The School of Dentistry at Taipei Medical University (TMU) is committed to cultivating dental professionals with expertise, artistry, and scholarly capabilities. It is not only the most comprehensive institution for dental education in Taiwan but has also been increasingly internationalized in recent years. TMU is actively positioning itself as a leading international dental school, with initiatives such as hiring foreign faculty, admitting international students, enhancing international academic research cooperation, increasing the rate of international co-authored papers, and gradually developing full English-language courses. These efforts aim to establish the conditions and advantages for the School to become a bilingual institution. Therefore, the vision of this project is to promote the School of Dentistry as an internationally renowned bilingual dental school, nurturing international dental professionals. The strategic initiatives include the following:
1. Cultivating English-proficient faculty:
The School will follow the university's plan to categorize faculty based on their English proficiency levels. It will encourage teachers to participate in counseling and empowerment courses organized by the university and the School, as well as join the university-level EMI teacher growth community. The goal is for 50% of teachers to achieve CEFR C1 level English proficiency and for 75% of materials to be bilingual by 2025. Additionally, the School will provide EMI teaching assistants and plan to increase hourly pay and offer additional rewards for teachers starting from the 2021 academic year. Starting from the 2022 academic year, English proficiency will be included as a criterion for future teacher recruitment to enhance the quality of English teaching.
2. Developing full English courses:
There are plans to gradually increase the number of full English courses and develop English teaching materials. This includes introducing EMI courses at different stages for undergraduate programs (introductory elective courses, basic science courses, basic medical courses, professional courses, and national examination courses), and introducing English clinical courses. The goal is for physical and online full English courses to account for 7% of total subjects in the Bachelor's program in Dental Medicine, 29% in the Dental Technology program, and 24% in the Dental Hygiene program by 2025. Additionally, 80% of subjects in the Master's and Ph.D. programs are expected to be conducted in English, with the completion of one EMI minor program in the Dental Medicine program. The School will also develop high-quality full English courses for global sharing.
3. Enhancing students' English proficiency:
The School plans to provide various training and support measures, including pre- and post-tutoring for EMI courses, assistance from EMI teaching assistants, differentiated teaching and customized tutoring, EMI pre-study strengthening courses, an annual English learning sharing and consensus camp, and offering professional field courses (ESP) to enhance students' bilingual abilities. The goal is for 50% of second-year students to reach B2 level and 70% of fourth-year students (before graduation) to reach B2 level by 2025. Additionally, 23% of second-year students and 100% of first-year Master's students are expected to have taken 20% or more of their credits in EMI courses.
4. Creating an English learning environment:
The School plans to establish an EMI-exclusive website platform in 2021. In 2022, the platform interface update and bilingual data entry have been completed. The interfaces for external disclosure by the School, including labeling, webpages, and documents, will gradually become bilingual. Each unit within the School will have designated English service windows. This project will introduce the concept of management to build an immersive English learning environment for the entire School and achieve the goal of creating an English learning environment in a goal-oriented manner.
Following the national bilingual blueprint and combining it with the vision of becoming an internationally renowned dental school, the School of Dentistry has laid the foundation for a bilingual development plan with unique characteristics. With faculty and student bilingual capabilities as the backbone, it supports the development of full English courses, aiming to create a bilingual teaching environment and become a benchmark bilingual institution.