NPUST’s Professor Uzu-Kuei Hsu is a man who knows first-hand about the challenges that students suffering from economic hardship can face. And he also knows how much difference a little support can make. That is why he is working with the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families (TFCF) to make a difference in the lives of students from underprivileged families.
Professor Hsu currently serves as director of the NPUST Smart Mechatronics Bachelor’s Program, and in this capacity he is teaming up with TFCF to promote the “Family Support Talent Cultivation Project”. The cooperative relationship has also resulted in what has become NPUST’s first strategic alliance with a non-governmental social welfare organization. Through the project, plans are to use the school’s existing welfare mechanisms to connect with city centers and help more disadvantaged students get good educations and good jobs so that they can become self-reliant and end the poverty cycle.
On May 3rd, NPUST’s president, Chang-Hsien Tai, and the chairman of TFCF, Li-min Chao, signed the strategic alliance Memorandum of Cooperation to formally mark the commitment. At the ceremony, President Tai pointed out that “NPUST hopes to provide care to disadvantaged students, not only through financial support, but also by strengthening the development of their character”. He also explained that currently “at the school there are over 40 ‘Family Support’ students—and they are performing very well in mechanical engineering, industrial management and other disciplines. In the future, we will expand enrollment through the “Family Support Talent Cultivation Program” so that talented students from disadvantaged backgrounds will have opportunities to develop their potential.”
Li-min Chao explained that “in order create stable learning paths for economically disadvantaged children, the TFCF actively promotes academic counseling, talent cultivation and a variety of training programs. By bringing together external resources, we are able to provide long-term and substantial educational assistance— and enhance the learning experiences of young people so that they can find direction for their careers.”
With support from the Ministry of Education, the university’s “Vision Project” will commence in the 2022 Academic Year and is expected to guarantee seats for 84 disadvantaged students. The curriculum will emphasize studies in “robotic arms” and “industry”. Professional skills such as “wiring”, “electromechanical integration”, “unmanned vehicle operations”, and “hydraulic and pneumatic mechanics” will be taught to the students who will also be tutored through the processes of license acquisition.
According stats from the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families, in order to quickly obtain a skill to get into the work-place, children from disadvantaged backgrounds are 3 times more likely to attend a vocational school than a regular high-school. And among these, nearly 70% of children are enrolled in private technical vocational schools. In the face of certain stereotypes associated with academic qualifications, in the end, they often fail to reach higher levels of learning and are left in situations where they can only compromise with reality.
Professor Hsu is an excellent example of what proper support can lead to. Hsu comes from a family which had suffered from financial difficulties. Lack of funds for tuition ultimately resulted in him giving up on National Taiwan University and entering into military academy. Diligent nonetheless, Hsu eventually made his way to graduate school at NPUST, where Professor Chang-Hsien Tai, the current university president, offered him meaningful encouragement and support as though a father to a son— and helped him complete his studies.
Now, working together with TFCF, Hsu, and the university as a whole, aim to give back even more to society with a devotion towards nurturing younger generations, engaging in public welfare activities, and helping more people overcome challenges that are preventing them from developing their maximum potentials. The two organizations ultimately have the same goal: “use education to end poverty and turn lives around”. And now, together they are strategically working to help disadvantaged students become independent by acquiring skills that they can use to compete in the market—and in turn, give back to society in their own ways.
