2026-07-13

As demand for English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) in higher education continues to grow rapidly, empowering faculty teaching capacity has become critical. Since launching its "EMI Professional Development Program" in the 2021 academic year, the Resource Center for Bilingual Education at National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) has served more than 7,000 faculty participations from colleges and universities across Taiwan over the past four years, becoming a key support system for EMI professional development in Taiwanese higher education. In April 2026, the program was officially recognized by the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Taiwan Assessment and Evaluation Association (TWAEA), receiving certification for "EMI Professional Development Courses" and becoming one of the first faculty training programs in Taiwan to earn this distinction, demonstrating the program's institutionalized and professional achievements.

The evaluation, conducted jointly by the MOE and the TWAEA, comprehensively reviewed curriculum planning, speaker arrangements, instructional implementation, and learning assessment outcomes. The reviewers recognized NSYSU's systematic program design and its ongoing commitment to continuous improvement in EMI faculty training. The program includes 32 hours of "Professional Development Workshops," a 15-minute "Microteaching," and 4 hours of "Classroom Observation," helping faculty build comprehensive EMI teaching competencies from foundational concepts to practical application.

In designing the curriculum, NSYSU emphasizes practical teaching needs by inviting EMI-experienced experts from within and outside the university to lead workshops. The university also collaborates with the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange (FSE), Arizona State University (ASU), and Pennsylvania State University (PSU), among other institutions, to provide approximately 32 hours of training workshops each semester. These workshops are also jointly offered with partner universities and are open to faculty members nationwide for cross-institutional investment. Course topics include instructional language use, classroom activity design, assessment and feedback strategies, and other key competencies that help faculty transition from teaching in their native language to teaching in English. Through experience sharing by senior instructors, participants are also exposed to diverse teaching perspectives.

To ensure that training outcomes are effectively implemented in real classroom settings, NSYSU has further established a team of 62 EMI mentors to provide classroom observation and feedback services. Faculty members may apply through the Resource Center for Bilingual Education to be paired with EMI mentors, who provide specific recommendations and professional insights through classroom video reviews or classroom observations. This process helps participants identify both their teaching strengths and areas for improvement. In addition, the program arranges peer observations, enabling participants to deepen their understanding of teaching strategies through discussion and feedback while fostering a continuous cycle of reflective improvement.

Shu-chen Sherry Ou, Vice President for Academic Affairs of NSYSU, expressed gratitude for the recognition from the MOE and the TWAEA. She noted that the NSYSU EMI Professional Development Program will continue serving as a "pit stop" for university faculty across Taiwan by encouraging continuous professional development during the process of offering EMI courses, establishing peer observation and feedback mechanisms, and transforming teaching knowledge into practice. Through ongoing mutual support and collaboration, the university aims to strengthen teaching quality further and create a more internationally competitive higher education environment. The NSYSU EMI Professional Development Program is open to faculty members from colleges and universities across Taiwan. Additional information is available on the center's website: https://emi-tdc.nsysu.edu.tw/t_training.aspx.