NTNU Department of Special Education awarded 2020 Pilot Overseas Internship Program Grant
The Ministry of Education announced the winners of the 2020 Pilot Overseas Internship Program at the end of May 2020. This year, a total of six projects were submitted by NTNU. One of the projects is a collaboration between NTNU and the Gifted Education Resource Institute of Purdue University and the School of Lifespan Development and Educational Sciences of Kent State University proposed by the Professor Chiang I-Tsun, Chairperson of the Department of Special Education, and Assistant Professor Chiu Chun-Yu, which was selected to be one of the Pilot Overseas Internship Programs to receive the grant after a review process conducted by the Ministry of Education.
NTNU Department of Special Education has been an internship partner with Purdue University’s Gifted Education Resource Institute (GERI) since 2014. This year, the department has also embarked on a new partnership with the School of Lifespan Development and Educational Sciences (LDES) under the College of Education, Health, and Human Services at Kent State University. The Department of Special Education overseas internship program allows students to gain a better understanding of emerging trends in the field of special education. Upon their return to NTNU, these students would also conduct sharing sessions within the department with their teachers and fellow students as the audience. For the students themselves, going for an overseas internship does not just allow them to take the front seat of developments in special education in other countries; these students can also take the chance to explore opportunities for further study during their internships. Students with overseas internship experience will undoubtedly be able to rise up to the challenges of the workplace when they step into the workforce in the future.
Through the Pilot Overseas Internship Program and the New Southbound Pilot Overseas Internship Program, the Ministry of Education supports tertiary institutions in Taiwan in organizing overseas internship programs. This year, NTNU submitted a total of 6 applications for the grant. Other than the project from the Department of Special Education, there were also applications from other departments. From the Department of Physics, Professor Tsay Jyh-Shen, Chairperson of the Department, and Professor Fu Tsu-Yi proposed a Summer Vacation Overseas Internship Program in collaboration with the Department of Physics in Simon Fraser University, Canada. Professor Kao Hsien-Chung from the Department of Physics and Assistant Professor Lin Pei-Ying Patty from the Department of Earth Sciences proposed a collaborative project with the Earthquake Research Institute, the University of Tokyo, to observe and study the electrical properties of the oceanic lithosphere and asthenosphere. Distinguished Professor Tseng Yuen-Hsien, Assistant Director of the Graduate Institute of Library and Information Studies, and Assistant Professor Yuan Chien-Wen have a project on Innovative Service Design in the Library – the Application of Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, which offers a professional internship at the library unit of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. And Professor Wang Yeong-Tsyr from the Graduate Institute of Social Work proposed overseas internship programs with Living Stone Student Center for Bread of Life Christian Church in Myanmar and with St. Mark's Cozy Home in Malaysia. These, and all the other proposed projects from NTNU, have been awarded the grant.
The Pilot Overseas Internship Program and the New Southbound Pilot Overseas Internship Program are open for application twice a year. The application periods run from January to February and from August to September every year. For more details and information, please visit the website of the Office of International Affairs → News → Subsidies and Grants (http://www.ntnu.edu.tw/oia/subsidy.php). Faculty members from all departments are encouraged to organize overseas internship programs for their students to increase their overseas exposure and nurture outstanding individuals who possess the capability to compete globally.