The "University Social Responsibility (USR) Promotion Committee" was established in 2017. In the October same year, the Committee agreed to establish a new university based "University Social Responsibility Office" (hereinafter called USR Office), which was launched in 2019. NTPU implements USR practice in close connection with the local community; in response to the Ministry of Education's USR plan, NTPU connects professional teachers and research of various departments, integrates community resources, and proposes a number of specific plans to promote the sustainable development of the college town. With financial support from the Higher Education Sprout Project, a total of six USR projects, including 2 Sprout and 4 seed projects were founded and supported.

Among which, a cross-faculty team headed by the College of Social Sciences and the College of Humanities put forward the "Local Practice NPO Cultivation and Sustainability Plan: Towards Service, Collaboration, and Organization" and "Surrounded by Sea and Mountains, Deep Cultivation of NTPU: Construction and Practice of a Cultural and Creative City" plans, which with diversified practical actions, have won the support of local residents and the approval of the Ministry of Education. In 2020, it was transformed and adjusted and continued to receive grants from the Ministry of Education's sprout project.

We encourage more teachers of NTPU to engage in university social practice, and have formulated a research and teaching award subsidy mechanism, including: the "Guidelines for Promoting Academic Excellence and Special Field Project Subsidies" provides special field project subsidies; it encourages teachers to offer USR courses and form communities; it subsidizes teaching assistants and course counselors, and adds teaching hours for USR courses. 

In 2020, the University Development Committee and the University Council further passed the 9th university development goal "To promote humanistic and social cares and fulfill the social responsibilities of universities" to highlight the importance of USR. Here in NTPU, our USR stem from our spirit: "Pursuing Truth (Truth) and Serving the People (Service)". Through various courses including "Service Learning", "Autonomous Learning", "Social Participation Courses", "Local Interdisciplinary Learning Courses", and "Micro-Courses", students will be led by professors to face local major issues and seek solutions with the locals together, thus nurturing students to become global citizens with the will to bear social responsibilities, prosper and thrive with locals, thus implementing "A great city deserves a great university".

Our University Social Responsibility (USR) development blueprint can be summed up as "ACTS enlighten model University City, linked with Haishan, soars Asia-Pacific". A represents the Action of the teachers and students of the university to implement USR, C represents the university's Connection between the university social responsibilities of local development and international contributions, where T and S respectively represent the spirit of our University: "Pursuing Truth (Truth) and Serving the People (Service)".

Our key goal of promoting USR in 2023 & 2024 is "Sustainable Haishan", which launches from three aspects, including the promotion of environmental, community and humanistic sustainability, we then continue to develop the sustainable development in Sanxia, Yingge district and spread out to Haishan area, strengthen the social practice that focuses on creating talent cultivation policies at the same time.

Humanistic sustainability can be consolidated by recording, restoring and reemphasizing the glory past in different aspects of Haishan area, including but not limited to green tea, indigo dyeing, coal, red wine and more. Apart from reminding the local residents of their forgotten treasures, we also revitalize the aspects mentioned by repackaging and rebranding, hopefully to bring life to the former glories. Through establishment, engagement and empowerment between us and the surrounding aging society, bonding shall be formed, not only our brilliant students will be educated and trained to help elderly, those aged shall have a chance to be empowered, to learn to face aging, properly take care themselves and to speak out for themselves, resulting in community sustainability. On the environmental side, by aiming to promote Carbon Negative management and adopt Carbon Negative business model, we aim to shape the NTPU University City into a sustainable low-carbon Economy domain.

With three aspects of sustainability implemented and maintained through the ESG framework of sustainable environment, society and governance, sustainable living of in the Haishan area will be established. In the meantime, fulfilling our 9^th goal of "To promote humanistic and social cares and fulfill the social responsibilities of universities".

Demonstrating our determination to fulfill USR and deepen local partnerships, NTPU allocated over 10 million NTD from University Endowment Fund, to establish an USR HUB by the end of 2021, thus initiating interaction between various programs on campus and in the community, and looking forward to promoting the gradual development of the NTPU college town into an international college town.

The USR HUB is located in B1 of Administrative Block in Sanxia Campus, covering a total indoor and outdoor area of 1,377 square meters. there are multi-functional spaces for lectures or classes, social nooks, and consultation and discussion rooms indoor, in outdoor there are small stages and open plazas that provide dynamic performance venues for various teams.

USR HUB is fundamental in developing USR projects, in addition to providing a space for communication and dialogue among teachers and students of various campus teams, it is also open for community or group activities. It is hoped that the benefits of building this platform, integrating resources, and cultivating practical talent will promote sustainable development of NTPU and the neighboring Haishan area.

Please refer to the following link or contact us via extention for venue rental information.

國立臺北大學大學社會責任實踐基地(USR HUB)借用及管理辦法

With financial support from the Higher Education Sprout Project, a total of 6 USR teams (2 Sprout teams & 4 seed teams) are supported.

In order to integrate teachers, local tutors and field experts to implement instructional innovation courses, to establish a cross-faculty teacher themed community, and to integrate teachers and students and field personnel to promote USR, we subsidized 18 USR instructional innovation courses, 17 groups of USR teacher communities and 19 USR teacher-student co-learning communities since the 2016, a total of 1,459,200 TWD has been subsidized.

To encourage on-campus USR pilot projects, we funded several USR project teams through University Endowment Fund. As of 2021, 6.7 million NTD has been funded.

Since 2016, "University Social Responsibility Practice (USR)" has been added into the terms of the “National Taipei University Academic Top-Notch and Featured Field Project Grants” as a subsidy mechanism for USR projects. This funding is supported by the University Endowment Fund, which is sustainable, and will not be affected by the termination of external funding. As of 2021, 6.7 million NTD has been funded by this Grant.

aiming to offer special courses integrated with existing expertise and encourage professors to peon USR courses, our "Subsidizing Guidelines for University Social Responsibility (USR) Practice Courses" stipulates that "Teaching hours of the approved USR courses is multiplied by 1.5." As of 2021, 26 USR courses were taught in 53 classes, with a total of 2068 attendees.

Aiming to integrate teachers, local tutors and field experts to implement instructional innovation courses, Article 3 of the "Regulations Governing the Subsidy for Excellent Teachers in Executing Instructional Innovation" clearly stipulates that "University Social Responsibility Practice (USR), interdisciplinary courses teaching, integrated courses or other courses can be treated as the types of instructional innovation programs". As of 2021, there are altogether 18 USR instructional innovation courses, and a total of 556,000 TWD has been subsidized.

In order to establish a cross-faculty teacher themed community, Article 4 of the "Subsidizing Guidelines for Teacher Teaching Community" has added the following terms: "Community themes in line with the development focus of the university can be given priority for subsidy, such as University Social Responsibility (USR), etc." As of 2021, 17 groups of USR teacher communities have been subsidized, with a total of 607,000 TWD.

In the pursuit of integrating teachers and students and field personnel to promote USR, Article 4 of the "Subsidizing Guidelines for Teacher-Student Co-learning Community" stipulates that "themes that are in line with the development focus of the university can be given priority for subsidy, such as University Social Responsibility Practice (USR), Interdisciplinary Learning, and so on." As of 2021, there are a total of 19 USR teacher-student co-learning communities, with a total of 296,200 TWD.

In April 2022, the USR Office cooperated with GIVE-CIRCLE CO.,LTD, together we established the first ever sharing circle in campus, we set up an app exclusive to campus personnel, to reduce or avoid generating wastes through large-scale sharing. We become the first university in Taiwan to promote environmental protection and carbon reduction by the means of implementing large-scale sharing.

Throughout 2022, over 6 workshops and lectures were given to campus personnel and students, over 150 people joined our sharing circle, over 100 items have been shared, and most important of all, over 200kg of carbon has been reduced during sharing. What is more, we, USR Office, cooperated with the NTPU Greenpolis Club to further promote this sharing circle to our fellow students, hoping to nurture a new trend and thus an environmental-friendly habit among us. 

The NTPU College Town Social Practice Project: toward Learning, Inclusion and Openness

Coordinated by the College of Social Sciences, it integrates the resources of various departments and NGOs of the University, and targets four groups of people in the community, specifically people with disabilities, women and children, the elderly, and indigenous people, using "courses'' and "clubs''. The topic has expanded from caring for the disadvantaged to exploring the relationship between the university and the local areas, promoting the co-learning and inclusion of teachers, students, and residents, and moving towards the ideals of universitizing the community while publicizing and collaborating the university to create a "college town."

In the first stage of 2017-2019, we mainly focused on serving the elderly, the handicapped, children, women, and the aboriginal people around the NTPU campus. Since 2020, we have extended our services to the general population surrounding the NTPU campus. Through the accomplishment of eight sub-projects, we intend to pursue the purposes of "collegeization for the community," "openness for NTPU," and "cooperation of both NTPU and community."

In pursuing the purpose of "the collegeization for the community," prof. Wei has invited ten local social workers to lecture in a series of community-based forums for college students. Also, prof. Guo invited an 85-years old speaker to lecture on the importance of exercise and health, and finally, five edited films have been submitted to YouTube.

In pursuing the purpose of "the openness for the NTPU," prof. Yu trained students to explore service models for the elderly. Prof. Tseng organized a USR volunteer group to serve the community. Prof. Liu planned a training workshop for students and directed them to serve the elderly living in the aboriginal communities. Prof. Tu gave a series of lectures on phishing scam prevention targetting the elderly. And finally, prof. Lin invited residents to enjoy arts performances with students. Generally speaking, the NTPU campus would be a local art center for students and residents.

In pursuing the purpose of "the cooperation of both NTPU and community," prof. Tseng hosted one NTPU festival activity with a good reputation. Prof. Martin Lin improved the website of this USR project and published seven volumes of “the NTPU College-town News,” bridging the students and residents. Prof. Wang guided student groups to investigate the local issues related to aging and the elderly. Prof. Xin organized a study group for retired residents and provided a platform for inter-generational activities.

In pursuing the purpose of "the NTPU college town," we have made a great success. For example, the community residents have donated six outdoor-style public chairs to the NTPU; "the NTPU College-town News" has been distributed quarterly to 141 communities and 50 local welfare sites; more than 10 thousand people have attended the NTPU festival activities. The inter-generational programs are welcomed by both the younger and the older cohorts. Finally, the Taiwan Yuan-Shan Social Practice Association, incubated by the USR projected, has worked collaboratively with the NTPU to contribute to the communities.

Adults and Children Laugh Together at the NTPU Toy Festival

The "NTPU Toy Festival" was hosted by the USR program of the College of Social Sciences. Every year, it is the most anticipated event in Sanxia District. It was suspended in 2020 due to the impact of the pandemic, though it reappeared in 2021. All participants greatly cherish it. "Turn around here a few more times, or it will disperse after a while!" Volunteers showed the children how to use disposable chopsticks and rubber bands to make bamboo guns, and then use rubber bands to hit paper cup pyramids. Jia Yu from Long Pu Elementary School is very proud, because her father also helps her make bamboo guns at home, so she could pass the test and get many prizes quickly.

From preparation to actual implementation, Zhao Chong-jie, a student of the “Play Therapy” course and the Department of Social Work, said that he had learned a lot of theories of interaction with children in the classroom, and through actual participation in the service they suddenly became very clear: “It turns out that they really can be put into use!” Sociology student Li Yici also said that some children may have emotional changes because of winning or losing the game, but regardless they receive overall healing and feel the sincere beauty of a child's heart. Seeing the children of all ages immersing themselves in the game, Tseng Min-chieh, host of the USR project of the College of Social Sciences and a professor of the Department of Social Work, affirmed that based on the past few years, the Toy Festival has gradually entered into the life of the community. Participating students have also gained a sense of accomplishment from their service and have actually created a mutually beneficial situation; they will continue to combine teaching and service in the future to continue to create the NTPU College Town.

Embracing Haishan, Cultivating Sanxia: The Construction and Implementation for the NTPU City of Cultural Creativity

The Center of Haishan Research received a grant from the Ministry of Education for a three-year USR sprouting project (2020-2022), "Embracing Haishan, Cultivating Sanxia: The Construction and Implementation for the NTPU City of Cultural Creativity."

In response to local issues and needs, such as the difficulties in preserving and maintaining local cultural resources. We found that the urgency of linking school teaching source and community culture at all levels, and the transformation of traditional industries with local characteristics due to the decline of development. We plan to establish and implement a mechanism for cultural navigation and cultivation, revitalization and promotion of local cultural assets, and involving transformation and regeneration of local industries.

The project is divided into three sub-projects: "Establishment and implementation of a cultural guide cultivation mechanism," "Revitalization and promotion of field survey records and cultural assets," and "Transformation and regeneration of local specialty industries."

The Center for Haishan Research and the College of Humanities formed an inter-departmental team, focusing on the issues of culture, education, traditional industries, memory and historical memory retention in the Haishan area where NTPU is located, combining teaching, research, and local social issues.

Facing problems of alienation between local culture and campus teaching in the past, the team adjusted on-campus professional courses so that they could enter the community; they also held training workshops and various promotional activities with local areas and prepared "Get to Know Haishan" courses at local high schools, helping local students deepen their identification with their home. In addition, for the transformation and regeneration of traditional cultural industries, resources are introduced to promote digital value-added applications in order to reproduce historical splendor and explore the possibility of coexistence between cultural heritage and modern commerce.

The NTPU Special Zone is a new community located in the Hai Shan area, which is mainly developed by the University. In response to the difficulties of preserving and operating local cultural resources, the urgency of linking teaching at all levels with community culture, and the transformation of traditional industries facing decline, We planned three sub-projects, with the old Sanxia district as the main practice area and extending to Haishan and other areas. Through this process of practice and participation, "students will grow through learning, the community will prosper with higher education through cooperation," and a close and mutually supportive relationship will be formed between university education and local residents.

(1) Sub-project 1: Establishment and implementation of a cultural tour training mechanism: Mr. Li JingWen, CEO of the Li Mei-Shu Memorial Hall, is the host of the program, which plans courses such as "Cultural Tour Training at the Li Mei-Shu Memorial Hall", "Cultural and Historical Tour Training in the Haishan Region", and "English for Tourist Viewing in the Haisan Region" to enhance students' sense of local care and identity.

By working with cultural and academic institutions as local think tanks, we will establish a counseling mechanism and resource platform for the development of local cultural industries, Taiwanese locals returning to their hometowns for employment and entrepreneurship, and promote the sustainable development of local culture.

(2) Sub-project 2: Prof. Yao-Tung Lin of the Institute of Folk Art and Cultural Assets will conduct a field survey on the revitalization and promotion of cultural assets and recordings. The project team, as a platform to bring together the local community and the local authorities to explore and implement the project. The project team will serve as a platform to bring together the local community and create cooperation to rebuild the history and culture of Old Street.

(3) Sub-project 3: Transformation and regeneration of local specialty industries: With Prof. Hsien-Chung Lai of the Department of Chinese Literature as the host, the "Blue Dye Creative Life Design Seed Teacher Camp" workshop, the Tea and Classics Forum, the Local Industry Workshop, the "History, Culture and Creativity in the Haishan Region" and the "Field Survey Practice" are planned to create a local relationship with the population and specialty stores to gather strength and reach a local consensus, and to assist local industries to rebuild their personal brand reputation through cultural and historical research, audio-visual recording, and alliance with other industries, and to develop an international outlook from the local perspective.

Afternoon Tea in Sanxia・Picnic Fun・University-Industry Co-creates Green Tea Season

To the sound of drums in the Bliss Drum Workshop, the Center for Haishan Research, the Sanxia District Office, the Farmers' Association, the Hakka Museum, NTPU High School, and local clubs jointly held the first "Sanxia Green Tea Season" in the spring of 2021. Everyone spread out picnic mats, sat on the lawn by Mind Lake, tasted tea, listened to musical performances, communicated face-to-face with tea farmers, and spent a pleasant afternoon.

According to Hung Chien-jung, director of the Center for Haishan Research, Sanxia was a famous tea town in Taiwan in its early days. "Biluochun" and "Dragonwell", both green teas made from the unique Chin-Shin-Ganzai tea tree cultivar, are known as "Taiwan's top green tea". Zhou Jin-Ping, head of Sanxia District, said that the Sanxia District is blessed with beautiful mountains and rivers; he would like to thank the Center for cooperating with various clubs, so that more people can enjoy tea together and promote local agriculture.

"The tea is very fragrant, and after it enters the mouth, the fragrance will linger in the throat...," Huang Pin-yan says of the deep impression left by the first experience of Sanxia Biluochun. Community resident Miss Lu also thought the taste is very good, and will definitely let everyone know more about green tea so that they can broaden their horizons through the event.