Chung Yuan Christian University's (CYCU) goal as an educational institution is to foster a student's holistic development, striking the perfect balance in developing character and intellect. With "education through honest, diligent pursuit and practical experience" as the school's motto, CYCU envisions its students becoming proactive in building a sustainable future for Taiwan. "It is important for students to get a holistic education, to become well-rounded individuals," says Cheng Wan-lee, CYCU president. "A holistic education addresses four balances - balance of professional and general knowledge, balance of knowledge and character, balance of individual and team spirit and balance of the body, mind and spirit." CYCU was established in 1955 and has become one of the leading private universities in Taiwan with seven colleges: science, engineering, business, electrical engineering and computer science, design, humanities and education, and school of law. Deeply rooted in the core values of faith, hope and love, CYCU instils a global perspective in students. "My vision is to bring CYCU to the world and the world to CYCU. I want our students to overcome language barriers and the fear of talking to people who do not know Chinese," Cheng says. CYCU has been collaborating with international universities on exchange programmes in different fields of study to realise this vision. Its engineering disciplines work with Wright State University, University of Wisconsin and Iowa State University in the United States and with Southeast University and Jinan University on the mainland on summer leadership workshops. In the past five years, CYCU has increased efforts to reach out to Southeast and South Asia to recruit talented undergraduate and graduate students to pursue their higher education and advanced studies at CYCU. Cheng looks forward to an internationalised and multicultural atmosphere on campus. To help students become globally competitive, CYCU developed the international business programme, its first degree programme taught completely in English. CYCU also offers the applied Chinese programme, which is designed to prepare students to teach Chinese as a second language. The university's 10-year strategic plan is a significant step towards its quest for excellence. Part of this strategy is CYCU's Joint Administration and Services Building Project, which aims to provide one-stop administrative services to students, faculty, alumni and the general public. "I would like to see CYCU become the best holistic educational institution, to see our students become very important to society and contribute their expertise and also their care and love to the world and the people," Cheng says.
