【Article by International College of Innovation】

The International College of Innovation (ICI) at National Chengchi University (NCCU) held its 2026 Faculty and Staff Retreat on August 24. Chaired by ICI Dean Kuang-Ta Lo, the retreat brought together all ICI faculty and administrative staff for in-depth discussions on key issues including the College’s future development, curriculum planning, applications of artificial intelligence (AI), and admissions strategies. Through the retreat, ICI sought to build consensus among its faculty and administrative team, while continuing to strengthen its existing foundations and foster a learning environment characterized by innovation, interdisciplinarity, and internationalization.

In his opening remarks, Dean Lo shared his vision for the future development of ICI. He noted that since its establishment, the College has gradually developed its curriculum framework and distinctive academic features. Looking ahead, in addition to improving the College’s facilities and institutional framework, he hopes to take the opportunity of the upcoming curriculum reform to reexamine students’ learning pathways and strengthen connections between courses across different levels and fields. The goal is to help students better understand how individual courses connect to more advanced study and, ultimately, to their future academic and career development.

The retreat also featured a research and teaching presentation by newly appointed Associate Professor Meng-Chi Tang. Professor Tang’s research primarily focuses on applied microeconomics, with interests extending to health- and healthcare-related issues. He shared that joining ICI provides an opportunity to move beyond conventional disciplinary boundaries and pursue greater interdisciplinary collaboration. Building on economic approaches, he hopes to engage further with fields such as health, healthcare, and public policy, while incorporating his research experience into teaching. Through interdisciplinary topics such as health economics, he aims to help students understand how economics can be applied to real-world social issues while contributing new perspectives and research capacity to ICI’s teaching in global health and interdisciplinary studies.

In response to the rapidly changing workplace brought about by generative AI, the retreat also featured a special presentation by Professor Shih-Hsun Hsu, Vice President for Research and Development at NCCU. Drawing on his own experience of incorporating AI into his daily work, Professor Hsu shared examples from the Office of Research and Development, illustrating how he uses AI to refine initial ideas, organize information, and develop presentation structures before having staff members review their feasibility and administrative details, followed by final confirmation at the supervisory level. This process demonstrates a collaborative workflow between AI and administrative teams. He also encouraged colleagues not to be intimidated by AI, but to begin experimenting with it in their everyday work, using it to reduce time spent on repetitive tasks and devote greater attention to professional judgment, critical thinking, and creativity.

Curriculum reform was another major focus of the retreat. In preparation for revisions to the required curriculum for Academic Year 2027–28, faculty members discussed the fundamental competencies students need in the AI era, with particular attention to the positioning and progression of programming, computational thinking, and AI-related courses. Drawing on his teaching experience and practical use of AI, Associate Professor Hsin-Tse Lu noted that although AI can significantly improve the efficiency of programming and problem-solving, students still need a solid foundation in programming in order to understand and evaluate AI-generated outputs rather than simply relying on AI tools to complete tasks. He therefore suggested further integrating computational thinking and AI applications into existing programming courses, guiding students to learn how to break down problems, make effective use of tools, and exercise sound judgment.

Faculty members also shared observations based on their teaching experience and students’ course-taking patterns. From the perspective of students’ course selection and specialization pathways, Associate Professor Tzu-Chi Ou suggested reconsidering credit requirements to ensure that students can develop more substantial professional expertise while retaining the flexibility to explore across disciplines. Faculty members further discussed the progression between foundational and advanced courses, transitional courses, Capstone courses, and internships, with the goal of establishing a more systematic and coherent learning framework. These discussions also responded to recommendations from the program review committee regarding stronger curriculum integration and progression, greater stability and coherence across courses, and clearer career guidance and professional skills training, providing important reference points for future curriculum reform and planning.

In addition to curriculum planning, the afternoon sessions focused on admissions strategies. Faculty members discussed the weighting of General Scholastic Ability Test (GSAT) scores, the subjects and weighting criteria used in the application process, as well as differences between ICI and other related academic programs in terms of admissions criteria and student profiles. They also shared observations and practical experiences from domestic and international admissions for Academic Year 2026–27. Through these discussions, the College further examined whether its current admissions mechanisms adequately reflect ICI’s educational characteristics and talent-development goals, while considering potential adjustments to admissions criteria, selection methods, and external communication. The aim is to attract students whose interests and abilities align more closely with ICI’s emphasis on interdisciplinary learning, internationalization, and innovation.

In his closing remarks, Dean Lo noted that this was his first time chairing the College’s retreat since assuming the deanship. He shared that the day’s extensive and in-depth discussions had given him a more comprehensive understanding of the College’s current curriculum, teaching, admissions, and institutional operations, while also helping the team gradually build consensus on the direction of ICI’s next stage of development. He emphasized that the retreat marked not the conclusion of these discussions, but an important starting point for future curriculum reform, institutional improvements, and admissions planning. Moving forward, ICI will continue to foster collaboration between faculty and administrative staff, gradually translating the consensus reached during the retreat into concrete and actionable plans. Dean Lo also expressed his appreciation to all faculty and staff for their active participation and contributions, and looked forward to working together to further strengthen ICI’s distinctive identity in innovation, internationalization, and interdisciplinary education, laying a solid foundation for the College’s next stage of development.