《109-2_SA Event》Time to look back: Black Valentines Party

14th of April 2021, Black Valentine's Day is an unofficial holiday. Singles in South Korea originally observed it. On this day, singles who haven't received gifts from significant others on Valentine's Day and White Day (on the 14th of March) will gather together to 'commiserate' with each other. They will be wearing black color and having black-colored food, especially ‘jjajangmyeon’(noodles in blackbean sauce). However, the Student Association (SA) of the International Programs believes that Happy Valentine's Day is not just for couples, but to celebrate love in all forms. SA would like to remind us how much we love our friends, family, teachers, and other people around us, realize how important it is to seize the day.

To share the love and bond up the relationship among students, SA held the "Black Valentine's Party" on that day at the College of Management, NSYSU. This event attracted several students from IBMBA, GHRM MBA, and other students from the College of Management, NSYSU, with various activities and savored delicious foods, snacks, and drinks.

The night party started with the game "Guess the word by emoji!". Participants need to guess the correct answers after watching pictures of emojis with different topics to win this game. There are four categories, and each participant will have 10 seconds/ per picture to make a guess. One point for one correct answer, and the winners will be two people who get the highest scores. All students were excited to join this game, some answers were wrong, but most of them were correct. Finally, "Guess the word by emoji!" successfully ended with the champion from IBMBA 1st year student, Melody Xue, who got 11 correct answers.

The second game was "Flip Cup Tic Tac Toe". Participants have to use one finger of one hand to try to flip their cup over, so the cup lands on its open end. When it lands properly (open end down) on the table, then place it on the board quickly in a square to help advance their team in tic tac toe. Their teammate will help them to finish the game. All the attendees were divided into four teams competing to find the prizewinner.  Despite the difficulty of balancing the cup, we finally found the champion team of the game, which form by Lisa Chang (1st-year IBMBA), Stan Tsai (2nd-year IBMBA), and James Tseng(1st-year GHRM MBA).

At the end of the party, the "Ping Tac Toe'' required a range of movement. The player must bounce ping-pong balls into a grid of glasses to get a 3 in a row during the game. They also must alternate the color of the ping-pong ball thrown after a ball lands in cups. Once and for all, the night with lots of memorable moments ended with the victories from 2 teams, which are Team_ La Hanh Phuong (1st-year IBMBA) and Cao Huynh Hong Phan (1st-year GHRM MBA); and Team_ Andrey Tukmachev(2nd-year IBMBA), Reianthong Vongseanglam (1st-year GHRM MBA), and Ivan Wang. Last but not least, Sharon Huang from 1st year IBMBA bagged the prize for bones round after competing with the SA president.

Although because of the pandemic, we should keep social distance and some of us can’t get together with their love ones, today's event had made every participant put those longing aside, enjoy the heartwarming and funny memories, and make a fantastic night.

《109-2_GHRM522》Michael Lin Delivers Lecture On ‘Business Communication’

On the 20th of April 2021, Michael Lin, the vice president of Nutrition Life and general manager of Yu Yan Tang, served as a guest lecture for the Business Communication course offered by Professor Francois Bouchetox. He provided essential business communication tips and advice to the students to help them stand out in the hyper-competitive marketplace. 

Mr. Lin has vast working experience; before returning to Taiwan in 2021, he owned a toy business in the United States. Currently, he possesses four business partnerships in four different fields. First is a second-hand car business, and he mentioned that his good command of English helped him communicate with suppliers from the United States. Mr. Lin also noted that contracts are also a means of communication and advised the students to write down all the conditions, or one might end up losing their rights. 

His second business is the diatomaceous earth he had in 2014. He pointed out sometimes money plays a vital role in communication. Mr. Lin took an example of while he wanted to get the Disney licensing on his diatomaceous earth mat, they looked down on him because it was just a new business with less capital. The third business is the Guilu Erxian Gao and antlers; he emphasized how important communication is while importing the materials and doing business face-to-face. Lastly is the nutrition supplement business sold in Taiwan, China, United States, and Vietnam.

Mr. Lin also recalled his experiences of bad communication using bad words. He expressed that it isn't appropriate to do so but noted that, at times, it could be effective. He also talked about the business culture in China and said that drinking and having dinner is a form of communication in China. He also mentioned that, at times, the better the restaurant, the better the business result would be. At the end of the lecture, Mr. Lin advised the students to hang out and meet more people as friends will always give a helping hand when in need. The guest lecture was very fruitful as the students learned an indispensable lesson on effective business communication.

Gathering with Faculty-Picnicking at the Hamasen Railway Cultural

To forge a strong bond among students and faculties in IBMBA and GHRM MBA programs, the Student Association (SA) held “Gathering with Faculty” on the 10th of April 2021 at the Hamasen Railway Cultural Park. Due to the pandemic situation, the SA held the gathering outdoors with light lunch and a variety of activities to pull off unforgettable moments.

The gathering time began with a speech from Professor Frank Wong, the deputy director of the International programs. He thanked the SA for holding this great and creative event at Hamasen Railway Cultural Park and encouraged the students to participate in the future events held by the SA and the international programs office.

During the gathering, there were three games, including Bingo, catchphrase and untie the knots. The Bingo game required participants to answer some questions and find other members to sign on if they had the same answer. The winner is the one who marks the selected answers with tiles in the shortest time. From IBMBA, GHRM MBA students to the professor, all attendees were excited to take part in this game, they ran around to ask their friends’ signatures and tried their best to become the winners. Finally, the Bingo ended with the victory of five students – James Tseng, Reianthong Vongsangkam and Michal Polacek (the first-year GHRM MBA students), Elsa  (the second-year GHRM MBA student), Bruce Lin (the second-year IBMBA student)

The second game – catchphrase. All participants were divided into four teams (A, B, C, and D), three members per team with each question category. Each team would nominate one member to explain the target word out loud and let other members understand and guess the right word. The trick is, that person can’t say the word (or any variant of the word) or that team loses the round. The winner of the catchphrase was team C – Demi Wen (the first-year IBMBA student), James Tseng, and Michal Polacek (the first-year GHRM MBA students).

The last game was “untie the knots” - Starting in a circle, participants connect hands with two others people within the group to form the human knot. As a team, they must then attempt to unravel the “human knot” by untangling themselves without breaking the chain of hands. There were two teams in this game, and the first team was super-fast when finishing the game within 20 seconds and helped another team to untie the knots. Through this game, Rossie Lim – SA president shared a meaningful message. In our life, there are many “knots” – challenges that we have to go through. We can overcome some knots by ourselves, some we can’t, but we still have friends and family standing by our sides, so do not hesitate to ask them for help and help others when they need it.

In the end, International programs wished all students and faculties with a decent time at NSYSU and presented each participant with a cute gift. In the near future, the SA will hold many other events to create intimate time for both students, faculty, and staff in IBMBA and GHRM MBA programs.

NSYSU Students Makes A Mark At Hult Prize Impact Summit 2021

The Hult Prize Impact Summit held in Taipei on the 9th of April 2021 proved to be an unforgettable experience for NSYSU students Rosie (GHRM MBA), Sam Lin (ICAPS) and Jonna (MIS). This year, the summit was held on the theme ‘Food for Good’ with a vision of building viable enterprises that will impact millions of people in the next decade, strengthen communities, increase incomes, feed the hungry and generate employment.

Hult Prize is a global competition organized annually that seeks to solve urgent pressing global issues through viable business ideas. The competition operates on more than 3000 campuses worldwide and organizes over 100 Impact Summit campuses globally every year. Initially, Sam Lin – the team leader - joined the NSYSU campus level Hult Prize competition which was organized in NSYSU for the first time. Sam and his team’s idea of launching an app that provides healthy meals in Taiwan was adjusted the third prize. Later, Sam Lin was looking for 2 more team members to develop his proposal and presented the idea at the Impact Summit. Rosie was glad to become a core team member and was responsible for the APP design and finance. When asked to join the team, Jonna was very enthusiastic and passionate about the project as she was a vegan and was conscious about healthy living. After coming together as a group, they worked hard on their project for more than a month before the competition.

Rosie commented that the Hult Prize changed her life and taught her valuable lessons that she could not gain from school. Through the competition, she learned to be a better team member, a better speaker and a better leader. She also got the opportunity to meet a lot of amazing people who inspired and encouraged her.

Rosie also complimented the professionalism of NSYSU Hult Prize organizers who are currently students from GHRM MBA and other departments of NSYSU. Moreover, according to Rosie, the other teams were not only outstanding but hard-working as well which inspired her. In the regional summit held in Taipei on 09th April 2021, Rosie and her team had the opportunity to join the pitches of various teams from different universities in Taiwan. She comments that their ideas were appealing, innovative, and practical and aims to make the world better in the theme of Food for Good.

After the competition, Jonna shared “Thanks Sam Lin for inviting me join this wonderful team and I think I will assign cram school for better future, thanks for your advice again, Rosie. Thank you too! Love your critical thinking and hope we can eat vegan food together.”

It wasn't all about the prize, but our students gained valuable knowledge and soft skills from the competition, which will undoubtedly help them in their future forays. Congratulations to Rosie, Sam Lin, and Jonna for performing brilliantly at the 2021 Hult Prize regional summit. This is just the start ahead of a bright and promising future, and we are confident that you will continue to make us proud.

Field Trip in Zengfang Museum of Mullet Roe

Date: Mar. 27th, 2021

Course : GHRM507 & IB612 Consulting Methods and Practice

In Chianjhen, Zengfang is one of the two main tourism factories. Besides, Zengfang’s museum which attracts many international tourists and backpackers to visit has been run for a long time. Wayne Lin, as the third generation of the owner, led the class to a trip about the industry of mullet roe. Zengfang starts from a store running in Yancheng. The second generation of the owner, Mr. Lin (林義添先生), did his great efforts on improving the manufacturing process and enlarged the business. With his great effort, Zengfang has become a symbolized brand in Taiwan nowadays.

Wayne firstly introduced how mullet roes were produced and showed the production line. Then, he introduced the history and unique culture in the mullet roe industry. As one of the traditional industries in Taiwan, many interesting customs or taboos were left until today. Some symbols were explained in Taiwanese, which let the international students have more cognition on the industry.

After understanding the manufacturing, history and value of mullet roe. Zhengfang arranged students to experience the DIY course of making Japanese rice balls to make students realize how mullet roe can be made in different kinds of products. After the interesting hand-made time, students raised some questions about the production, marketing or development of the mullet industry in Zengfang to acquire related information in advance. The two-hour trip in Zengfang passed fast, but students knew more about mullet roe.

GHRM MBA 1st-year student Reianthong Vongsangkam from Thailand shared that this kind of tourism factory was not seen in Thailand, and it was a special experience for him. However, he tried to think about the cost and revenue of running the museum.

Through today’s trip, students had more concerns on the tourism factory about how they run the business in different ways, and this is another kind of industry development in some tourism districts in Taiwan.

Travel Curation Tour Designing-Community Engagement

GHRM MBA, College of Management, NSYSU invited Daniel Cheng - the founder and CEO of Redefine Tourism Mixer (RTM), to give a speech at the Consulting methods and practices course. To help students designing their consulting projects, Daniel shared his story about how his company has become one of the largest Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) that helps develop travel start-ups and internet tour operators in Taiwan and the region.

Daniel began his lecture by introducing the considerable impacts of the current pandemic on tourism in general and proposing his solution for this situation: Travel Curation Tour with Community Engagement. Born in Linbian, a rural township in western Pingtung known for its seafood and wax apples, Daniel realizes the local fisherman's problem: they are not confident in what they do for a living. Therefore, his objective is to create the added value for his organization and the people in the area. The solution to the problem is to find a way to utilize the resources, including fish and water that are granted. As a result, "Fish Forest project" has been designed to capture and connect all Travel Curation Tour elements. In order to implement Fish Forest, Daniel and his colleagues visited and talked to villagers to understand their needs and observed their daily routine to collect relevant information. The data analysis, later on, was used to design the Action plan comprising of three steps:

1. Travel Curation

In this component, the Travel Agency needs to identify what are the most important for their Product Purpose and Marketing Purpose. Basically, they are the principles to attract tourists as well as to customize the services so that they are unique to each group of travelers.

2. Talent Incubator

This part describes how his company can create value and benefit for the local community through various marketing channels, especially online marketing. Also, Daniel has launched different campaigns to support both store-owners and travelers, in which the most well-known program is Travel workers. These activities help local people realize that they are visible to the world and their work is acknowledged, and they gradually become more confident.

3. Local Translator

Fish Forest also helps the local people translate their know-how into meaningful materials such as board games or teaching booklets to educate the tourists and their children about their work and their lives. Simultaneously, these materials can facilitate the transferring of expertise from parents to children in a value exchange manner.

Daniel has inspired value creation among students, and he received a lot of questions regarding his work and how he can achieve his goal. Finally, he promoted the coming campaign for Travelers to the students in class and promised that he would inform them of information as soon as possible.

Guest Lecture & Field Trip Mr. Lucas Lanski & HCP Pump Manufacturer Co., Ltd

On 9th April 2021, Dr. Ryan Brading invited Lucas Lanski, one of our GHRM MBA alumni to be the guest speaker for students attending the courses: ‘Sustainability of Global Enterprise’, ‘Entrepreneurship Management and Practice, and ‘Productions and Operations Management’. Lucas is currently working for HCP Pump Manufacturer Co., Ltd. (HCP Pump), which is located in Pingtung, Taiwan. Despite his busy schedule, we were very grateful that he still managed to find time and share with us his inspiring stories and unique experiences in Taiwan.

The title of his topic was: “Surviving, studying, working and exploring: Taiwan from a foreign outlook”. Lucas’s lively and energetic personality brightened up the lecture room. The word “Bridge” as a metaphor was used to illustrate his daily commuting journey to Pingtung, but also, describe how he connects Taiwan with his homeland Poland. During the three-hour lecture, group discussions were held after he shared with students the context of the topics to be discussed.

After brainstorming and raising questions to Mr. Lanski, the lecture concluded when students began to  present and share their ideas. Afterwards, we all took a group picture to remember this unique occasion.

In the afternoon, a field trip was arranged and students attending the morning guest lecture – went to visit HCP Pump Manufacturer Co., Ltd. (HCP Pump). Upon arrival, Mr. Lanski's colleague, Mr. Chester Wu, International Sales Supervisor, presented the company. Chester stressed that HCP Pump is globally well-known. Apart from having most of the shares in the Taiwanese market, it also sells its products in more than 60 countries worldwide. Their pumps are high quality and have been used in a variety of industries (e.g., Taiwan High-Speed Rail - HSR).

The students were then divided into two groups and started the tour around the factory. The whole process of manufacturing a pump was introduced, including how the assembly line works, and how the engine (heart of pump) is assembled. The tour guides also took the students to their laboratory where they tested the pumps, and where the biggest pump HCP makes can be seen.

The tour finally came to the company's showroom, where they demonstrated how the products work. Ending with a Q&A session, many interesting questions were raised and the students discussed what they had learned during this well-organized tour at HCP. This field trip concluded by offering  a NSYSU certification of appreciation to the International Sales Manager, Ms. Christine Lai,  and a group picture was taken to commemorate this exceptional learning experience for GHRM MBA and IBMBA students that day. It was a very successful and interesting day and the “bridge” between HCP Pump and the College of Management at NSYSU was built.

Field trip in Hong Yu museum of cuttlefish ball

Hong Yu Food CO., LTD is the company that the class will do the consulting with. To understand what their industry is, Professors Chien-yuan Sher, Heng-yen Chang, Hung-jeng Tsai, Yi-shin Wu, and Shi-chi Yang arranged a visit on Mar. 27. Hong Yu Food is famous for its high-quality cuttlefish ball and just started their museum in 2019 to let more people know about the cuttlefish industry. The executive assistant, Jeff Lin, and the planning assistant, Sunny Lin, led students to visit their museum and introduced the development history of Hong Yu and how the cuttlefish balls are made.

The owner, Mr. Lin (林錫宏先生), initially learned how to make cuttlefish balls with Uncle Cuttlefish (花枝伯王耀通先生) who is famous as expert of cuttlefish in Penghu. Then, he started his own business in Kaohsiung. At the beginning, he started the business in the traditional market. In recent years, he decided to transform their business model to run a factory and tourism museum. Throughout these years, Hong Yu insisted on the traditional methods to produce the cuttlefish ball. Also, they obeyed the sustainability to select the raw material. The tradition about cuttlefish balls, how to produce the cuttlefish balls and what Hong Yu does to guarantee the quality of their product were introduced in detail in the visit. During the visit, students learned a lot and realized how Hong Yu Food keeps making progress in their business.

At the end of the visit, the consulting issues for this semester were announced by Hong Yu. The authorities raised two questions regarding marketing and human resource management relatively for students to develop the project. Through the visits in these three weeks, students had ideas on the consulting projects. Believe that students can develop creative and innovative projects for the issues from Hong Yu.

Field Trip in Cianjhen District

Date : Mar. 9th, 2021 (109-2)

Course: GHRM507 Consulting Methods and Practices

The “Consulting Methods and Practices” course provides students opportunities to work with local companies and communities. Hong-Yu Food corporation located in Cianjhen is the company which students will work with to help solve the issues of some challenges they encountered. To know more about the communities and the district, a field trip to Cianjhen district was arranged in the first week. This also might be helpful to come up with the solution combined with the local characteristic. Besides, Siwan College helped a lot to organize the field trip. Assistant Shiau-Ting Hung introduced Cianjhen deeply to let students learn more about the district. Hope students could enhance problem-solving capabilities, improve team-working skills in a cross-cultural background, understand issues relevant to social responsibility by doing the projects.

Cianjhen was once a prosperous district in Kaohsiung. With the setup of the export processing zone, many companies gathered, and the increase of working opportunities attracted people to come to work. However, with the change in the economic development and demographic structure, lots of youngsters left to other cities to find better jobs and more foreign workers were hired to continue the production. As a result, the once prosperous district became a cross-cultural district nowadays. Every corner we passed, the symbol of history and new culture could be seen, which indirectly illustrated the change in Cianjhen district. We visited the temple representing the religion center of the district, passed by different types of houses meaning the change of residents, and walked through the traditional markets reflecting the daily life. The changes indicated the history path, change of lifestyle and the influence of noble families in the district.

Michal Poláček, a GHRM MBA student from Czech Republic, shared, “The field trip was cool to me and the tour guide showed us places where I would normally don’t go. It’s very logical what happened there as the industry evolved and developed. So far I am not sure if this field trip is going to help us with our semester project, but I hope we can use some information later.”

【2021 Living in harmony with nature】Photo Contest

National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) in Taiwan always pays attention to the environment and lives in harmony with nature as a role model. Whenever you visit NSYSU, you will definitely be impressed by the diverse environment here, ranging from environment to animals to plants and how people coexist with the earth. The International Student Association of the International programs aims to transfer this message and raise our student’s awareness of the environment and sustainable development by holding the “2021 Living in harmony with nature” photo contest this semester.

There are 13 teams of talented participants from various departments (including IBMBA, GHRM MBA, and the Department of Electrical Engineering). All the participants participated enthusiastically with their best photos. After an intense competition, we congratulate 4 winning teams from this photo contest.

We came out with two champions from this photo contest, including Trevor Joines and Cecelia Ha from GHRM MBA, and the third place was bagged by Laurine Pommier from IBMBA. For the team that got the most likes and shares from Facebook and Instagram, Gary Yuan from IBMBA and 莊博勛from the Department of Electrical Engineering(Team 3_Future Fish) were presented with the popularity award. The Student Association of the International Programs and the International Programs Office sincerely appreciate everyone who participated and supported this contest. Those photos were terrific and remarked with meaningful messages, which give us warm feeling and introspection of getting along with the nature and other creatures on the Mother earth. 

One of the photos from Team 8_Trevor’s team

Message from Author:

『I like taking photos and these are a few of my favorites.  When I have more time I’m looking at getting back into dive photography but I have a few other ideas to try out on interesting subjects.  Nature is always a great subject to explore but you never know what you’re going to find the day you go.  You might get something spectacular or you might just come back with similar photos you have taken before.  I hope people like these and I hope to add better shots in the future.』

Team 3_Mean in Green

Message from Author:

『2020 is indeed a tough year for everyone in the world. After 6 months in this beautiful little island, I really felt I had a second home, where I had friendly friends, respectable teachers, and very kind people. NSYSU campus is surrounded on three sides by mountains and also faces the open waters of Sizihwan Beach, thus making it a natural fortress. I have been to Tainan, Pingtung, Taichung, Nantou and was really fascinated by the natural sceneries.

Far away from the city, in the mountain, Cingjing Farm in Nantou is one of the most popular tourist spots in Taiwan. I had my first spring trip in 2021 with my friends there. During that time, I can enjoy fresh air,lush forests, beautiful flowers along the plains and hillside. Fortunately, I was able to watch a Sheep-sheering show in Green Green Grassland, which is an open pasture ground for livestock such as sheep and cows to roam and graze freely. When I saw the flock of sheep at a very close distance, they are running around the hill with a sense of freedom, with the backdrop of the majestic mountains, the blue sky, I felt all afflictions as if blown away. It is not just a show, but also a simple, comfortable life that we all aim for. It was really the scene of my dream life, with a scene immersed in beautiful nature. It also reminds me to cherish nature and protect our loving motherland.』

Team 5_Laurine

Message from Author:

『This photograph was captured in Alishan National Park, on the last day of a 15-day road trip around the island. It typically represents the atmosphere in this nature reserve which reminds us of a movie set. The small paths get lost in the fog, the treetops disappear, and a feeling of a new discovery invades us step by step. The thick fog in this photo plunges us directly into an atmosphere that is both mysterious and surprising. The angle of view allows us to become aware of the longevity of each of the trees, some of which are more than 2000 years old, and reminds us that human life expectancy is minimal compared to what nature can bring us. 』

Team 3_Future Fish

Message from Author:

『This picture was taken in Alishan— a famous attraction in Taiwan. It was at 16:30, a slight breeze of fresh cold air gently moved the leaves on the trees, it was such a serene scene. In contrast, people were busy rushing for the last train of the day, which emphasizes how silent the forest was. On the other hand, the surface of the water reflects the sky and the giant trees around it, making it seem to be another picturesque wonderland with green filter caused by algae. 』

Taiwan, Germany Cross-Cultural Online Seminar

The International Office of the College of Management successfully held the “Virtual Teams in an Intercultural Context” seminar with Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University （DHBW） in Germany on 11st March 2021. In this cultural exchange seminar, a total of 15 students from the two universities participated, including Belinda Cheng , Evelyne Lee and Anna Chung from GHRM MBA. The content of the seminar was formulated by the German organizer. The students were given some tasks in advance to let them have a little understanding of each other's cultural background, which will help the event to run smoothly.

On the day of the seminar, the students met virtually and were equally divided into four groups: red, yellow, blue, and green. Students from the two universities need to cooperate and share opinions in order to complete the tasks successfully. The first task was to suggest a product or service which is not popular in other side’s country and try to import it to that country and promote with marketing strategies. The students can quickly get into the situation and consolidate their opinions very seriously. Every group have designed beautiful and concise powerpoint to present their ideas within short period of time. The second task was relatively difficult. Students need to jointly investigate a case online, provide their teammates with clues that they have and use team spirit to solve the case with patience. Even in the real world, it is not easy to solve the clues through discussion, so we can know that it is even more tough to do it virtually. It can be seen that the students of the two countries have try their best to cooperate in the virtual world, so that they can overcome some of the trials together.

After two main tasks, the virtual meeting has come to the final round, which is the reflection session. Every student has shared the gains that they owned in the seminar, how do they overcome the cultural barriers, in what way do they widen their horizons and etc. Every student expressed their satisfaction to the event and offered feedback positively.

Although many international cultural exchange activities were canceled or negatively affected by the pandemic, through this seminar, we can understand that using alternative method can be another way to recognize the other side of the sky from a different perspective.

For the 3rd year in a row, NSYSU has remained one of top 5 universities in Taiwan with the most subjects entered in the newest QS World University Rankings by Subject!

【QS最新排名出爐！中山大學連3年居全國前五強】

英國高等教育調查機構（QS）公布最新2021世界大學學科排名，中山大學連續三年與台大、成大、清大及交大名列全國前五強！

延續去年佳績，中山大學今年共有17個學科入榜，創歷年最多。自2018年以來，4年成長幅度更高居全國之冠，年年皆有新學科入榜，共計有5個新學科搶進榜內。

在台灣排名方面，中山大學排名全國前五強的學科包括石化工程（全國第一）、英語文學（全國第二）、經濟與計量經濟（全國第二）、農業與林業（全國第三）、數學（全國第四）、教育（全國第四）、現代語言（全國第四），其中，石化工程更是全台唯一入榜。

更多詳情看 : https://reurl.cc/a5dqWG

[For the 3rd year in a row, NSYSU has remained one of top 5 universities in Taiwan with the most subjects entered in the newest QS World University Rankings by Subject!]

According to the newest 2021 QS World University Rankings by Subject, NSYSU has remained one of top 5 universities in Taiwan for the third year in a row with the most subjects entering the rankings, together with National Taiwan University, National Cheng Kung University, National Tsing Hua University, and National Chiao Tung University.

NSYSU has continued its excellent performance with a total of 17 subjects entering the rankings this year, the University’s record so far. With 5 more new subjects entering the rankings from 2018 and the total number of subjects growing each year, NSYSU demonstrated the best improvement among universities in Taiwan in the past 4 years.

NSYSU ranks first in Taiwan for Petroleum Engineering, second for English Language and Literature and Economics and Econometrics, third for Agriculture & Forestry, and fourth for Mathematics, Education and Training, and Modern Languages. NSYSU is also the only university in Taiwan entering the ranking for Petroleum Engineering.

Learn more : https://reurl.cc/YWq27x

Learning a language will open up your future: Student Association of International Programs holds Fall 2020 Language Exchange

Language is not only necessary for career development in the future, but it also helps you easily get used to a new living environment, acknowledge the culture and people in that country. When learning a language, there are a variety of options for you to choose such as online courses, group lessons, or going abroad to study languages. Nowadays, with the fast development of technology and social media, we have more choices for improving our speaking skills as well as other skills. However, exchanging language in a direct way still brings more positive effects which facilitate you to attain the higher levels you want dramatically.

With the diversity and multicultural environment at National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) and the International Programs (IBMBA, GHRM MBA), you will have more friends without traveling around the world and feel free to grasp unfamiliar languages.

Knowing the importance of language and the advantages in NSYSU, the Student Association of the International Programs (SA) organized a Fall 2020 Language Exchange specializing in Mandarin and English.

During the fall semester, the program has 13 groups of student pairs from different countries who exchange languages, couples choose a time that suits their schedule. In order for the language exchange to be more effective, the program requires students to meet at least 2 hours/week. With clear orientation, the program has received positive feedback from participants. Rosie (Vietnam) – a first-year GHRM MBA student was gleeful to join the program and improve her Mandarin communication skill. Before coming to Taiwan, Rosie learned Chinese but she still has some hassle in buying things at the supermarket or going to the hospital. Thanks to her partner - 徐立宇 (Taiwan) from the College of Management, now she knows many local words and becomes confident to communicate with Taiwanese. According to Rossie:

 “I and 徐立宇 usually go out and eat local foods (rice ball sweet soup, Chinese mesona, etc.), he shows me the beautiful sides of Kaohsiung and people here. Language Exchange gives international students a chance to have indigenous friends, we together visit famous destinations, try outstanding foods and exchange cultures, which help us a lot”

With the same opinions as Rosie, Cecilia (Vietnam) – a first-year GHRM MBA student was also pleased with the program. She shares:

“This is a totally amazing experience for me, my partner is 李宗恩– a first-year student of College of Engineering. As he is friendly, enthusiastic, and patient, I am not afraid of using wrong words, which makes me develop vocabulary, improve pronunciation ability and get ready for the Chinese exams.”

On Christmas Eve, Rosie, Cecilia, Tomas (Czech) – a first-year GHRM MBA student and their partners - 徐立宇, 李宗恩, 李怡瑾 (Taiwan) – a College of Liberal Arts student had a warm moment together. They went to a restaurant at Love River and also went to the church to wish the best things in a new year.

In the next semester - Spring semester 2021, the SA will continue to organize this Language Exchange program with a range of activities (picnic, going to a local market, etc.) so that students can improve their language skills, know deeply about Taiwanese culture, get closer together and create a sustainable multicultural environment in NSYSU. We are looking forward to your participation in the coming time. Stay tuned and wait for the official information on our fanpage – Student Association of International Programs NSYSU:

https://www.facebook.com/SA.NSYSU.KAOHSIUNG

Back row from the left 李宗恩, Tomas, and 徐立宇

Front row from the left Rosie, Cecilia, 李怡瑾

The Season To Be Jolly: Christmas and International Lounge

To celebrate this festive season and close the curtains on their term, the Student Association (SA) held Christmas and International Lounge on the 23rd of December 2020 at College of Management, NSYSU. Students, staff members, and Professor Frank Wong attended the event. Due to the coronavirus pandemic this year, a lavish celebration couldn't be materialized, but the SA managed to pull off a memorable and warm Christmas gathering. Upon registration, the attendees were provided with a cute box of Christmas snacks. A lucky draw was also held, and the participants were gifted cute and memorable Christmas presents.

The event began with a speech from the Student Association's outgoing president, Hkawn San(Joy), briefing Student Association term- end reflection, the exciting activities they had organized for the students during the Fall semester 2020. Throughout their term, they hosted numerous events such as the Alumni Gathering Event in Taipei, New Students Orientation, Summer Internship Sharing Event, IBMBA, and GHRM MBA Lunch Gathering, Upcycle Challenge, Culture Sharing, Career Networking, Language Exchange, Halloween, Beach Cleaning and finally the Christmas and International lounge event. Joy thanked everyone for placing their faith in them and for allowing them to serve them. She was also immensely thankful for the co-operation of vice presidents Sam and Jonathan, without whom it would have been impossible to take on so many responsibilities. 

After that, the respective teams for the upcoming SA elections presented their goals and campaign promises. The first group was Team 1, R.E.S.T, consisting of Rossie Lim (1st-year IBMBA student) for the post of president and Sam Lee (GHRM MBA 2nd year student), and Erica Liu (1st-year IBMBA student) as the vice-president nominees. If elected, they wish to become the bridge between the office and students, help them have a good time, and promote the international programs. Some highlights of their plans include resume and career tips sharing, language exchange, team building, picnic, and social activities. 

Team 2, with the slogan “Work Hard, Play Harder” includes Paul Klebert (1st-year IBMBA student) for the post of president and Ha Thi Xuan (Cecilia)   (1st-year GHRM MBA student) and Ysanne  Chen(1st-year IBMBA student) for the post of the vice presidents. If they are elected, they want to hold exciting and fun activities for the students such as song of the trees party, April fools "break-a-leg" bowling, son of a beach competition, among others. Lastly, Team 3,  S.H.E consisting of Lisa Chang (1st-year IBMBA) for the post of the president and James Tseng (1st-year GHRM MBA student) and Henry Kao (1st-year IBMBA student) as the vice-president nominees. S.H.E stands for self-development, happiness, and engagement. If elected as the next SA, they want to focus on recreation, networking, and career-development activities such as cross-culture music sharing, IG got talent, second-hand book exchange, and many more. 

In the end, International programs wish its family with a merry Christmas and a happy new year. GHRM MBA and IBMBA programs will also like to thank and congratulate the outgoing SA members Joy, Sam, and Jonathan for doing such an exemplary job despite the hurdles created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Field trip to Yung Shing Furniture Co. Ltd

On 17th November 2020, Professor Kim Choy Chung led the students of Corporate Decision Analysis and International Marketing Management on a tour visit to Yung Shing Furniture Company in Tainan. Yung Shing Furniture Company is a 60 years old company that specializes in the manufacturing of furniture using traditional joinery techniques. During the tour, students had a chance to learn about the characteristics of wood, how it is processed and observes master carpenters at work.

The tour began at the ‘Industrial Hall’ of the Furniture Manufacturing Eco-Museum, which displayed the evolutionary styles of Taiwanese rosewood furniture. For example, students were able to see five different styles of furniture that appeared in Taiwan historical period: Ming Dynasty, Japanese colonization, American influence, contemporary designs that began with international trade and public furniture projects such as the furniture of Presidential Palace, National Taiwan University Library, and Taiwan Literature Museum.

The students then proceeded to the “Experience Hall” of the museum which documented more than 30 samples of wood species. These included a piece of 500 years old rosewood from Myanmar, red sandalwood, mahogany and several other raw materials for furniture production. Students were told that before a wood is ready for production, it has to be heat treated till the water ratio in wood reaches the standard suitable to the climate of Taiwan. Every student was welcomed to feel the texture and smell different samples of wood.

Finally, students were able to view the actual manufacturing process in traditional Chinese craftsmen techniques using modern technologies. Instead of traditionally pushing wood to the fixed wood saw, modern wood cutting machine moves wood saw to the stationary wood. Students were fascinated with the thought of Chinese traditional wood assembling process without nails and screws, which exemplified the beauty of the traditional handicraft tenor and mortise methods.

Overall, the field trip to Yung Shing Furniture Company enlightened students about the history of furniture manufacturing in Taiwan, and its development over the years. Yung Shing Furniture Company is a typical example of how an enterprise that relies on traditional wood-making technique can be transformed into a modern business via customized modern furniture designs and integrated traditional/modern wood-making techniques. “The experience of visiting Yung Shing Furniture Company helped me to get a better understanding of how a designer furniture business operates and also how this beautiful furniture is made” – says Charles, a 2nd year IBMBA student from the Republic of South Africa.

《Course Lecture》The Future Changes by Professor Gideon Gideon, December 18, 2020

Gideon Lowey, the CEO of Scandinavian Design Consultant Co. Ltd. visited the class of Business Ethics and Social Responsibility’ and ‘Organizational Politics’ instructed by Dr. Ryan Brading on December 18, 2020 to share his in-depth knowledge of future changes with our students.

Professor Lowey first introduced the differences between the concept of ethos and ethics in a humorous way to start the lecture. ‘Ethics is for right and wrong, Ethos is for acceptable and unacceptable, and Morals is for good and bad. And to have a better future, we need to start developing a business Ethos’ he said. The theme is heavily based on talking about how human activity needs to have a balance between developing and protecting the environment. ‘If we borrow too much from the earth, we will have to pay back someday in the future.’ A very simple sentence points out the problem that we have nowadays with overpopulation and pollution along with the rapid civilization development. Many people know that we should protect the only Earth that we have (ethics) but in reality, a lot of big corporations give in to the potential profits (low ethos). In order to change that, Professor Lowey thinks it is important to plant the seeds in young students’ minds through education whenever there is a chance because the students might be future business owners hence to become game changer.

Throughout the class, Professor Lowey suggested a few interesting concepts such as Global Overshoot day and Industry 4.0 for circulate economy for students to brainstorm. He thinks the biggest challenge for a better future is neither technology nor function but culture is the biggest challenge because it affects our values, ethos and ethics fundamentally. He took Taiwan as an example in order to engage the student in the scenario. Having years of teaching experience, Professor Lowey showed his charisma and gave a fantastic presentation by interacting and challenging the students. Many students gave positive feedback on how much they learned and impressed by the content. To conclude, ‘what is good for us individually is not necessarily for us collectively’ Professor Lowey emphasized. Changing is not easy, but instead of doing the right thing, we should start thinking about how to do things right.’

《Course Lecture》Guest Lecture by Professor Wenshin Chen from Feng Chia University

On December 7, 2020, the lecturer of Cross-Cultural Management from IBMBA program, Professor David Andersson, invited Wenshin Chen from Feng Chia University to share the topic about contemporary global society and cross-cultural management.

In the beginning, Professor Chen introduced himself with six words which are “2 doctorates, 3 masters, 6 continents”. This means that he has obtained his two doctorates and three master’s degrees in the United States and Australia, and has teaching experiences in the United States, Dubai, the United Kingdom, Vietnam, and Taiwan. Therefore, Professor Chen is rich in the knowledge about the culture of each country.

In Professor Chen’s talk, he explained what constitutes contemporary global society and gave some global sociology examples about the distinctive nations which include Japan, Mexico, Namibia, Egypt, and Germany. He also mentioned that the effect of cultural differences on mobile addiction syndrome. In the cross-cultural managing part, he talked about the global trends of world culture, cultural clusters of leadership, and contemporary factors management. At the end of the speech, Professor Chen also revealed how organizations maintain global reach and local touch simultaneously and how managers maintain workplace diversity.

Finally, we would like to thank Professor Wenshin Chen for his insightful speech on behalf of the GHRM MBA program. It is our great hope that every student in this course will gain valuable knowledge from Professor Chen's lecture.

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle: Student Association Organizes ‘Upcycle Contest’ To Encourage Creative Sustainability

In the world that we live in today, the importance of sustainable development goals (SDGs) cannot be stressed further. To instill the value of the SDGs set forth by the UN and to encourage sustainable living, the Student Association of International Programs organized the ‘Upcycle Contest’; participants had to reuse everyday materials and come up with the most creative item/artwork they can think of.

Judges for the competition included former Program Director Chien-Yuan Sher and Deputy Director Thijs Velema. The artwork/item was judged on creativity, originality, innovation, and effective use of reused materials. A 'popularity award' was also presented to the participant that received the highest amount of Facebook likes and shares for their creation. The winners weren't just handed a certificate but were awarded cash prizes of 2000, 1500, and 1000 NTD for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishes, respectively. The popularity award was also offered 1000 NTD in cash.

The contest drew a huge response from NSYSU students. A total of nine teams competed in the contest:

Team #1: Mashi

Team #2: 627 by Cao Huynh Hong Phan, La Hanh Phuong and Ha Thi Xuan

Team #3: Indo-art by Keval Mehta and Sushila Kumawat

Team #4: HiHa by Tran Khanh Chi and Dang Phoung Thao

Team #5: Vision by Volha Sakhatskaya

Team #6: FRANCYCLE YOUNG MONEY A$$ by Francisco Huang

Team #7: LILAS by Bui Thi Thanh Nhan

Team #8: Ophiotaurus by Ysanne Chen

Team #9: YCP by Elsa and Tiara

After intense deliberation, the third prize went to Bui Thi Nhan (team: LILAS) from IBMBA. Showing off her creativity, she completely transformed an old jean pant into stunning home décor items. The second place was adjusted to team YCP consisting of Elsa from GHRM MBA and Tiara from ICAPS. Out of cardboard, newspapers, and other old household materials, they came up with a quirky candy dispenser.

Finally, and deservingly, the first place went to Ysanne Chen (team: Ophiotaurus) from IBMBA for her meticulously designed orca (killer whale) artwork. Seeing numerous bottle caps lying around, Ysanne was well aware that they can be an environmental hazard, and she decided to put them to good use and come up with a stunning piece of art. The popularity award was given to Tran Khanh Chi and Dang Phoung Thao (team: HiHA) from CLC and GHRM MBA, respectively.

GHRM MBA congratulates all the participants and winners for showcasing their talent and creativity and displaying their passion for creating a more sustainable world. In the future, GHRM MBA will continue to organize contests and events that not only encourages creativity and innovation but also addresses real-life problems.

GHRM MBA Students Score 3rd Prize At The 7th CSR Captain Program

At the recently concluded 7th CSR Captain Program, GHRM MBA and IBMBA students performed stupendously. Team "REMS" and "We Can Help" bagged the 2nd and 3rd prizes, respectively. Today, we share the experience of 3rd prize winners Mandy Chen, Michal Polacek, Cindy Ho, and Reianthong Vongsangkam, all 1st-year GHRM MBA students.

The 7th CSR Captain Program espouses students to promote the CSR program. Three companies that are currently investing in CSR were a core part of the competition. Each company got four teams to help solve their problem and provide recommendations and suggestions relating to CSR. This year, the goals were also in tune with the SDG's set in by the UN.

All the group members are currently taking Prof. Ryan Brading's Business Ethics and Social Responsibility Course. It was because of Prof. Ryan's encouragement that they decided to take part in the competition. Their group name was "We Can Help," which drew inspiration from "Taiwan Can help." True to their name, "We Can Help" stood out from the rest because they didn't merely come up with proposals and recommendations but emphasized the implementation. 

We Can Help had to work with Domi-a company that strives to make the world more environmentally friendly. For their presentation, We Can Help focused on "Energy Poverty." Unlike other teams, the group members had to hold numerous rounds of interviews with the company to derive precise data and information. After collecting all the data and executing intensive research, the team members recommended marketing strategies to Domi.

Even though it was a whole month of intense competition, our students also made some invaluable memories. For Mandy, it was the first workshop in Taipei as they had to take the earliest HSR to Taipei, which was at 6 AM. Mandy recalls fond memories after the workshop when they went to a bar and shared each other's stories. According to Cindy, working as a team and learning to compromise and communicate was the most memorable moment. Reianthong shares that through the case studies of CSR presented at the competition, he gained invaluable knowledge.

It wasn't all easy for the We Can Help group members as they had to encounter various hurdles, but they persevered and eventually came through. As for the biggest challenge, Michal Shares:

"For me, it was getting the data from the company because in the competition, in the end, there were three companies. From the presentation, the two companies provided probably way more data than our company provided us. So, getting the data from our company was the biggest challenge. We had to call them many times, send emails, and have online meetings"

Despite all the hard work, We Can Help didn't expect to score a podium finish, so they were pleasantly surprised at the result. The group members particularly noted that it was their comprehensive report that impressed the judges. Mandy shares:"I think our presentation was great, but the other teams were stronger. I think it was our report that made us stand out. "

It wasn't all about the prize, but our students gained valuable knowledge from the competition, which will guide them in their future endeavors. For Mandy and Michal, discovering that one can make a living and do business and, at the same time, make the world a better place was the biggest lesson. For Reianthong, it was his first time participating in a competition, so the whole process was a great learning process. Cindy also notes that she's an introvert and is nervous with presentations, but she learned to overcome it through the competition. 

They already have their hands full. For the entire December, they are going to work on marketing strategies for Domi. Not just that, they are also formulating marketing strategies for a Pharmacy who contacted Domi for assistance. As a note of thanks, We Can Help team members extend their gratitude to the International Programs Office, particularly Cindy and Scarlett, Prof. Ryan Brading, and their classmates for encouraging and helping them out throughout the entire competition.

Congratulations to Reianthong, Michal, Cindy, and Many for exceeding their expectations and performing brilliantly at the 7th CSR captain Program. This is just the start of many good things to come, and we are confident you will continue to bring laurels to the university.

《GHRM MBA》2021 International Student Application available from15th January, 2021.

Your Desired MBA in Taiwan

Application available from 1st of Jan. till 31st of Mar., 2021
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