News--Welcome to National Chiayi University

　　Joint Presentation on Results of Research and Development and Higher Education Enhancement Project 2019 was organized at the International Networking Academy on the Lantan campus by National Chiayi University on Oct. 16th. The event fully demonstrated the research and development capabilities of NCYU as a hundred-year-old university. By showcasing a medley of research and development results by NCYU teachers and students, and sharing the experience of implementing the Higher Education Enhancement Project, it was expected to allow all participants to learn from each other, learn across domains, and learn by teaching. In his opening remarks, President Chyung Ay thanked the teachers and students of NCYU for putting their expertise into practice, doing their best to help facilitate social welfare, and contributing their part to the agriculture in Taiwan. All these were testament to NCYU’s fulfillment of social responsibility to the country over the course of a hundred years since its establishment.

　　The research and development results presentation of NCYU this year featured: “Sweet Pepper Plant Protection Robot” developed by President Chyung Ay that achieves precise spraying of pesticides with AI, complete with six-axis robot arm and image recognition system with a view to solving the problem of, for example, environmental pollution arising from increased pesticide usage for plant disease and pest control, and facilitating the application of pesticides in agriculture; and “an intelligent detection system for precise environmental control, fertilizer irrigation and quality grading of Phalaenopsis” developed by Prof. Chien-Chuan Ko to solve the problem of excessively high labor cost and inconsistent quality control and standards due to the traditional practice of visual grading by the human eye. Projects such as “screening of beneficial strains of burdock seedlings in nursery and development of the specific primers,” “new hole transport layer materials,” “studies on the ecological and functional characteristics of ferns,” “exotic biological control” etc. by other teachers of NCYU were also presented during the event. All of these contributed to the development of smart agriculture.

　　In terms of agricultural products research and development results, Prof. Huang Wen-Lii collaborated with the Agricultural Research Institute in revealing a series of first-ever drought-tolerant and high-quality rice in Taiwan: “NCYU-Tainan Fragrant Rice No.1,” “NCYU-Tainan No.2,” and “NCYU-Tainan Glutinous Rice No.3.” Prof. Hsu Cheng-Kuang developed “temperature controlled, fast fermented soy sauce,” which boasts reduction of fermentation time and simplification of the process of producing the soy sauce. “Black bean healthy tea,” “Centennial Longan Ale Craft Beer,” and other results of research and development were also on display. All of them opened a new chapter in the food industry. Visitors were allowed to experience firsthand the various research results showcased outside of the venue, where free tasting samples of the developed products were also offered. Cai Zhe-Ting, a third-year student of the Professional Bachelor Program of Farm Management who just received an outstanding award in the Partially Fermented Tea Roasting Workshop Contest held by Nantou County Government in 2019, was specially invited to demonstrate tea brewing and explain the tea ceremony.

　　NCYU has been awarded with grants from the Ministry of Education under the Higher Education Enhancement Project for two years in a row. The event aimed to share the achievements that have been made in five major domains: “fostering educational innovation and quality,” “developing characteristics in the university,” “enhancing publicity in higher education,” “fulfilling our social responsibility” and realizing USR, or University Social Responsibility, as stipulated in the attached guidelines of the Higher Education Enhancement Project. To foster educational innovation and quality, NCYU has been implementing operational capstone courses, and urging students to put into practice the professional knowledge and skills learned at the university so as to align with workplace expectations, and close the education-jobs gap. With respect to developing characteristics in the university, they have been committed to, apart from food safety, and food and farming, the development of smart agriculture by providing solutions for the agricultural technology transformation and the shortage of manpower in agriculture. For instance, they have been working with the Agricultural Drug Toxicology Laboratory, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, in opening a training course for drone pesticide spray technicians. In addition, they have been providing grants and scholarships to underprivileged students, which helps enhance publicity in higher education. To fulfill their social responsibility, the university has been devoted to academic-industrial connection by facilitating research and development of a wide array of products, ranging from healthy lactic acid bacteria, to eco-friendly, non-toxic corn. All these bore witness to the wealth of results NCYU has achieved for the Higher Education Enhancement Project.