A total of 93 schools participated in the 2021 Ministry of Education University Social Practice Online Expo and submitted a total of 204 projects to compete for awards. Two projects of NSYSU – “USR Project: The City as a Commuseum – Socially Embedded Community Engagement” and “Industry-university Co-creation and Local Integration” won the Best Highlight Story Award. According to NSYSU’s Social Engagement Center, this Award is an acknowledgement of NSYSU’s social responsibility practice as an academic institution. In the future, the University will continue to connect university social responsibility (USR) with regional revitalization and sustainable development, and plan social practice more in line with local needs and international trends.
According to NSYSU Social Engagement Center, Kaohsiung is now undergoing transformation. Besides the city’s industrial and economic development, NSYSU also cares for the local community through its academic capacity, social responsibility and care for public good. The University currently combines three projects of the Ministry of Education University Social Responsibility with professional resources of various higher education institutions and local resources to support local communities’ education and culture and care for the disadvantaged.
One of the projects, The City as a Commuseum – Socially Embedded Community Engagement, is run by the team of the Department of Sociology, driven by cultural values, with the aim to create a “Kaohsiung School”, embodying the features of south Taiwan. This project analyzes the earliest developed districts in Kaohsiung – Cijin, Gushan, and Yancheng – to expand three major dimensions, specifically landscape sustainability, landscape celebration, and vision brand, focusing on the development of three main issues: life and society, ecosystem, and production economy. The project team annually organizes several festivals: Circular Economy & Green Life Festival, Don’t Sleep in Yancheng, and Jīn Yú Festival, creating the Shanjinwu creative brand that succeeded in combining the concept of environmental sustainability with local culture preservation to create a model of a sustainable city in line with United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 11 – “Sustainable Cities and Communities”.
The Industry-university Co-creation and Local Integration USR project by the Institute of Public Affairs Management puts into play the organizer’s management expertise, with the University taking on the role of a resource integration platform between the public sector, corporations, and local organizations. The project put forward the Cooperative Empowerment and Extension Service concept, in which the University identifies local public welfare needs and matches them with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) resources to support social needs overlooked in the past and assist corporations in planning and guarding public service activities, so that philanthropic resources can be used more effectively. At present, the University has cooperated with large enterprises such Jiu Zhen Nan Taiwan Pastry, Taiwan Fu Hsing, Hopax Fine Chemicals, San Lung Gear Works, and Quanta Computer, and has invested in issues ranging from regional revitalization, elderly care, art and culture, friendly farming, to care for new immigrants. The program team also combines professional courses to assist companies in planning comprehensive sustainability plans and talent cultivation and promote sustainable development.
