Social Responsibility, Regional Revitalization and Social Influence of China Medical University

     The mission of Higher Education in the 21st Century is more than just seeking teaching and research excellence. Universities now have additional responsibilities of working towards sustainable development and revitalization of the community. China Medical University is the most prestigious university in both Western and Chinese Medicine in Taiwan. It is also ranked as one of the leading universities in the 2019 Times Higher Education University Impact Ranking. The mission of China Medical University is to become a global leader in both Western and Chinese medicine. We strive to gain international recognition in providing medical services to our community, cultivating health care professionals, and advancing the knowledge in health sciences.

The world is changing, so is Taiwan. Taiwan is currently facing not only a demographic challenge, but also an urgent need for sustainable development due to the global climate change. Both the Executive Yuan and the Education Authorities have recognized sustainable development and university social responsibility as important policy goals. The government encourages schools to initiate programs and projects to care for local communities and revitalize rural areas. Two well-known programs are the University Social Responsibility (USR) Project in the Higher Education Sprout Project sponsored by Ministry of Education, and the Promoting Regional Revitalization Policy, granted by National Development Council. China Medical University is a leader in this global trend of promoting social sustainability and regional revitalization. Ever since the founding of the University, we have implemented state-of-the art health care for both local residents and citizens from other areas in Taiwan. Over the years, we have integrated the resources of our university, affiliated hospitals and research centers to provide long-term community services, food and drug safety, environmental and workplace safety, and public health and medical care in both local and rural areas. We work hard to fulfill the social responsibility in teaching, research, and social services. We are now pleased to see that Taiwan's Education Authorities and Universities not only recognize this global sustainable development as an important issue, but also implement the higher education ethics movement.

China Medical University exerts our social influence on three levels. First, in administering teaching plans, research designs, and social services, CMU has made considerable preparation in all the directions of the legal, institutional, curricular, and hardware facilities. With the four major aspects of "Long-Term Care, Safe Guardianship, Regional Revitalization, and Cultivating Learning and Community," the University's faculty, staff, and students are encouraged to participate in the USR Project. In doing so, we can not only help the community, but also cultivate the younger generation. Second, effective 2019, we have also actively cooperated with the Promoting Regional Revitalization Project which is positioned as a national-level security policy of the Executive Yuan. Under the guidance of the National Development Council and the Ministry of Education, we are actively participating in local projects in Nantou, Yunlin, and Chiayi Counties. The University's Chinese and Western medicine, Nursing, Chinese Herbal Medicine Cultivation, Nutrition and Laboratory Testing, and Food Safety are some of the key areas for these projects. Other current projects include the long-term healthcare of Xinyi, the dairy industry in Lunbei, the fisheries industry in Yunlin and Chiayi Counties, along with the clam industry in Taixi. Third, to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, we have strengthened the teaching and research resources of all the Colleges of China Medical University, and we continue to foster the vibrant culture and environment of the campus, fulfill the social responsibility plans, and implement the sustainable development courses. We also continue to work on the inter-school sustainable development goal action planning and strategic alliance, from the economic, environmental, and social aspects. We aim for the health and well-being of the people, high-quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, along with improving employment and economic growth. We will continue to work hard on the goals of innovation along with climate action. We have confidence that we will be able to fulfill the responsibility of sustainable education in the international academic level, nurture students to become world citizens, who not only implement the goal of sustainable development, but also believe the virtue of Higher Education to bring the best to the local population and industry.

Recently, as a research university, CMU launched a “Better Life, Better World” program which proactively promotes CMU research activities and partners with academic institutions and industry to establish intellectual property rights that will convert knowledge into products. The goal of this program is to create new job opportunities for locals as well as targeting unmet medical needs to further identify effective therapies for certain incurable diseases.