pay scales, and multi-channel hiring practices. In 2013, 89% of the faculty were assistant professors and above. Due to the inequality in the allocation of resources and the disparity in social status accorded to state-run and private university professors in Taiwan, our university inevitably suffered from brain drain in the past. SHU is currently providing incentives such as extra funding and increased pension reserves for recipients of research and teaching excellence awards as well as chair professors to retain our distinguished faculty.

The university is an organic body, with the administration providing the vital services on campus. SHU has greatly enhanced its administrative capability through the upgrading of human resources, the introduction of electronic document systems, easily accessible information networks, and intensified auditing and internal control. The university will further enhance its efficiency through the implementation of a standardized operation system, a more consensual decision-making mechanism, well-defined division of labor, and a joint-service platform. At the core of a university’s administrative success are the collaborative efforts of its staff.

The University now has five colleges, a diversity of graduate programs, and nineteen departments offering a wide range of disciplines from communications and management, to the humanities and the social sciences. Shih Hsin University has come a long way from a vocational school to its current status as one of the preeminent private universities in Taiwan.