Center for General Education

Objects

1. To cultivate appreciation of literature and arts.
2. To foster the ability to express oneself, self-awareness and creativity.

Description

The course is designed to cultivate students’ analytical ability, critical thinking, imagination, creativity, and aesthetic sensitivity through reading literature and arts; to develop in students an in-depth understanding of their own lives; and to enhance students’ concern for and reflection about human societies.

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Objects

1. To cultivate historical thinking skills so that students can think independently.
2. To increase students’ interest in and concern for communities by learning about the human situation in different historical contexts and through introspection.
3. To enhance cultural literacy by habitually reading classical literature.

Description

Historical Thinking develops students’ historical awareness, cultivates their historical thinking and guide them in establishing associations between ancient and modern times, by applying research methods of history to problems encountered in the discipline of History and related disciplines, by analyzing major historical events or long-term historical changes and by reading history, classical literature, and works on historical consciousness, so that students can reflect on their own subjectivity in the historical context.

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Objects

1. To cultivate an appreciation of diverse cultures.
2. To enhance understanding of traditional cultures.
3. To analyze similarities and differences among diverse cultures and religions, and to learn how to respect and appreciate other cultures.
4. To guide students to reflect on their relationship with the world.

Description

The course guides students to better understand the features of civilizations of the world, to broaden their view, to help them understand their own cultural traditions, to respect and appreciate the spirit of other cultures and religions, and to reflect on their position in the global dialogue among civilizations in the new millennium.

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Objects

1. To nurture students to think about and discover the meaning of life.
2. To train students to understand and reflect on basic issues of philosophy and moral reasoning.
3. To develop the ability to reason well and to differentiate between morals and ethics.

Description

Philosophy is the pursuit of wisdom; the exploration of life, society, and the world; the seeking of truth, goodness, ideals and sacredness in the universe. In moral thinking, there are three basic questions, which are: Why do I live? How should I live? How can I live that I should live? These questions point out the basic issues of how to be a human being and how to live, and also form the rationale for choosing the basic issues mentioned above to constitute the fundamental subject matter of the philosophical literacy and life education foundation courses.

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Objects

1. To understand democracy and the rule of law, and the similarities and differences between social groups.
2. To develop a sense of caring about contributing to the betterment of humankind.
3. To nurture the desire and ability of students to fulfill their civic duty.

Description

In this course, students study social science, democracy and the rule of law in order to understand social scientific analysis and the important issues of contemporary society, explore the existence of similarities and differences between social groups, enhance their concern for society, and cultivate the ability to fulfill their civic responsibility.

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Objects

1. To foster the ability to reason quantitatively and mathematically.
2. To introduce methods of thinking in mathematics.
3. To nurture appreciation of mathematics and its application.

Description

Students are expected to understand quantitative reasoning and thinking in a mathematical way as an essential basis for knowledge production in a variety of disciplines, to understand the theoretical basis of common statistical tools, and to appreciate the characteristics of perfect structure and simplification in mathematical theory and application.

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Objects

1. To understand the interdependence between humans and nature and the importance of maintaining a sustainable relationship between them by learning knowledge related to nature.
2. To guide students in learning the thinking patterns involved in scientific exploration, such as reasoning, validation and problem-solving approaches.
3. To inspire students to explore the development of science and technology in society and to promote dialogue between the scientific and technological community and the non-scientific and technological community.

Description

By learning about physics, chemistry, astronomy, earth and environmental science, engineering and technology, students are expected to understand scientific knowledge; develop a scientific attitude and a sustainable ethics which emphasize rational debate; and cultivate core abilities in innovation, communication, publication, and dialogue.

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Objects

1. To help students to understand and appreciate life.
2. To bring out students’ desire to actively explore the impact of biotechnology on human society.
3. To nurture students’ ability to appreciate life and protect nature by taking action.

Description

This course is designed to guide students to understand the origin of life and the mystery of the living world by learning biology and life science. Students are expected to learn essential concepts of life sciences and to be inspired to explore the impact of bio-technology on human society and to respect and protect nature.

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Object

To train students to use terse and organized language to express complicated, professional concepts and information in a manner that effectively engages their audience and makes their viewpoints easily and efficiently understood.

Description

True academic competence requires not only professional knowledge but also the skills of different forms of communication, critical analysis and effective integration of relevant resources necessary to boost the persuasiveness of one’s viewpoint. These Academic & Professional Communications courses are designed in an attempt to cultivate students’ communicative competence. Specifically, the benefits of the knowledge and skills learned and core competence cultivated should extend throughout the undergraduate campus and into the students’ advanced studies and career.

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Objects

1. Through the study of selected canonical texts, the course aims to help students acquire a better understanding of both the Chinese humanistic tradition in particular and the essence of humanistic thinking in general.
2. The course seeks to enhance students’ critical thinking and communication/writing skills by way of class discussion and writing assignments.

Description

First, through the study of representative works, students are guided to acquire a better understanding of the Chinese humanistic tradition. Second, from the analytical process of studying selected canonical texts, students are expected to gain familiarity with the procedures and methods of humanistic thinking. Finally, through class discussion and writing assignments, it is hoped that students will not only enhance their critical thinking and communication/writing skills, but also learn to build up their own capacity for self-understanding as well as for forming a sound philosophy of life.

Objects

1. To train students in the four basic language skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking through relevant, engaging materials.
2. To help students develop and sharpen their linguistic sensitivity.
3. To foster students’ appreciation of all cultures.
4. To improve students’ skills in the areas of library and Internet research, thought organization, oral presentation, group discussion, and independent and critical thinking.
5. To help students cultivate the habits of careful proofreading and revision, and to follow standard writing format.
6. To help students lay a firm foundation for independent and lifelong learning.

Description

The objective of English and other foreign language courses is, first, to train students in the four basic skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking, through relevant, engaging materials. This training will aim not only to cultivate basic language proficiency, but also to sharpen linguistic sensitivity, so that students are able to use language with greater precision and awareness. The training will also focus on improving students’ skills in the areas of critical thinking, library and Internet research, thought organization, oral presentation, group discussion, correct writing format, revision, and careful proofreading. Ethical issues such as plagiarism, and personal honesty and responsibility will be emphasized. It is the ultimate goal of all courses to guide students toward independent and lifelong learning.