【College of Management】Alumni Return Home - Outstanding Alumni Awards, Scholarships and Handover Ceremony
On National Sun Yat-sen University’s anniversary, the College of Management held its alumni homecoming event on November 12th, arranging various scholarship awards, outstanding alumni awards, and the handover ceremony of the Alumni Association. All faculty members and alumni were invited to gather for a lively and warm annual event.
During the ceremony, Dean Shu-chuan Jennifer Yeh of the College of Management, NSYSU expressed her happiness to see the alumni come to the annual event of the College of Management and congratulated all the outstanding alumni who received awards. In addition, Dean Yeh mentioned that the development of the College of Management has been made possible thanks to the joint effort of all the faculty members in all departments, alumni from various industries, and hardworking administrative staff. She was also pleased to share the recent happy events of the College of Management, namely that the IBMBA and EMBA programs were ranked, respectively, 73rd in the Global MBA Rankings and 91st in the Global Executive MBA Rankings by the Financial Times. In addition, since 2019, the College of Management, NSYSU has been given the honor of 4 Palmes of Excellence and has continued to receive this honor, ranking third in Taiwan, which is a great affirmation of the degree of internationalization of the school.
During the ceremony, with the introduction of the faculty members of each department, Dean Shu-chuan Jennifer Yeh presented certificates to the outstanding alumni of the College of Management for the 2022-23 academic year. The awardees were: in the category of Business and Industry, CEO of Lih Mei Industrial Sdn Bhd (Malaysia), Shang-Chih Hsu (Bachelor of Business Administration, Class of 2000); in the category of Social Services, Chairman of Social Network Co., Ltd, Yu-lin Chang (MBA in Information Management, Class of 2016); in the category of Other Contributions, Associate Professor I-hsi Li of the Department of Financial Engineering and Actuarial Mathematics, Soochow University (PhD in Finance, Class of 2003); in the category of Social Services, Chuan Lin, a multi-tasker – cross-strait HR expert, consultant, lecturer, and author (MBA in Human Resource Management, Class of 2001), and Hsueh-fang Hsu, Chairman of Ming Cheng Shi Ye Corportation (APEMBA, Class of 2017). Each alumnus has not only excelled in various fields, but has also been a model for the younger students to follow.
In addition, a number of seniors and foundations from the College of Management also presented various scholarships in order to encourage the students to be more successful in their studies and not to be hindered by difficulties in life, including the Torch Passing Scholarship (contributed by all E11 alumni and presented by E11 representative, Te-hsin Yang), the YUYU CHIN LU Education Foundation Scholarship Scholarship (presented by Vice President Su-chao Tsai), the Chin-fu Chung Memorial Scholarship (originally meant to be presented by Alumnus Chih-hsiung Chung, but due to his currently being abroad, it was presented by Associate Dean Anlin Chen), and the NSYSU College of Management Educational Foundation Scholarship (presented by Chairman Wen-chuan Yang). Associate Dean AnLin Chen presented certificates of appreciation and gave thank you cards and a speech on behalf of the students. These scholarships and stipends allow the students of College of Management to feel more at ease in their studies and to have a heart of gratitude for their daily necessities and where they come from.
At the end of the event, the President of the 18th Alumni Association, Tien-chou Sung, gave a speech to thank the 18th Alumni Association for their hard work and passed on the seal to the new President of the 19th Alumni Association, Yung-cheng Li. In the presence of Dean Shu-chuan Jennifer Yeh, the handover of the 19th Alumni Association was completed and President Li issued a letter of appointment to the officers of the 19th Alumni Association. Under the leadership of President Li, the Alumni Association will surely continue the warm tradition of the “NSYSU family,” linking the eternal and profound friendship of the NSYSU alumni.
■List of Officers of the 19th Alumni Association: ◎College of Management Alumni Association President – Yung-cheng Li ◎International Programs President – Hsueh-chih Tang ◎Department of Business Management President – I-chun Chen ◎Institute of Human Resource Management President – Chuan Lin ◎Institute of Marketing Communication President – Wei-yu Li ◎Department of Information Management President – Fu-chuan Shih ◎Department of Finance President – Hsueh-chih Li ◎Institute of Public Affairs Management President – Hsu-chung Chang ◎Institute of Public Affairs Management Director General – Yu-ching Liu ◎Institute of Health Care Management President – Po-chun Li ◎EMBA President – Chien-chi Chen ◎Chief Secretary – Shu-hui Wu ◎Chief Financial Officer – Ying-i Wu ◎Chief Activity Officer – Cheng-chang Tsai ◎Chief PR Officer– En-kuei Hu ◎Activity Officer – Hung-chun Lin ◎Activity Officer – Su-mei Lu ◎Activity Officer – Peng-chin Su ◎Activity Officer – Chia-chun Lo ◎Chief Photographer – Cheng-han Wu
【College of Management USR】NSYSU and Laser Tek join hands for rural-urban integration – Rural Field Olympics Concert
National Sun Yat-sen University’s USR and Laser Tek Taiwan Co., Ltd.’s CSR continue to practice agricultural sustainability, urban-rural relations and local friendliness. On November 6, they cooperated for the third time in organizing the “Golden Wind and Rice Song: Autumn Harvest Concert.” The stage was set up to the backdrop of pastoral scenery, accompanied by music and poems to stimulate the imagination, with local community culture for nourishment. Nearly 300 corporate employees and university teachers and students participated in crop harvesting and rural Olympic Games in person. They enjoyed Taiwanese folk songs, animated soundtracks, and orchestral creations by young people who have returned to their hometowns to create a touching rendition of the autumn harvest and to promote the integration of urban and rural areas, industry and academia.
In his opening remarks of the event, Professor Jui-kun Kuo, Associate Dean of the College of Management, NSYSU said that the university has been linking corporate resources with local needs. In the first year of collaboration, the university planned a family day for employees inspired by the SDGs. In the second year, the university assisted enterprises to “adopt” local organic rice and cooperated with music and arts groups to hold an autumn harvest concert. This year, they have expanded the scale and deepened the close cooperation among all parties to promote the Golden Wind Rice Song concert and rural Olympics, working together to develop more impactful and sustainable initiatives.
Professor Jui-kun Kuo and instructor Sheng-yuan Wang of the Institute of Public Affairs Management of the College of Management, NSYSU jointly conducted a course on writing sustainability reports, leading students to participate in a CSR project in the field and to go beyond case study data reading comprehension to actually participating in promoting the learning project in the field. Hui-hsin Lo, a student in the Graduate Institute of Arts Management and Entrepreneurship, said that through the process, she realized the infinite possibilities and practical benefits of CSR when it actually meets local needs. The international students of IBMBA also expressed that it was a valuable experience and that they are looking forward to bringing back the experience of participating in activities on local culture and sustainability issues in Kaohsiung to their own countries. Therefore, through long-term and close cooperation, the College of Management, NSYSU will continue to deepen its action plan in the management of USR, local connection and responding to sustainability issues such as eco-friendly agriculture, art-enterprise cooperation, and urban-rural development. It is expected that not only will the USR and CSR teams work together to move forward, but that they will also be able to subconsciously influence the sustainability views of all stakeholders, creating a link to PSR (Personal Social Responsibility) and expanding their social influence.
Laser Tek Chairman of the Board Tsai-hsing Cheng especially invited the board members to participate. In the interview, he mentioned that the company upholds the spirit of respecting nature and loving people. This year, in addition to increasing the number of hectares and crop types, they will plan a public welfare rice donation at the end of the year to share the fruits of the autumn harvest with the underprivileged children and families in the vicinity of the factory, in order to expand the influence of the community, allow the seeds of sustainable development to continue to sprout and to deepen belief in co-prosperity and common good. The employees brought their families to harvest rice, pick carrots and melons, and enjoy the rare rural scenery. Children and adults also joined in straw rolling relay races and sugar cane javelin throwing, experiencing the rural community’s lively and interesting local charm. Chin-hao Chang, director of Laser Tek’s management office, mentioned that internal participation has increased year after year. Employees also order their own packages of rice from the contracted division, Yuan-ri Organic Rice, to distribute to their friends and relatives.
In addition, the College of Management’s USR team (USR X CSR) co-organized the “Planting Summer: Plowing One Field” DIY rice pot planting event with Laser Tek in July. The enterprise partners shared their chronicles of growing rice in their own homes through a LINE group photo album, and asked the organic farmers to share their experience with them in a timely manner. Almost all of the staff harvested golden ears of rice, receiving the “Golden Ears Award” on stage at the concert. I-chieh Tseng, an award-winning employee from the Finance Department, said: “It is very meaningful to see that children will take the initiative to care about the cultivation process, reminding their parents to water the plants together, which not only helps children to treasure food, but also promotes parent-child interaction and cooperation.”
The concert invited local music groups in Kaohsiung, including Youth Banana (台青蕉樂團), who opened the concert with the songs “Nakasi Together” (做伙那卡西) and “Cultivate Youth” (種下青春), conveying the image of music as an expression of local rural action. Six Arts Music (六藝樂集) performed Taiwanese folk songs such as “April Rainstorm” (四月望雨組曲) and “Rice Dumplings” (燒肉粽) to evoke nostalgic feelings, while the Kaohsiung Philharmonic Brass Orchestra used Hayao Miyazaki’s animated music and Chinese and English pop songs to blend the musical boundaries. The Kaohsiung Philharmonic Cultural and Arts Foundation CEO Hung-chang Chu said that by working with CSR to give back to the local community, the orchestra members enjoyed playing and also found it truly meaningful.
(Written by the USR team of the College of Management, NSYSU / Edited by the College of Management)
【College of Management USR】Cathay Financial Holding Impact Investing Forum: Changing the World through Investment – Impact Investing and the Practice of SDGs
The College of Management of National Sun Yat-sen University, the Taiwan Impact Investing Association (tiia), and Cathay Financial Holdings, Inc. co-hosted the “Impact Investing Campus Forum (National Sun Yat-sen University Session)” on November 22nd to discuss what impact investing means and how ESGs and SDGs are practiced. The forum was titled “Changing the World through Investment: The Practice of Impact Investing and SDGs.” Special guests who were invited to share included Tao-kuei Wu, CEO of Taiwan Impact Investing Association; Wen-Jui Li, Vice President of Cathay Life; Pi-fen Wei, Chairman of Sinya Digital Co.; and Jui-Kun Kuo, Associate Dean of the College of Management, NSYSU. From the concept to the practice of impact investing, they further discussed the innovation in impact investing and the practice of SDGs. Shu-chuan Jennifer Yeh, Dean of the College of Management, NSYSU, and Hsin-pei Lin, Director of the Office of Responsibility and Sustainability Actions, NSYSU, were very supportive of this event and passionate about the practice of SDGs. The organizers hope that students will be more aware of sustainability issues, starting from small places in their lives, and take action to influence others to create a virtuous cycle of sustainability.
Associate Dean Jui-Kun Kuo of the College of Management, NSYSU pointed out that impact investment is linked to local creativity, which means solving social problems or facing social risks. Cathay Life’s Vice President Wen-Jui Li added that financial institutions use various financial resources, such as investments, products and services, to fulfill their corporate social responsibility and act as a bridge between investors and investees, spreading sustainable values and generating positive benefits for society. Defining “impact investment,” CEO Wu said, “In addition to financial returns, impact investment should also pursue a clear and measurable social or environmental impact.” What is pursued here is “double bottom lines,” which means a dynamic balance between profit and value. Therefore, companies will not sacrifice profits in order to achieve a sustainable vision. Impact investing, which focuses on SDGs and provides solutions to social and environmental issues, is part of sustainable investing. Impact investing occurs when there is an intention to create a positive, measurable impact on society and the environment, while also generating profits.
In terms of practical sharing, Chairman Wei of Sinya Digital Corporation shared how the company has built computer classrooms in youth halfway houses throughout Taiwan. With the spirit and philosophy of giving back to the society, they aim to give the youth the right to explore and learn more. At the same time, it also echoes SDG 1 No Poverty and SDG 4 Quality Education, not only helping the disadvantaged, but also empowering them, in the hope that they can go from takers to givers. Cathay Life’s Vice President Li shared how Cathay continues to invest in ESG, with “climate,” “health,” and “empowerment” as the three main axes of development, promoting “youth cultivation” and “responsible investment” through long-term strategies, while continuing to cultivate the younger generation, paying attention to sustainability issues, and cultivating sustainable talents for Taiwan. The sooner an enterprise can make plans in these areas, the better it will be able to take advantage of these opportunities and have greater influence in the market in the future.
Lastly, Associate Professor Yih Jeng from the Department of Finance shared his thoughts on how to build up the concept of impact investment at the university level, proposing “3Es: Explore, Empowerment, Engagement.” He hoped that students find out what they like in college through diverse explorations, then make an effort to cultivate their professions, and finally find their own position and direction. Starting from their professions, they can collaborate across fields and respond to social issues to make the world a better place. In addition, Professor Jeng quoted a line from an ancient poem (勸學詩) to encourage students to learn more and more: “There is a house of gold in a book” (書中自有黃金屋). After taking stock of their existing resources, they should make good use of seminars and competitions both on and off campus to refine their professional abilities and integrate sustainable knowledge. The combination of the two can make them irreplaceable sustainable talents in the future. Professor Jeng also encouraged students to remember that they are braver than they think, to experiment, to not set limits on themselves, to develop a global perspective, and to make an impact through continuous learning and innovative thinking from a local perspective, working together to solve social and environmental issues.
(Written by Chia-hui Yen, Institute of Social Innovation / Edited by College of Management)
【College of Management USR】 Green Christmas SDGs Proposal Competition
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were announced at the United Nations Development Summit as objectives to promote the reproduction, survival and development of human beings and other species. The UN set out 17 sustainable development goals for economic, social, and environmental protection, covering 169 sub-targets and 231 indicators, and called for the world to take these 17 goals into account in decision-making. Today, every issue is interconnected, and it is up to all countries of the world to work together to turn the tide and make sustainable development possible.
The Office of Responsibility and Sustainability Actions (ORSA) of the College of Management at National Sun Yat-sen University held an SDGs Proposal Competition with the theme of “Green Christmas” to encourage students to use their knowledge to integrate and develop feasible Christmas decoration plans. The design had to incorporate environmental protection and low-carbon thinking, reduce the consumption of resources and energy in Christmas decoration, and highlight the efforts and achievements of the students and faculty of the College of Management in the area of SDGs in order to draw attention of the SDGs. It was hoped that students could make the best use of resources to recycle seemingly worthless waste with their ingenuity to make this year’s Christmas memorable and meaningful! We also hoped that this learning model would not only stimulate creativity, but also encourage students to learn planning, execution and problem solving, thus enhancing their competitiveness.
The panel of judges was made up of: NSYSU Institute of Public Affairs Management Professor and Director of the ORSA Hsin-pei Lin, Institute of Marketing Communication Associate Professor An-shou Chen, and Institute of Public Affairs Management Associate Professor Chin-Chang Tsai. Students were evaluated based on the completeness of the content, feasibility of the project, presentation design, and oral presentation skills, and given suggestions and feedback.
The winning team, Extraordinary HAM, consisted of three international students, Michal Polacek, who is an alumnus of our GHRM MBA program and is currently in the PhD program at the Institute of Human Resource Management, and GHRM MBA students Teo Yongfeng and Jan Sourezny. The group’s proposal was based on SDG12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and SDG14 (Conservation of Marine Ecology) as the core of the design. The team observed that the beaches are filled with PET bottles, which not only harm the ecological beauty, but also lead to invisible plastic particles entering the food chain, causing harm to marine life and humans. Therefore, the team proposed to collect PET bottles from the beach to get the materials needed to make a Christmas tree, reusing marine waste through beach cleaning. The team designed two Christmas trees. One is to be made from a stack of plastic bottles, supported and fixed with wooden sticks, steel bars, and wire rope to convey the importance of plastic reduction in daily life. The other tree is to be filled with marine garbage, and the outer layer of the tree was covered with a layer of discarded fishing nets, presenting the plight of marine life, so that the students and teachers participating in the event can understand the seriousness of marine issues and care about marine ecological conservation. Finally, a banner is to be put up showing the results of the efforts of the College of Management faculty and students in the area of SDGs so that more people can join in supporting the goal of sustainable development.
The second-place team, “If You Hadn’t Suddenly Entered My Life,” was composed of Bachelors in Business Administration students Cho-chan Tsai, Kuan-shuo Huang, Shu-feng Chen and Yu-ting Huang. They used SDG12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and SDG13 (Climate Action) as the starting points, designing a 200cm tall, 150cm diameter PET bottle Christmas tree, made of 12 layers of PET bottles. Some of the bottles were to be filled with paper strips from the students and faculty of the College of Management about sustainability, environmental protection and social practices. The tree was also to be decorated with Christmas lights, powered by an innovative design that echoes environmental protection and low-carbon thinking. A direct current system that converts movement into electricity was to be set up so that students, faculty, and staff passing by the College of Management could use bicycles to generate electricity for the Christmas lights. This design is meant to not only promote the concept of energy saving and carbon reduction, but also promote the concept of using bicycles instead of motorcycles, creating a more environmentally friendly and healthy lifestyle. The judges were very positive about the creativity of the proposal and suggested more detailed planning in terms of implementation, budget planning and post-processing arrangements.
The third team, “24Hr,” was composed of Bachelors in Business Administration students I-chen Wang, Yun-ju Lin, and Ching-tang Huang, who proposed a design based on the theme “Who lives in the deep waters of Coral Lake?” with SDG14 (Life Below Water) as the core concept. The students’ proposal was to reuse bottles, which are considered marine garbage, into a colorful coral reef on the road by stacking and painting them. In addition, contributions of the College of Management in the area of SDGs were to be written on recycled paper and placed in the bottles, symbolizing that the goal of sustainable development is gradually being fulfilled. Students and faculty walking by would be able to open and appreciate the bottles, creating an atmosphere of opening Christmas gift surprises. In addition, there would be a box of fortunes next to the coral Christmas tree for students and teachers to draw their own SDGs, encouraging them to achieve the tasks written on the fortunes to achieve a new vision of sustainable coexistence. The judges acknowledged the novelty of the students’ proposal, but suggested that the group should carefully assess the feasibility of the project, including the stability of the Christmas tree and the feasibility of recycled paper.
The Honorable Mention team, “Christmas Tree Reborn” was made up of Bachelors in Business Administration students Yu-yen Ting, Hsun-i Wang, Ching-Chih Chen, and Hsin-Yu Hsieh, whose proposal was based on SDG1 (No Poverty), SDG3 (Health and Well-being), and SDG4 (Quality Education). A three-tiered wooden ladder serves as the main body of the Christmas tree. On each level, there would be cardboard boxes and special decorations, such as syringes, stethoscopes and other medical instruments, as well as stationery such as pencils and erasers. The cardboard boxes would be decorated with SDG information related to the College of Management. The slogan “Leaving no one behind!” would be pasted on the top shelf to clearly express the SDGs’ goal of eliminating all forms of poverty and ending discrimination and exclusion. The judges suggested that the team should have a more precise understanding of the SDGs and grasp the core concept of this activity, so that their idea of “Green Earth, Hope for the Future” could be better realized.
National Sun Yat-sen University has started to promote education on SDGs and offer courses related to SDGs, but so far only some of the students and faculty have been exposed to these issues. In order to make various visions of the SDGs more fully developed and realized, the College of Management held a “Green Christmas” event, combining sustainable development with the festive season. Students will design and create a set of unique Christmas decorations for the College of Management, hoping to raise the public’s awareness of the SDGs and to get more people to participate in the SDGs activities, so as to raise awareness of the issue of sustainable development.
(Written by Kuei-ying Huang, Department of Business Management / Edited by the College of Management)
【Career】Hult Prize at NSYSU: English Presentation Skills Training and Mentor Training
The College of Management at the National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) aspires to be the model institution of business management education in Asia. The school is committed to promoting ethics, social responsibility, and sustainable education. What's more, the school put great effort into cultivating relevant talents. Since 2018, NSYSU has published its annual “Sustainability Report” and “Sustainability Bulletin of College of Management, NSYSU” for four consecutive years. The Office of Sustainability and Social Responsibility (ORSA) was also established to help support the strategic direction of the College of Management. In order to implement the social responsibility of the school, the Career Development Office under the College of Management, assisted the students from the Management faculty and the Hult Prize Club, to give the “English Presentation Skills Training” and “Mentor Training” on the 29th October 2022.
We are honored to invite Professor Kim, the Deputy Director of the International Program, as our guest of honor to kick-start the event. Starting her opening speech on the topic of this year’s challenge, she also encouraged the students to take a deeper look at the current issues, before wishing the competing teams the best of luck in this year’s competition.
The first half of the event was held in the morning with a focus on English presentation skills. The event was conducted by Dr. Mavis Tseng who holds a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Rutgers University. Currently, she’s the Director and Associate Professor of the Language Center of Taipei Medical University. What’s more, she’s also a columnist for the Commonwealth magazine "Change the Day”. The training was split into the following section: 1. Specify the target audience, 2. Have a deep understanding of the topic which is presented, 3. Be confident, 4. Don’t apologize for the words while you are delivering a speech, 5. Make a perfect time plan for the report, 6. Give a strong introduction to capture the audience’s attention. Besides giving the students lots of tips on public speaking, Dr. Tseng also reminded everyone how to make good slides for their presentation: 1. Include quantitative data to enhance the persuasiveness of your slides, 2. One main point on one slide and avoid adding too many points, 3. Use keywords only and focus on elaborating them.
The second half of the event, which was held in the afternoon, was dedicated to the teams meeting their mentors. There were a total of four mentors invited for the session. They are Ms. Candice Yeh, Director of HY MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS LTD, Ms. Lyra Chan, a mentee of STP Sustainable Talent Program, Mr. Justin Tang, Project Manager of ASUS, and Mr. Ken Shei, Founder of WILDGREEN. The session’s main focus was for the mentors to provide their feedback on the team’s proposal. The following is a comprehensive summary made by the mentors for each group: Innovation and Entrepreneurship competition requires both creativity and feasibility, and the starting point of each business plan must be attractive enough. A plan might have different effects in different markets. Using chain tailor shops as an example to elaborate further on their points, there are plenty of home-style tailor shops in Taiwan, which makes the industry extremely competitive. However, this is the opposite for Europe, where there are limited numbers of home-style tailor shops, which makes it easier to break into the market. As such, a business proposal should encompass an analysis of the industry and address concerns that arise from the environment.
The event provided opportunities for the participants to hone their pitching skills and business plans. It also offered the students insights on how they could enhance their proposal through proper budgeting and identifying their target market. For more information about the Hult Prize Club, please follow our Facebook fan page, Instagram, and the official website of the Hult Prize at NSYSU to receive the latest news. Furthermore, NSYSU Hult Prize Club will also bring a series of valuable lectures, training, and various events for students. You are welcome to follow us and participate in future activities!
【Career】Find your dream job without using recruitment platforms like 104!
On 22nd November 2022, the Office of Career Development organized a virtual sharing on the topic “Find your dream job without using recruitment platforms like 104”. This time, we have invited Mr. Cheng-Yu Yang, Editor of The News Lens, Founder-cum-CEO of Mutahead, and the Executive Committee members of the National Sun Yat-sen University (Taipei), to share more about his career and how students can look out for their dream job without using recruitment platforms.
Kick-starting his sharing with a quick introduction of himself, Cheng-Yu then followed up with an article that he found on the recruitment platform, 104, showing the top 10 jobs trend in 2021. Through this list, we are able to identify the commonality of the top 10 jobs: They all belong to the technology industry. Recalling the period of his graduation, during that time, many of his classmates were eager to look out for jobs in the materials or biotechnology industry. However, many of such popular industries would eventually fade out and be replaced by the next “in” thing. As such, when looking for jobs, one should consider their interest rather than focusing on popularity.
When talking about interests, the worries of many students, especially the graduates-to-be, should be what kind of jobs they should find once they graduate. Some of the students may even go one step further and think about whether the current program that they are enrolled in is related to the job that they would wish to do in the future. So, what happens if you are enrolled in a program that you dislike? What can you do? Regarding this, Cheng-Yu candidly shared his personal experience with the students. As a chemistry major during his bachelor’s degree, there came a point when he felt that he has no passion for chemistry-related jobs. Reflecting on this, he decided to branch out and take up classes from the other departments, such as business management and economics, which later turned out to be something of his interest. So, when you are stuck in the same predicament, you should consider venturing out into new areas and see if that would be something that you would be interested in. Be brave and keep an open mind!
When he was studying for his MBA, apart from equipping himself with management-related knowledge in class, he also made good use of his free time by looking for internship opportunities. During his search, he advised students to be more active and approach the HR or the NSYSU alumni and asked if there are any internship opportunities. This would help to save you time and you can focus on things that would bring you value. Apart from the NSYSU website where you can search for the alumni’s information, you can also consider other platforms like LinkedIn to find out more.
In the second half of his sharing, Cheng-Yu shared that “sometimes, you will only know whether your dream job is your ideal job after you get your hands dirty. In a job, typically it would contain elements that you enjoy and things that you dislike”. So, what if you realized that what you are doing does not align with your passion? When you encounter such a situation, the best thing you could do is reach out to your manager and request for job rotation opportunity or participation in projects that would interest you. If both requests failed, you can then consider looking out for other job opportunities that suit you more.
Toward the end of the sharing, Cheng-Yu addressed the questions that were raised by the students throughout the event. One of the questions was related to dealing with parents who are against the idea of taking up courses from the other departments. Cheng-Yu shared that to convince them, it is important for you to come up with a detailed plan on why you are making such a move, and what you intend to achieve in the future. This will give a certain level of assurance to your parents that you are not simply “fooling around”, but instead, have already thought this through.
As for the question of how one can manage their managers, Cheng-Yu shared that apart from doing your job well, it is imperative to build a positive relationship with your colleagues and managers. Even simple chit-chat during the break time can have a significant impact. Once you managed to build a relationship with your colleagues and managers, you will realize that your work will start to get smoother, and you would also start to receive many opportunities to work on different projects.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Cheng-Yu for taking time out of his busy schedule to join us for the sharing. If you are keen to learn more from Cheng-Yu, you can reach him through the channels below: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jswlm55/
【Career】The 2023 Hult Prize OnCampus Final at NSYSU
The College of Management at the National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) aspires to be the model institution of business management education in Asia. The school is committed to promoting ethics, social responsibility, and sustainable education. What's more, the school put great effort into cultivating relevant talents. Since 2018, NSYSU has published its annual “Sustainability Report” and “Sustainability Bulletin of College of Management, NSYSU” for four consecutive years. The Office of Sustainability and Social Responsibility (ORSA) was also established to help support the strategic direction of the College of Management. In order to implement the social responsibility of the school, the Career Development Office under the College of Management assisted the students in the College of Management and Hult Prize to organize the 2023 Hult Prize OnCampus Final at NSYSU, which was held on December 3rd, 2022.
The 2023 Hult Prize OnCampus Final at NSYSU was held in classroom CM1037 from 9:30 a.m. to 5:25 p.m., with “Redesigning Fashion” as this year’s theme. There were 15 competing teams this year, most of which are students from Professor Lu and Professor Li’s IBMBA course, Business Ethics and Social Responsibility. The participants who joined this year’s competition were made up of students from different countries and professional backgrounds. With the goal of representing NSYSU in the Semi-Final at the Asia-Pacific Regional Summit, the competing teams gave their all and pitched their most innovative proposal to the judges.
The NSYSU Hult Prize Club is honored to invite Professor Chien-Yuan Sher, the Director of the International Program, to give the opening speech. The guest judges this year were Mr. Shih-Sian Jhang, assistant professor of the Department of Finance at NSYSU, Ms. Qiao-Zhen Lin, the founder of QZL Jewellery, and Mrs. Sabrina Chen, the CEO and president of Spring Lotus. The teams were judged on four selection criteria: pitch, idea, team, and impact. At the end of their presentation, the judges also provided their feedback to the teams and how they could further refine their proposal.
The top three winning teams from this year’s Hult Prize OnCampus Final were BGA, The Fashion Bank, and SUITable. BGA took Tri-suits as its core theme and proposed Marinylon as a more environmentally friendly material to use as the fabric. With the concept of customized rental wardrobes, The Fashion Bank developed an app with a target audience to reduce fast fashion consumption and increase the rate of reusing clothing. For team SUITable, they focused on repair and customization stores, putting forward a market positioning, unlike others, offering a refreshing proposal.
In the Q&A segment, the judges asked each team further questions about their proposal. The questions and suggestions given to most teams by the judges are on financial planning and budgeting, and whether the proposals would have a social impact. The judges also mentioned that many teams have the idea of planning to cooperate with other companies and brands. If the teams can contact these companies or brands for their willingness to cooperate or ideas and suggestions for the plans, it will give their plans extra points. As for the winning team — BGA, who will advance to the semi-final, the judges suggested that they could look further, expand their target market to the entire sportswear industry, and be able to visit the existing manufacturers that manufacture Marinylon to conduct an in-depth investigation before entering the next stage.
All the competing teams in the OnCampus Final developed their proposal from the perspective of day-to-day life, paying attention to social change, everyday issues, and future trends. The organizing committee hopes that upon hearing the feedback from the judges, all the participating teams can enhance their proposal and put their project into practice in the future, bringing about change in society.
For more information about the Hult Prize Club, please follow our Facebook fan page, Instagram, and the official website of the Hult Prize at NSYSU to receive the latest news. Furthermore, NSYSU Hult Prize Club will also bring a series of valuable lectures, training, and various events for students. You are welcome to follow us and participate in future activities!
【Career】 An Opportunity of a Lifetime - Kickstart Your Overseas Career
The Office of Career Development (OCD) under the College of Management, National Sun Yat-sen University, organized an English Career Sharing event, An Opportunity of a Lifetime - Kickstart Your Overseas Career, on 9th December 2022. This allows the local and international students to get acquainted with the working environment in different countries. The event was held at 73 Cafe, which offers decent and exquisite vegetarian delicacies coupled with a spectacular view of campus. There were over 30 students from various departments who participated in the event. The event was graced by two guest speakers namely Dr. Wanda Tseng, Visiting Scholar and Former Deputy Director at Asia Pacific Development of International Monetary Fund, and Mr. Bernhard Schnederle, Head of Business Development at UNIHA Wasser Technologies GmbH, to share their experiences regarding working overseas. We have also invited one of our alumni, Mr. Patrick Liu, Sales Product Manager at ASUS as the event’s emcee.
At the heart of their presentation, both guest speakers focused on the theme of how one can work to become a cultural-adapt talent in a highly globalized world. Some of the common skillsets include critical thinking and effective verbal and written communication. Moreover, Dr. Wanda suggested that adequate research should be done before problem analysis so that more feasible solutions could be better proposed. For example, finding out more sources and evidence to support your argument in the discussion could heighten the efficiency of the team communication. Being sure to thoroughly and clearly understand what you are searching for and systematically analyze the information allows you to provide more practical and desirable solutions. Such advice is helpful and can benefit students with all aspects of their life from classroom environment to workplace.
The event was followed by a Q&A session which offered the students a chance to interact with the speakers and clarify their doubts. The participants were fully engaged throughout the entire event, gaining insights from the guest speakers and emcee. One of the questions that was raised by the student was about how to communicate effectively in a team through verbal and written communication. With regard to this question, the guest speakers recommended that when speaking to another party, keep the message simple and concise. By giving clear instructions or messages, you could avoid many unnecessary works as a result of communication breakdowns. As for written communication, similarly, keep it simple and go straight to the point. Make sure that you do not stray from your objective or use big words just to make you sound “impressive and smart”. Nobody likes to waste time digesting information that is irrelevant. If you wish, you may also consider using eye-catching openings to capture your readers' attention. Effective communication in a team can help to create a smooth and harmonious environment that increases the overall team’s performance.
The sharing has benefited many of the students who participated in this event, such as familiarizing themselves with the international job market and the business environment. When working abroad, it is vital to learn about the country’s culture as it could reduce the possibility of getting into a conflict. In addition, we should always cultivate strong adaptability and intercultural communication skills. To acquire such ability, it requires lifelong learning due to the rapidly changing culture in this global context. The Office of Career Development is looking forward to holding more events like this in the future, which we believe will benefit many students greatly. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Wanda, Mr. Bernhard, and Mr. Patrick for taking the time to join us for this event.
【GHRM MBA】《111-1 Student Sharing》Making your way to success: HR Internship at MediaTek Taiwan
Internships can be valuable for students to gain first-hand experience and develop practical skills for their future careers. During the summer break, GHRM MBA 2nd year student, Gordon Lum, got the opportunity to work as an HR intern at MediaTek, a giant in the semiconductor industry in Taiwan. Gordon shares his experience to encourage students to gain work experience and talks about the challenges and opportunities of working as a student.
When asked about why he decided to pursue an internship during the summer break when most students would go back home, he answers, “I am a person who loves challenges and likes to try new things. The reason why I wanted to pursue an internship was not only to see the reality outside the school but also to have a stepping stone that can pave the way for the future. My current goal for the future is to continue in the field of human resources. Still, I cannot efficiently deal with difficult situations at the workplace in the future, just by using theoretical knowledge. No matter how rich the knowledge is, it might not be as concrete as acquiring it on the ground. Therefore, I wanted to do an internship during my studies, first to discover my shortcomings, and then have time to work on myself before entering the workplace.”
Gordon worked as part of the Training & Development team at the Global Human Resources Headquarters which takes care of integrating employees into the company environment while encouraging them to develop knowledge of world-class IC design teams, and effectively utilize the interests, expertise, and abilities of colleagues to implement the value of continuous learning. MediaTek uses functional development plans, to stimulate learning, and further develops a personal development plan for employees as the basis for training, assessment and development. In addition to his daily work and projects, Gordon assisted other colleagues in the department to carry out various projects.
Talking about the work culture, Gordon shares, “The company's working atmosphere is also very good, and everyone in the entire HR department is willing to help each other across departments. Although everyone is generally very busy with work, they were always willing to take the time to teach me, a newcomer to get familiar with everything. At the same time, MediaTek is also a company that encourages its employees to learn and challenge independently, so this allowed me to jump out of my work scope and get in touch with many new things, such as assisting in organizing the three-day, two-night external training program for supervisor-level colleagues; and work with the recruiting department for organizing the orientation for interns in the Everyday Genius program.”
As MediaTek is one of the most cutting-edge technology companies in the world and one of the top companies in Taiwan, Gordon was excited to be selected for the internship. He shares, “I was really happy when I received the acceptance call. I couldn’t imagine that I gained an opportunity to work with elites in this industry from all over the world. I would therefore like to thank the international program of the School of Management of Sun Yat-Sen University for giving me the knowledge and skills I needed to set foot on this starting line, and I am very grateful to the seniors in the company for their care during the internship.”
【GHRM MBA】《111-1 Field Trip》 Ocean Alexander Company Visit Organizational Theory and Management
As students who want to be successful in life, lead and inspire, we seek perfection. We seek someone who motivates us, gives us direction, and shows us what it takes to climb to the top. We are keen to find out more and gain experience. Yes, the classes are a great way to start, but nothing beats the benefit of the real-life experience, seeing tangibly the final product of our effort.
Course instructor, Dr. Heidi Chang, invited the Chairman of Alexander Marine Co., Ltd., Johnny Chueh, to NSYSU as a guest speaker for the Organizational Theory Class. Ocean Alexander is one of the biggest yacht manufacturers in the world and ranked in third place in the global superyacht market. To introduce the students to the business, Mr. Chueh and Dr. Chang arranged a field trip to visit Ocean Alexander’s manufacturing site in Qianzhen District in Kaohsiung.
The company visit contained everything we could hope for and more – the company tour with the opportunity to step inside the nearly-finished yacht to take a look at one of the final products of this firm. The tour was led by friendly and passionate workers Dephnewen and Jeanie who stuck with us through the whole tour and willingly and passionately answered every question. Followed by a gathering in the meeting room with Johnny, the CEO of this huge company himself, for a short presentation and a couple of questions from the students.
We split up into two groups for the tour around the factory to get a more intense and convenient experience. We could admire several yachts that were currently under construction, each one of them in a different stage of the process. It was fascinating to see the whole timeline of manufacturing in one moment. We observed the workers during the precise job of shaping raw materials into a magnificent boat while listening to interesting facts about the process.
After the tour, all 35 students reunited in the meeting room for an interactive session with Johnny Chueh, the CEO of Ocean Alexander. He talked about the start of the firm, the circumstances, the difficulties he faced while taking over the company from his father, and the expansion to the United States of America. Students were fascinated by Johnny, they asked so many questions that, sadly, not everyone had the chance to ask since the time was quite limited. Mr. Johnny answered every question very competently and passionately, and he gained everyone’s attention very easily.
The company visit to Ocean Alexander was one of the most memorable experiences and field trips for our students. Everyone was attracted by Johnny’s openness and down-to-earth willingness to communicate with us like equals. With a little bit of luck, we convinced him to find one more space for us in his very tight and busy schedule to come to visit our class at NSYSU one more time and finish where we left off. I would like to, on behalf of all participants, thank Ocean Alexander for letting us take a look at how they operate, CEO Johnny Chueh, who, despite his incredibly high position at the company, found a way to come see us and exchange knowledge with us, our course instructor Prof. Heidi Chang who accompanied us to the company and arranged this trip for us, and National Sun Yat-sen University who made this trip possible for us. Thank you kindly, we will never forget you!
It was an incredible field trip! Through this visit, not only did we understand the complicated production process behind the large yacht, but also realize the needed manpower, resources, production cycle time, and so on. We even had the opportunity to visit the top luxury yachts. When we went on the yachts, it was like entering the movie world, and everyone kept saying wow, wow, wow…That was the most impressive part of this field trip. Overall, we were so lucky to have this kind of chance to visit their factory and see the production process in person. – Jenny Lin, 1st-year GHRM MBA student
For me, the best part of the trip was meeting the CEO of Ocean Alexander. He is as inspiring and interesting as the people I’ve read about in books. He articulates all of his ideas with such precision and knowledge that I couldn’t help but listen to every word that he was saying. Hands down, one of the most intellectual people I’ve met this semester. – Ishali Dawoodani, 2nd-year IBMBA student
This field trip was the most inspiring and interesting field trip I have had. Visiting the production halls and being able to go on the yacht in the end, and see the finished product was very inspiring. In addition, the presentation of the CEO gave us a deep and different view of an organization and the processes behind it. I appreciate that he spent his valuable time presenting his company and answering every question. – Lennard Knorr, an exchange student from Germany
On the 17th of October 2022, the Organizational Behavior Class conducted by Professor Jason Huang, under the Global Human Resource Management MBA program, invited Dr. Alex Vanderstraeten from Ghent University, Belgium, as a guest speaker to talk about “Sustainable HRM”.
Warming up the class, Professor Alex raised a question, “What is the role of Human Resource Management in organizations?” He offered us the idea that the primary role of human resources is to “obtain good results for the organization”, and raising profits is secondary. Regarding how to bring positive results to the organization, the most obvious thing is "job performance", which reflects the productivity of employees and is the most crucial element to bring positive results to the company. Some key factors could affect employee job performance. It includes leadership ability, management style, highly skilled employees, highly professional employees, etc. In addition, employee wellness is one of the goals of Sustainable Human resources. Whether it's employees' physical health or mental state, it affects the organization at every level. Professor Alex also emphasized that promoting employee health is also the responsibility of human resources managers. From a traditional perspective, safety management and health insurance can be the basis for supporting employee health, but from a sustainability perspective, additional new policies or activities can be designed to promote employee health, such as: providing healthy snacks to employees during break times, setting up a sports center, purchasing ergonomic equipment to create a comfortable work environment, and holding fat loss competition to encourage employees to control their body image.
After the lecture, the students also actively seized the opportunity to ask questions to the professor. One of the students, Bertille, a French student studying for a master's degree in GHRM MBA, mentioned that in the professor's lecture, he talked about Google's work ecology as an example. Sustainable Human Resource Management must be based on "creating connections" so that employees can see the organization as a "Big family". As a result, Google has set up leisure facilities such as table tennis for employees to use so that they can achieve self-management and balance between work and leisure.
However, this is not the case in France. In France, companies that usually set up such favorable welfare conditions are usually startup companies, to attract more employees to apply for the job, which also implies that the company may give employees an excessive workload and infer that the company would be more pedantic and have an unhealthy ecology. The French people must avoid such companies as much as possible. The professor explained that it is usually difficult for companies operating in such a management style to survive today because, in the era of the information explosion, employees can use some new technology tools or platforms to share their actual work experience and give a warning to those who are interested in applying for the job to prevent window dressing by the organization.
Another question was asked by Stephanie Liu, a master's degree student at GHRM. In Sustainable HRM, it emphasizes the need to pay more attention to the physical and mental health of employees and to provide more sports and recreational facilities in the office. It fits into the organization which has employees of Theory Y (have a high sense of self-management, employee engagement, and achieve work-life balance.) However, as the professor said, the young people of Generation Z nowadays are more likely to have a passive work mentality and do not want to do more than the work requires, which tends to be like the employees of Theory X. Wouldn't this action of Sustainable HRM lead to a decrease in productivity?
To answer this question, Professor Alex first mentioned that no matter what kind of employee you are, when you work more than 10 hours, your productivity will be lower than when you work seven hours. Because there is a limitation on employees’ concentration. You could imagine the concentration line as a parabola, when the concentration reaches its peak, the subsequent concentration and productivity will only continue to fall off. Therefore, when implementing Sustainable HRM, companies should be more result-oriented and evaluate their employees by their results rather than by the length of their work. As long as the employee can produce the results the company needs, then there is no need to judge how and where the employees are doing their jobs, which is a more efficient management method.
After this presentation, the students had a better understanding of Sustainable Human Resource Management and a deeper insight into the current management trends. It is a great honor to have Professor Alex come all the way from Belgium to the Business Administration to give such a lively and exciting presentation and Q&A to the students. We believe these processes will be a great help to the students in their future careers in Human Resource Management.
On 30th November 2022, we were honored to have Ms. Jassie Fang as our guest speaker for the course “Introduction to International Business”, instructed by Dr. Ryan Brading. As an online business owner, Ms. Fang talked about her experience and knowledge concerning importing products from Europe.
Kickstarting her sharing, Jassie introduced her early career path and what she learned from those experiences. Upon graduation, she worked in an insurance company for five years. Working in a fast-paced industry, she was required to be quick on her feet and respond to emergencies or queries raised by her client. Her first job also allowed her to build many lasting connections with her clients. Furthermore, her job also gave her the opportunity to travel to many countries, which helped broaden her perspective, and also managerial experiences when she was put in charge of training her subordinates. However, the opportunities that were presented to her quickly made her realize that should have to raise her English proficiency level in order to remain competitive in a highly globalized world. This then led her to take on a new career path, being a bar attendant in her late 20s. While working in the bar, not only did she manage to improve her conversational skills in English, but she was also fortunate enough to take a month-long trip around Europe which she deemed the trip to be a turning point in her life.
With a limited budget, Jassie knew that in order to travel around Europe, she had to plan out her finances and make any necessary changes on the go. Thinking of how she could sustain herself, an idea struck her. She saw an opportunity for her to make some cash by buying German products and selling them in Taiwan. Starting from scratch, she researched online and collected a list of potential products that could be sold fast in the Taiwan market. She tapped into social media platforms like Facebook to sell her products. By adopting a cost leadership pricing strategy, she thoroughly researched her competitors' products and either benchmarked against similar products or by pricing her products lower than her competitors. To expand her customer base, she was also quick in responding to her customers’ queries, which gave her customers a pleasant purchase experience, resulting in repeated purchases.
As her customer base grew, she started to contact potential buyers to grow her business. From a financial perspective, Jassie examines her revenue from listing individual consumers and retail buyers on an annual basis. She emphasized to the students the importance of making a clear business goal. The strategy for business development should take personal expenses as well as operating cash flow into consideration. Hence, she claimed that one of the challenges in 2022 was simply to list several goals and marked her achievement.
The operation of her business was not a smooth sailing ship. She explains that many legal limitations stopped her from expanding the divisiveness of the product she could offer. For example, it is possible to risk judicial sentences without paying extra attention to the contents of products. Nevertheless, Jassie stated, “Only when you make mistakes you would know where to go”. These barriers should not stop the development of one’s business, but see it as an opportunity for us to grow.
Furthermore, Jassie summarized her working philosophy with six fundamental elements, including flexible working time, the capability to travel, making above-average income, having a reputable position, accepting new challenges, and contributing to work. With a clear goal in mind during the early stage of her career, Jassie can confidently share that she has achieved all these philosophies in her current work.
During the sharing, students actively interacted with Ms. Fang. Many students expressed great interest in her experiences by raising several questions. To know more about her business practice, here are some questions asked by students:
Q1. Can a foreigner conduct a similar business model in Taiwan? A1. Foreigners could hire local agents or simply post products in English on auction portals. Try to target those customers who do not speak Mandarin. Q2. What lessons did you gain from your early experiences? A2. Try and experience everything! For instance, in the last few years, she changed several storage companies as the number of orders grew over time. She had to learn to negotiate with the storage companies for better shipping conditions.
The students had an enjoyable time listening to Jassie sharing her experiences and online business ideas. She also encouraged the students who wish to follow in her footstep to think about other products that would be ideal for a similar business model. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Ms. Jassie Fang for taking the time to join us, and for her candid sharing of her experience as a successful entrepreneur in Taiwan.
【IBBA】SPEECH-Risk-based Audit Methodology and Audit Report
On December 1st, 2022 (Thursday), students of IBBA program have a chance to welcome a guest lecture presented by Mr. Benny Shao (邵朝彬) Partner, CPA, ILP at Crowe Taiwan. Mr. Benny delivered a talk with students in the accounting course on the topic of “Risk-based Audit Methodology and Audit Report”.
As IBBA students are all freshmen, Mr. Benny started his lecture with some basic audit concepts and techniques which can use throughout the career as an auditor. With an attractive teaching method, Mr. Benny introduced the working environment in the accounting and auditing field including professional background, key personality traits, interpersonal skills, and even dress code in a professional working environment to build a trustworthy image.
In the main part, Mr. Benny presented the overview of the audit field which covers the overall objectives of the audit, who auditors work for, attest, and assurance services and levels of services. Especially, Mr. Benny explained the details of the concepts of independence and professional skepticism in accounting and auditing. After that, he portrayed a typical audit process including relevant professional standards, defining professional responsibilities, pre-engagement activities and client acceptance, further audit procedures, financial statement analysis, and concluding procedures. Students can imagine the responsibilities of an auditor in reality. In this part, Mr. Benny demonstrated his lecture by analyzing the financial statement of some famous companies in Taiwan attracted students’ engagement a lot.
Next, Mr. Benny introduced the audit risk model in the auditing process starting from assessing the risk (planning the audit plan, performing risk assessment procedures), responding to the risk (designing further audit procedures and performing further audit procedures), and completing with the reporting (evaluate the audit obtained evidence, and prepare the auditor’s report).
In a three-hour lecture, Mr. Benny Shao helped students understand the role of an auditor and imagine an audit procedure with the role of risk-based audit methodology. Students of IBBA program had a great opportunity to discuss and ask Mr. Benny questions regarding the real working environment. Maybe, some of the students in IBBA program will pursue the auditing career in the future.
【IBBA】SPEECH-Auditor, Advisor and Executive Officer - Reimagine Your Accounting Career
On December 8th, 2022 (Thursday), Mr. Frank YC Lin, Partner, Assurance practice, PWC Taiwan visited the accounting class of the IBBA program and had a meaningful lecture on the topic of “Auditor, Advisor and Executive Officer - Reimagine your accounting career”.
Mr. Frank has an experienced professional with a demonstrated history of working in the accounting industry. He is skilled in Internal Audit, Accounting, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Tax Accounting, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), and Integrated Audit. With two decades in the accounting industry and more than 13 years working in PWC Taiwan in senior positions, Mr. Frank helped IBBA students understand about accounting and auditing field and gain new insight into accountant/ auditor jobs. Especially, he talked about his experience of working in international environments with a lot of diversity and the prospect of an accountant job in the new era with the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and new technologies.
To begin his lecture, Mr. Frank talked about his story since he was a bachelor student in Taiwan and how he decided to study in the UK and how his career in the accounting and auditing field started and developed. With inspiring stories, Mr. Frank motivates students to start writing their stories. He asked the question “What is your story? How would you start writing your story?”
In the main section, Mr. Frank presented the life of an accountant. He brought a lot of new insights with vivid examples during his career to demonstrate for his speech. Especially, Mr. Frank broke the stereotype of the accountant job. Being an accountant/auditor is not a tedious and routine job with working a lot of numbers or rugged rules. It is an interesting job with diverse tasks and full of challenges. He emphasized the role of motivation and determination on this journey. Students were impressed by his stories when working in different countries at different positions with various working styles. Mr. Frank also mentions the potential and attractive benefits of working in auditing firms apart from the requirements and qualifications. In his talk, he told stories about interns and practical experience that demonstrated the necessity of attitude and interpersonal skills in working.
Going beyond the conventional accounting-related issues, Mr. Frank shared about how to deal with and tackle culture shock issues in international working environments. He also discussed the role of diversity in accounting and auditing firms that explain the questions of why they want to hire employees in different countries with different backgrounds. Students were encouraged by Mr. Frank’s lecture to become an accountant/auditor in the future. In addition, he explained the recruitment strategies of big auditing corporations as well as PwC Taiwan where students can find a lot of opportunities and prospects for their career path.
Thanks to an informative, well-organized, and lively speech, students can imagine the actual life of an auditor, advisor, and executive Officer and realize the importance of knowledge equipped in the university for the journey ahead. Last but not least, Mr. Frank not only demonstrated his professional expertise, and international mindset but also is a friendly, witty, and motivating speaker.
【Student Association of International Programs】《111-1》Celebrating the spooky season with SA’s Halloween Party 2022
As the end of October comes close, are you ready to be spooky and mysterious during our Halloween Party? The Student Association of International Programs annually holds a Halloween event for the students of IBMBA, GHRM MBA, and this year's newcomers IBBA. This time the event took place in Madker Live House and Restaurant (美德客音樂餐酒館) with a variety of delicious and exotic cuisines of students’ choice. There were more than 50 participants in the event including Professor Ryan and two alumni. Furthermore, attending students were encouraged to dress up in costumes using recycled and green materials by incentivizing them with prizes, which corresponds with SDGs 12 Responsible Consumption and Production. In addition, cookies boxes from 歡喜購物專區 were offered to students for the purpose of supporting local businesses and helping the disadvantaged community in Kaohsiung, which complies with SDGs 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities. By implementing SDGs in our event, we hope to raise awareness of these important social issues among students, together we all can contribute to society. The aim of this event is to familiarize students with their fellow classmates, connect both IBMBA and GHRM MBA, as well as integrate juniors from the IBBA program.
To kick start the event, SA welcomed and thanked everyone for their participation, and Professor Ryan gave an opening remark to welcome all students. After that, meals were distributed and allocated to students by IBMBA volunteers and SA members. While students enjoyed the food, cookies made by people with Down Syndrome were then distributed to students to show support for the disadvantaged and advocate its importance. Later on, a series of team-building games were also played to strengthen the relationship among international program students. In the beginning, a pair of paper sheets were randomly sent to students which included the name and lyrics of a song, so students had to find a matching partner with the corresponding song. After being more acquainted with the newly-met friends, they were required to form a group of five people for a team competition. Each team was asked to brainstorm and write down as many Halloween-related words as possible. Each member of the winning team was then rewarded with a movie ticket voucher as a prize. After the game, it was voting time for the Best Costumer Winner. Surprisingly, the winner this year was Edward, the IBMBA 2nd-year student who was also the winner of Halloween last year in 2021. Following the activities, SA promoted the election of the Student Association of International Programs, recruiting more potential candidates. Finally, the Halloween party ended up with a Choo-choo train game where students had to do the dancing moves based on the themes randomly given on the screen. The event went well, and students were quite immersed in the festive atmosphere with joy.
The entire Halloween event was a great success, and all participating students were pleased to take part in this cultural activity where students were given opportunities to network and interact with students from international programs. SA regularly organizes cultural events for students to join and experience diverse cultures. Students can benefit greatly from the events since social connections can be built and interpersonal skills can also be improved. Lastly, we look forward to holding more such events to enrich students’ lives and allow them to make more friends.
【Student Association of International Programs】《111-1》Learning beyond borders: Fu-Cheng High School Culture Sharing
In this modern world, intercultural knowledge and sharing are more important than ever. As international students, we are always happy to share what we know and what we can give to younger generations. In October 2022, three NSYSU international students from GHRM MBA and IBMBA accepted the invitation from Fu-Cheng High School to come over for two sessions, meet with some of the students, introduce their cultures, and talk to them about sustainable development goals.
At the first session, international students, Alejandra from Honduras, Honza from the Czech Republic, and Rebeka from Slovakia, met with the students of Fu-Cheng High School and introduced their customs, food, and places to visit in their home countries. Ice-breaking games were also part of the introduction – it not only helped them to get to know the students better but also students got to know more about each other since they all came from different classes.
After the introduction session, students were divided into three groups and each international student was in charge of one group. The international students chose different topics to talk about – teaching the students songs from their country, saying some common phrases in their mother language, and the most important part and the crucial subject of these two sessions, sustainable development goals introduced by the United Nations. In 20 minutes, they briefly introduced their topics, encouraged students to speak and actively participate in the conversation, and asked them to fill out the worksheet at the end of the session. As merit points for participation and appreciation for communicating, the students were given stamps to collect, and in the end, the team who won the most stamps won a prize.
Even though the first session was an introduction to sustainable development goals, the second session was purely about water consumption, water pollution, and talking about our potential to preserve and improve water quality across the world. This session had a practical part this time as well – after the introductory presentation about the environment and water consumption (SDG number 6), the international students, with the help of the teachers who were overseeing the smooth flow of the event, prepared the materials for the students so they could try to build their own water filter.
Thanks to its simple construction process and availability of the materials, it was very easy and educational at the same time to show the students the effect of water filters and the fact that they can actively contribute to environmental preservation. The students were very keen to learn how to make the filter, everyone tried their best to achieve a good result, and everyone (more or less) achieved the goal to filter out the dirt of the water.
The event was very successful – students were very handy and tried hard to achieve good results as well as to cooperate with the international students. The students left the classroom with new knowledge that they would use very responsibly and very effectively in the future. The NSYSU International students would like to thank Fu-Cheng High School who organized this event and asked NSYSU to help, as well as the members who guided them through the event and lent a helping hand whenever needed – 林玟伶、林育妃、張瓊云、吳碧華、周梅如. Thank you for making this great event happen and NSYSU hopes to collaborate on more meaningful events like this in the future.
【Student Association of International Programs】《111-1》Monkey Tour: An Adventure at the Shoushan Mountain
This past Tuesday, October 25th, 2022, the Student Association members recruited a qualified monkey tour guide, Ms. Lin Mei Yin(林美吟), famously known as the Queen of Monkeys, to educate students about the monkeys' lifestyle and their environment. This unique experience occurred at Shoushan Mountain, a beautiful hiking trail in the lively nature near campus. The total number of participants was 25 people, including nineteen degree and exchange students, two Belgian professors, three student association members, and a skilful photographer.
This event aimed to find a harmonious ground between the monkeys and the students. Throughout the entire trail, the tour guide conducted the tour in Chinese. In this matter, an interpreter assisted her in translating everything into English so that international students understood better what was being shared. Ms. Lin led participants closer to the monkey habitat and explained how these monkeys coexist. Her knowledge about these communities is immense and fruitful since she has studied monkeys for over 20 years. Monkeys are so familiarized with her to the point that they can recognize her voice and arrive at her calling. Therefore, she had a lot of knowledge about monkeys' lifestyles, feeding conditions and sexual life, detailing how their bottoms get redder as they become ready to mate.
Curiously, monkeys are an essential part of the environment at National Sun Yat-Sen University. However, in many cases, monkeys are known for threatening people because they tend to interfere with students' daily activities by constantly harassing them around the dormitories, as well as stealing food on campus. Due to the lack of understanding of monkeys, students have negative stereotypes of them. Nevertheless, hosting this monkey tour exploration made students realize that these animals are just as valuable to the planet and belong here. We should all be able to coexist with them in peace since this planet has no sole owner.
In addition, during the monkey tour exploration, students followed the principles of two crucial Sustainable Development Goals from the United Nations. The first one includes goal #3, Good Health and Well-being, where students exercised through hiking and kept hydrated. The second was goal #5, Life on Land, where students enjoyed nature and coexisted harmoniously with monkeys and their environment. Students were reminded of the importance of following these goals and were encouraged to continue applying them in their daily lives.
The event was a total success. Students took plenty of pictures and selfies with monkeys. They felt joyful watching how they interacted, gathering into family groups where the females cared for their babies, and the males were more intimidating and ferocious. The monkey tour exploration concluded with a fresh beverage and happy students with new friends. The student association felt warm-hearted as people felt satisfied with the tour and showed greater respect for the monkeys.