Representatives of the college recently visited two universities in Taiwan – Chang Gung University (CGU) and Chung Yuan Christian University (CYCU) – with an eye toward expanding academic degree program collaboration, injecting more research opportunities into those programs, and exploring deeper industry-academic collaboration.
Andrew J. Graettinger, associate dean for research, Dah-Chuan Gong, scientist, and Jaejin Jang, department chair and associate professor, both in the industrial & manufacturing engineering department, made the trip. Gong, a former dean of the College of Management at CGU before coming to UWM in 2022, was instrumental in organizing the trip.
New program proposed with CGU
A proposed new degree program being discussed with CGU is a 3+2 program. Students would take three years of undergraduate business management courses in Taiwan and, during their first year at UWM, they would complete their undergraduate coursework, but in engineering. They would receive their bachelor’s degree in business management from CGU and then continue their studies at UWM to receive an MS in engineering from UWM.
“The two degrees stand alone, which is rather unique,” Graettinger said. “We have a path forward that suggests it would work.” This potentially would result in 20 or more new UWM master’s degree students a year, he said.
The college and officials at CGU have signed a memorandum of intent to establish the proposed 3+2 accelerated degree program.
The existing partnership programs with CGU includes:
- a dual master’s program between the college and CGU’s College of Management
- a dual master’s program between the college and CGU’s College of Engineering
- a non-degree program for undergraduates
Programs with CYCU growing
At CYCU, the 2+2 undergraduate program has grown from 20 in a cohort to 26. The 2+2 program with CYCU is a dual degree program that began in 2023 and offers students the opportunity to study in Taiwan for their first two years and complete their final two years at UWM.
Students in computer science, computer engineering and electrical engineering are eligible. A dual master’s program in electrical and industrial & manufacturing engineering has been ongoing since 2018.
Also, the UWM team pledged to provide students in the existing 2+2 program with opportunities in UWM engineering and computer science research and financial support through the Support for Undergraduate Research Fellows (SURF) program.
Tzu-Yun Yen, a senior in electrical engineering, who is participating in CYCU’s 2+2 program, shared, “In the classroom at UWM you will meet students from different countries. The good thing about studying at UWM is that the environment will help you find out your future goals sooner.”
Aligning research for more student involvement
The proposal falls in line with another aim – to identify pathways to increase collaborative research in both partnerships.
“We have good research topic alignment with both CYCU and CGA,” Graettinger said. “We both have faculty who are active in the areas of medical devices, electrical engineering, industrial optimization, and membranes and filtration, for example. We’re trying to cultivate those.”
For the first step, UWM will begin working on a proposal that will be submitted to International Network-to-Network Collaborations (AccelNet) to enable joint research. That would open the way for graduate students to also conduct research as they work on their dual degrees.
There also was interest from all parties to grow the partnerships’ research ties in tandem with industry in both countries, Gong said.
Students currently enrolled in partnership programs have had work opportunities at Foxconn in southeast Wisconsin. But the team is exploring additional possibilities.
During their trip, UWM representatives learned about CGU’s semiconductor program and its industrial support and visited the semiconductor clean room on the campus.
At CYCU, the UWM team toured the R&D Center for Smart Manufacturing (SMC), a facility that is introducing smart manufacturing concepts into the injection molding industry in Taiwan. Graettinger said the teams discussed promoting the SMC, led by Professor Shia-Chung Chen, to the sector industries in the Milwaukee region.
Currently the college’s programs with the two Taiwanese universities involves about 50 students, both undergraduates and master’s students enrolled in one of the dual programs at UWM. Students benefit by receiving an international education, access to research and internship and career opportunities.