EMI Program Introduction

Taipei Medical University (TMU) aims to become an internationally renowned medical university. Since 2020, we have positioned ourselves as an innovative university and actively nurture biomedical innovation talents with international perspectives, multicultural understanding, bilingual communication skills, and international mobility to meet the demands of future globalized industries. To achieve this goal, TMU has developed a comprehensive promotion strategy and established the Bilingual Education Promotion Center, dedicated to enhancing the English proficiency of faculty and students and fulfilling the vision and goals of bilingual education. TMU has formulated four strategic directions:

1. Strengthening faculty's English teaching abilities: Assessing the English proficiency of teachers and assistants and providing training and incentive measures to enhance their skills.

2. Enhancing students' English listening, speaking, reading, and writing abilities: Providing mechanisms for assessing and supporting students' English language proficiency and diverse learning resources.

3. Developing high-quality English-medium instruction (EMI) courses: Encouraging departments to offer EMI mini-programs in specialized fields and improving the evaluation and guidance mechanisms for EMI courses.

4. Promoting resource sharing and inter-institutional cooperation: Promoting high-quality English Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), deepening cooperation with domestic and international partner universities in curriculum development, and jointly organizing EMI-themed capacity-building activities.

The College of Medical Science and Technology (CoMST) of TMU embraces the bilingual strategy. It sets the development focus as follows: cultivating talents in the intelligent medical industry with innovative knowledge, international perspectives, and leadership abilities. The goal is to achieve "the cultivation of life sciences energy and the development of industry connections" and become a top-tier college with international influence. The undergraduate program of the CoMST primarily cultivates talents in the Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology. Graduates from this program are connected to three central pillars: clinical practice, biomedical industry, and academic research. Therefore, promoting bilingual learning is essential for their education, enabling them to grasp the pulse of international biotechnology and pharmaceutical research and industry. As for the graduate programs, they focus on specialized research in biomedical informatics, cancer biology and drug discovery, medicine Neuroscience, translational medicine, and other areas. These programs are designed to integrate with bilingual education, fostering biomedical talents with international perspectives and competitiveness. Therefore, our bilingual education plan aims to "cultivate intelligent medical talents with the expertise to effectively engage with the global community aligned with innovation and entrepreneurship capabilities."

To promote bilingual learning and cultivate students' international perspectives and industrial competitiveness, CoMST has established three strategic directions. The framework for implementation is illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 1.The framework for CoMST implementation.

1. To increase students' learning motivation:

CoMST offers specialized EMI mini-programs oriented toward tumor biology and intelligent drug development and commercialization. (1) Mini-program in Tumor Molecular Biology: Based on courses such as general biology, molecular cell biology, and Tumor molecular biology & microenvironment, a series of courses will be designed to allow students to gain a comprehensive understanding of the tumor development process from various perspectives, prepare them for future advanced research. (2) Mini-program inClinical-Industry Linkage: Based on courses such as biomedical data mining, Anticancer drugs & pharmacological actions, and Drug design & development, a series of courses will be designed to allow students to delve into pharmaceutical research and gain a comprehensive understanding of the drug development process from various perspectives, prepare them for future international pharmaceutical research work. (Figure 9 mini-program at p.28)

2. Encouraging students' diverse learning experiences and promoting international exchanges:

To help students adapt to the bilingual learning environment, CoMST provides various learning channels, including (1) Establishing the "Freshman EMI Course Training Workshop" to provide students with preparatory training for EMI courses. (2) Inviting faculty members from international partner institutions to co-teach courses and incorporate international topics into the curriculum. (3) Offering self-study courses on an international online learning platform and linking resources with partner institutions. For example, CoMST has already collaborated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States to offer MOOCs courses. There will be a much more active expansion of online course collaborations with partner and sister schools. (4) Co-organizing international seminars and workshops with partner institutions at home and abroad, inviting foreign experts and scholars to campus for lectures, and creating opportunities for students to connect with international learning. (5) Developing dual-degree programs in CoMST. For example, the Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology has established dual-degree programs with Georgia State University in the United States. The Biomedical Informatics Institute has a dual-degree program with the University of New Hampshire. These programs provide students with opportunities for overseas learning.

3. Creating a high-quality bilingual environment to enhance international competitiveness and connect with the international biomedical industry:

(1) Creating a high-quality bilingual environment: CoMST gradually offers English-taught courses, actively recruit international students, and organizes cross-cultural activities regularly to facilitate interaction between local and foreign students and create a bilingual-friendly campus. (2) Connecting with the international biomedical industry: Strengthening connections with the domestic and international biomedical industry, collaborating with overseas biomedical industries each year, and providing students with internship opportunities. It also leads students to participate in international biotechnology industry exchanges, invites industry speakers involved in clinical trials to teach EMI courses, and exposes students to the latest trends and technologies in the biomedical industry, thereby enhancing their international competitiveness and employment prospects. (3) Participating in international innovation and entrepreneurship accelerators: Planning for the commercialization of research, participating in international innovation accelerator training programs, promoting the development of patented research, and fostering the emergence of start-ups on an international scale, showcasing innovative research and development capabilities.

The expected goals to achieve by 2025 are as follows: (1) Open 5new EMI mini-programs, and have 105physical and 9 online EMI courses. (2) Achieve a minimum B2 English proficiency level for 30% of undergraduate students starting their sophomore year and 35% beginning their senior year. (3) 25% of sophomores and 100% of first-year graduate students take 20% or more EMI courses. (4) Eight teachers participate in international EMI teacher training certification. (5) Teachers participate in resource center training at alliance school (18 instances). CoMST aims to effectively cultivate biotech and medical professionals with international perspectives and competitiveness through these EMI course promotion strategies, which contribute to the development and global competitiveness of the national biotech and medical industry.

In summary, CoMST will align with the four strategies of TMU and integrate with the national "2030 Bilingual Nation Policy Development Blueprint" to enhance English teaching capabilities for teachers and English proficiency for students. Efforts will be made to strengthen English-medium instruction and create a bilingual learning environment with international competitiveness. By offering distinctive mini-programs, diverse learning channels, international exchange activities, and maintaining connections with the biomedical industry and innovation entrepreneurship, CoMST aims to provide students with high-quality bilingual learning experiences, expand their global perspectives and competitiveness, and cultivate talents that are aligned with the intelligent medical industry globally. These efforts will contribute to the cultivation of bilingual professionals in biomedical innovation and further enhance the development and global competitiveness of the national biomedical sector.