Commentary from "Cheers" magazine: Asia University moves direction with AI, reacting swiftly to trends
The vice president, Cheng-Lein Teng (left), received the award and posed for a photo with the chairman of Cheers magazine, Ying-Chun Wu.
Asia University has been selected as the " 2024 Leadership Excellence Award," marking its 10th consecutive year on the list. Commentary from "Cheers" Magazine highlights that Asia University has been moving forward with AI as its guiding force, exhibiting a rapid response to changing trends. The university actively collaborates with industry partners to promote AI education across the entire campus, encompassing general education, interdisciplinary studies, and hands-on experiences, thereby nurturing students' abilities in AI applications. The award was accepted by Vice President Cheng-Lein Teng on behalf of Asia University on March 15.
According to "Cheers" Magazine, the survey targeted 140 university presidents nationwide, asking them to recommend three universities that have shown significant improvement or growth in educational performance in recent years. A total of 106 university presidents recommended 1 to 3 universities each, resulting in 18 universities making it onto the list.
"Cheers" Magazine points out three key factors that have led to the inclusion of this year's selected universities: industry-academia collaboration, sustainable development, and flexible innovation. Nearly 70% of the university presidents surveyed agreed that current university education is facing the greatest upheaval and impact in the past decade due to the emergence of generative AI. One of the main reasons for Asia University's inclusion is its adoption of AI as the guiding direction for the university, with a forward-thinking board of directors and the ability to rapidly respond to changing trends. The university Actively collaborating with the industry to promote campus-wide AI education in general education, interdisciplinary studies, and experiential learning, cultivating students' abilities in the application of artificial intelligence.
The general manager of the Business Group of Cheers Magazine, Feng-Zhen Liu (right), presented the award to the vice president of Asia University, Cheng-Lein Teng
The commentary further notes that Asia University continues to recruit internationally renowned scholars from various fields to serve as Chair Professor., enhancing the perspectives of both faculty and students and increasing the school's visibility. Asia University has established academic research centers in areas such as big data, AI, financial technology and blockchain, 3D printing in healthcare, and semiconductors, thus enhancing the research capabilities of its faculty and students.
Jane Liu, General Manager of the Business Group of "Cheers" Magazine, expressed that as the evaluation approaches its 10th year, the criteria have become more stringent. Analyzing the current status of the use of generative AI in universities, it is observed that activities such as organizing AI workshops, offering online and offline courses, establishing learning centers, and incorporating generative AI into the curriculum are prevalent. However, fundamentally, the focus should be on human-centric approaches rather than solely on technology. It is imperative for faculty and students in all fields to possess information literacy, and AI should serve the purpose of aiding teaching. Furthermore, emphasis should be placed on digital equity.
Vice President Cheng-Lein Teng, representing Asia University, stated that Asia University is advancing towards the milestone of becoming one of the world's best universities, with leading rankings in various disciplines, indicating recognition of its educational performance both domestically and internationally. Asia University has consecutively ranked among the top universities in the world according to Times Higher Education (THE), and in the 2024 World University Subject Rankings, it excelled in three major areas, ranking first among private universities in Taiwan and second in two other areas among private universities. Furthermore, 19 professors were honored as "top 2% global scientists." Deng emphasized the importance of continued innovation as Asia University strives to become a world-class university.
Vice President Teng pointed out that Asia University has positioned itself as "Asia's AI University, the cradle of intelligent healthcare industry!" In the face of the AI era, the university has made concerted efforts in teaching, research, and industry-academia collaboration. Under the leadership of President Jeffrey J.P. Tsai, the entire university has embraced AI education, establishing the Amazon AWS "Cloud Innovation School," the NVIDIA International Certification Class, collaborating with two laboratories at Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and establishing the "AMD Logic and Computation Laboratory" in the United States. These efforts aim to promote AI courses, research, and industry-academia collaboration, allowing both teachers and students to become familiar with this new AI technology, applying it in teaching, student learning, research, and industry collaboration, and leading the way in grasping future trends.
Vice President Cheng-Lein Teng (6th from the right) is pictured with other university presidents and representatives who received awards