About the Department
Objectives and Features
1. Our Objectives
To cultivate highly skilled professionals in cross-disciplinary integrated design, aligning with the national development policy in the design industry.
To emphasize academic research on diverse cultures, nurturing design research talents and faculty with international perspectives.
To promote the integration of technology and art to achieve value-added design in the new era of creative industry.
We implement the university's internationalization policy and establish platforms for international cooperation.
2.Development Direction
(1). Master's Program
Art Integrated Design: Starting from art-related issues, designing from multicultural and aesthetic perspectives, and practically applying to daily life.
Technology Integrated Design: Incorporating new technologies to assist design, making products more aligned with human needs.Management Integrated Design: Integrating management and design concepts to manage design, and to design management, to systematically develop and implement the principles and practices of holistic design.
(2). PhD Program
Building upon "multiculturalization" and "design integration," four major research areas and directions were cultivated:
Design Theory and Education: Theoretical research focuses on integrating professional and cross-disciplinary areas, while design education research emphasizes vertical and horizontal connections.
Design Humanities and Arts: Exploring the design application models in humanities and arts from multicultural and aesthetic perspectives.
Design Technology and Computation: Integrating AI and new technologies in design processes and applications.
Design Planning and Management: Implementing the concept and practice of holistic design, formulating design policies and strategies, and exploring design management and application.
3.Features
Design Research: We provide diverse, localized, and international design research programs, conduct special lectures, independent research, and design research forums to expand design knowledge and facilitate in-service training for professionals and teachers in design-related fields.
Cultural Exchange: We welcome local students, exchange students, and international students from various design fields, providing students with a cross-disciplinary learning environment. Through interaction and exchange, goals for academic and cultural exchange are achieved.
Technology Integration: We integrate resources from industries, government, academia and research, focusing on "technological integration in art" and "AI technology applications," and aiming for "technological transformation in design and artistic expression.”
Creative Industries: We promote cultural and creative integrated design using technology and innovation, connecting resources with departments, schools and with industries to assist the development of cultural and creative industries such as agriculture, tourism, and religious and cultural creative industries, expanding the influence of our country’s local culture.
International Exchange: We participate in international conferences, forums, international design workshops, design competitions, online video exchanges, and promote international student exchanges to enhance opportunities for international exchange among students.
Global Perspective: "Thinking Globally, Acting Locally" - through language proficiency testing mechanisms, teaching in English, English thesis-writing, and presenting papers in foreign language, we accumulate research results and overseas experience, to enrich the global perspective of faculty and students.
Development Strategies
1. Faculty Recruitment
Starting from the academic year of 2012, the “Graduate School of International Cultural Design" is included in the Graduate School of Design. The faculty is composed of 7 members, including the dean, vice dean, and five associate professors or higher with doctoral degrees from the five departments of the College of Design. This integration of faculty fully capitalizes on the strengths and characteristics of each design department. Moreover, there are assistant professor-level or higher teachers from the five departments who support course offerings, and through this collaborative faculty arrangement, future department developmental policies are jointly planned.
2. Curriculum Planning
The Curriculum Committee is established to regularly review the content and scheduling of the courses. The curriculum includes diverse course contents to meet the needs of different students. In addition to planning courses in professional fields, scholars and designers from domestic and international institutions are regularly invited to give lectures and speeches, and intercollegiate elective course systems are also provided. To meet international teaching standards, English-language courses are offered each semester, increasing opportunities for language training of graduate students, to enhance their foreign language proficiency and achieve the goals of teaching and research in the design profession.
3. Teaching Quality
Regular meetings of the Curriculum Committee are held, with the faculty members participating in proposing improvement for the curriculum. Aside from the Graduate Seminar course as the required course in the "Master's/Ph.D." programs, diversified elective courses in specialized fields are planned to make elective courses more in line with the characteristics of design profession, student attributes, social development, and needs. In terms of teaching materials, many senior faculty members in the department have outstanding achievements in academic research and practices. Related publications are available to students as references for learning or research. The department regularly holds "Design Research Forums," inviting experts and scholars for specialized topic discussions. The department’s faculty members also participate in domestic and international academic conferences, forums, National Science Council research projects, industry-university cooperation projects, and short-term overseas research to broaden their research perspectives and academic research capabilities. Furthermore, through the university's e-learning system, and the association between course offerings and core competencies, a convenient learning environment is provided to the students, enhancing the effectiveness of teaching and research quality.
4. Special Research
Faculty and students actively engage in special research on design-related academic topics. Publishing these research results in domestic and international academic journals, conferences, and books, contribute to expanding research horizons, sharing research experiences, and showcasing the professional abilities and qualities of faculty and students across various design domains.
5. Design Services
We encourage students to participate in various industry-academia cooperation projects led by professors. By providing design expertise and technology, we assist industries, government agencies at all levels, and urban and rural communities with design commissioned projects, aiming to improve the effectiveness of social services. This is particularly focused on the innovation and development of primary industries, traditional religions, and local tourism in central and southern Taiwan. Through the incorporation of multicultural elements and creative design, the goal is to elevate these primary industries to secondary manufacturing industries, then to tertiary design services and media marketing industries, and ultimately expand into the broader cultural and creative industry market.
6. Talent Training
Combining resources from industry, academia, and training, we provide design talent development workshops, design internships and intern projects, and regular professional design seminars or forums. The balance between theoretical teaching and practical experience is then enhanced, cultivating advanced professional designers and research talents .
7. Equipments
We established a library committee and budget planning committee to regularly evaluate and plan the department's books and teaching equipment and to Implement plans for the replacement and maintenance of old equipment and effectively seek special funding. The department has a total of 2 seminar rooms, 1 computer room, 3 laboratories, 4 student research rooms, and 1 audio-visual classroom, all equipped with comprehensive facilities to meet the research needs of the students. As the department's course content is highly diverse, the laboratories and research equipment of the five departments of the College of Design, as well as the Design Research Center and the Center for Creative Design Technology, are all available for use by department faculty and students.
8. Counseling Mechanism
The department has established comprehensive regulations governing student graduation requirements. In terms of the student counseling mechanism, there is a system of mentors and supervising professors, in coordination with the Counseling Center, to provide counseling services. This assists in guiding students through various activities and their learning progress, timely resolving any confusion or other related issues students may have in their coursework. This aims to enhance students' learning efficiency and the development of their professional orientations. In addition, to improve administrative service quality, the department utilizes the university's "Student Learning Progress Integration System" and "Master's/Ph.D. Thesis Full-Text System" to create student records, allowing for the monitoring of each student's learning progress and timely follow-up.