Taiwan Tech and the Huanmin New Village at Toad Hill, in collaboration with the Taipei Culture Foundation, have officially signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to promote local-based education, space revitalization, and cultural exchange. The MOU was signed by Sy-Ying Lee, Director of the Center for General Education at Taiwan Tech, and Yu-Han Chang, Director of the Taipei Culture Foundation. Through the partnership, the two sides will connect campus and local resources and further advance the university’s social responsibility initiatives.

For many years, the Taiwan Tech Center for General Education has used the Gongguan – southern area surrounding the university as a learning and practice site for general education. By identifying nearby cultural resources and developing partnerships with local organizations, the Center has gradually expanded opportunities for students to learn beyond the classroom. With the opening of Huanmin New Village and the Taipei Culture Foundation’s active promotion of higher education partnerships, the two sides began further exchanges, leading to the signing of the MOU and establishing a more stable foundation for future educational collaboration.

The Taiwan Tech Center for General Education and the Taipei Culture Foundation sign a memorandum of understanding. (Photo courtesy of the Taipei Culture Foundation)

Sy-Ying Lee, Director of the Taiwan Tech Center for General Education, said that Huanmin New Village is located close to the university and encompasses diverse dimensions, including military dependents’ village culture, settlement life, low-mountain ecology, and contemporary arts and culture. This makes it an ideal learning environment where general education courses from different disciplines can intersect. Following the signing of the MOU, Taiwan Tech will be able to hold courses, workshops, and exhibitions in indoor spaces within Huanmin New Village, while the two sides will further develop a range of collaborative activities and exchanges.

The Huanmin New Village team from the Taipei Culture Foundation introduces the Taiwan Tech Center for General Education staff to the village’s spatial environment and development plans. (Photo courtesy of the Taipei Culture Foundation)

In terms of curriculum and teaching activities, the Taiwan Tech Center for General Education has incorporated Huanmin New Village at Toad Hill as a field site or a subject for discussion in various courses for years. For example, “South Side Cultural Tour” takes students into local cultural settlements to explore regional development and everyday life; “Art and Public Environment” encourages students to develop art projects for Toad Hill from the perspective of artistic practitioners; “Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development” guides students in exploring adaptive reuse strategies for Taiwan Tech’s Japanese-style dormitories that could benefit both the university and the surrounding community; and “Painting Chengnan Culture: Creative Healing Watercolor” takes students to cultural sites in Chengnan, using painting as a means of observation and hands-on learning.

Taiwan Tech general education courses enter Huanmin New Village at Toad Hill and use the local site as part of experiential learning. (Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Tech Center for General Education)

In addition, the STREAM Summer School organized by the Center for General Education incorporates Chengnan’s cultural settlements as sites for social practice, with Taiwan Tech undergraduate students guiding high school students in developing proposals based on local issues. As the partnership deepens, the two sides will provide students with more opportunities to leave the classroom and engage with real-world settings through USR projects, social practice courses, field studies of local settlements, thematic workshops, and student exhibitions, fostering deeper interaction between the university and the surrounding community.

Taiwan Tech students engage in general education learning at Toad Hill, deepening their classroom knowledge through local culture and everyday life. (Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Tech Center for General Education)

Yu-Han Chang, Director of the Taipei Culture Foundation, said that the Foundation has actively promoted partnerships with higher education institutions in recent years and has accumulated considerable experience through collaborations at Treasure Hill Artist Village. This new partnership extends those efforts to Huanmin New Village at Toad Hill, with the goal of unlocking the educational and cultural potential of the settlement as it prepares to open to the public.

Following the signing ceremony, representatives from both sides toured Huanmin New Village to learn more about the site and its future development plans. Several small cultural organizations are already operating within the site, while a variety of cultural performances, exhibitions, and seasonal events are planned for the future. For South Side College, Huanmin New Village will serve as an important educational node connecting the university campus with the southern cultural corridor. Depending on course requirements, Taiwan Tech will gradually connect the site with nearby locations, including Treasure Hill Artist Village, Gongguan Water Source Market, and the Taipei Hakka Culture Park, creating a “South Side Learning Network” for cross-course learning and the exchange of student outcomes.

The Huanmin New Villageteam from the Taipei Culture Foundation introduces the Taiwan Tech Center for General Education staff to the village’s spatial environment and development plans. (Photo courtesy of the Taipei Culture Foundation)

Faculty members from the Taiwan Tech Center for General Education and staff from the Taipei Culture Foundation attended the signing ceremony and witnessed the launch of the partnership. The Taiwan Tech Center for General Education noted that, unlike conventional classroom instruction, local settlements provide authentic learning environments characterized by continuously changing circumstances and complex social relationships. Students are not merely recipients of knowledge; they are also expected to observe residents’ lives and cultural practices, understand the spatial context, consider different perspectives, and organize local narratives while responding to community needs with respect for residents and site-specific ethics.

Through field-based learning and local engagement, South Side College aims to cultivate students’ awareness of social issues, interdisciplinary integration, communication and collaboration skills, and capacity for public expression. By learning about the local community, students can deepen their understanding and reflection on their relationships with the local environment and with others, putting into practice the core philosophy of general education: “knowing oneself and connecting with the local community.” In doing so, Taiwan Tech seeks to build a closer and more sustained connection with the city in which it is located.