The Center for General Education at Taiwan Tech held the “Southeast Forum” on December 5, 2025, under the theme “Repositioning General Education: Knowledge, Action, and Social Impact.” The forum brought together four scholars long engaged in university social responsibility initiatives and practitioners dedicated to local sustainability, jointly creating an interdisciplinary platform for exchange that focused on how general education can be transformed into students’ capacity for action and social impact. The event also featured the second “2025 Social Practice Expo”, co-organized by the Ministry of Education’s USR (University Social Responsibility) Program - Common Good Spark+ - and the Social Practice Center of National Taiwan Normal University. The expo showcased outcomes of faculty–student projects that apply academic expertise to address public issues, illustrating the process by which knowledge is translated into action. The exhibited works covered a wide range of themes, including local engagement, experiences of displacement, and sustainable regeneration.

Group photo of participating teams at the Southeast Forum and the Social Practice Expo.

This year’s Southeast Forum invited Professor Po-An Lin of the Center for General Education at National Penghu University of Science and Technology and Cheng-Te Huang, Chairman of the Taitung County Sustainable Development Association, to share their experiences in local sustainability and educational practice. Their talks explored how social practice capacities among students and local communities can be cultivated through fisheries village research and the process of restoring and revitalizing the Guoben Farm. In addition, Ying-Hui Chen, Director of the Division of General Education at Chihlee University of Technology; Hui-Ju Chen, Section Chief of the University Development Section within the same division; and Professor Chun-Yu Liu, Professor at the Graduate School of Arts Management and Cultural Policy and Dean of the College of Humanities at National Taiwan University of Arts, focused on knowledge translation and the assessment of cultural and social impact. They explained how general education can foster students’ public-minded thinking and social agency through practice-based learning, experiential engagement, and the integration of social responsibility.

Taiwan Tech Vice President Charles C.J. Wang delivers opening remarks at the Southeast Forum.

The Expo featured a wide range of activities, including [Practice through Expression] the Social Practice Meme King Contest, which combined creative thinking with internet culture to reinterpret the spirit and actions of social practice; and the main stage program, “What Social Practice Means to You,” where students were invited to freely express their perspectives on social practice. Under [Practice through Knowledge], the Social Practice OX Challenge used fun, game-based activities to enhance faculty and students’ understanding of the spirit of social practice and related coursework. The program also included [Main Exhibition], a showcase of final-round team projects, as well as a [Special Feature] titled “Where Is Green Energy? An Immersive Action Game,” which guided visitors in learning basic concepts about electricity. In addition, various interactive activities, including booth visits and point collection, were offered, allowing participants to engage with the event through relaxed and enjoyable participation. Together, these activities embodied the core message of the Expo: “Practice Makes Impact.”

Participating team: Faces of Southeast.

In his remarks, Taiwan Tech Vice President Charles C.J. Wang stated, “If cultural development fails to keep pace with technological progress, society is bound to become unstable. Therefore, technological advancement must ultimately return to the humanities.”  Despite a packed schedule, Taiwan Tech President Jia-Yush Yen also offered words of encouragement in writing: “The focus of contemporary higher education must emphasize interdisciplinary integration and action-oriented learning, enabling students to demonstrate impact in real-world social contexts. As a result, general education is gradually transforming from a traditionally supplementary role into a vital foundation for cultivating public-minded thinking, social participation, and holistic development.” Sy-Ying Lee, Director of the Center for General Education, further explained the meaning of the term “Southeast,” noting that it represents the beginning of an exploration into how the land and environment we inhabit have transformed and evolved throughout history. She likened the journey to a train heading toward the future, in which every passenger bears a shared social responsibility in determining its direction. The purpose of hosting the Social Practice Expo, she emphasized, is to demonstrate how university faculty and students put social responsibility into action and generate tangible impact.

Participating team: Mindful Minds: Mental Health in Action.

At the conclusion of the forum, the final judging and awards ceremony for the 2025 Social Practice Expo took place, encouraging faculty and students to collaborate and turn knowledge into action. A representative from one of the Outstanding Teams, “Technology Empowering Rural Communities for Urban–Rural Co-Prosperity,” Cheng-Chien Pu, a student from the Department of Industrial Management at Taiwan Tech, shared that the most significant takeaway was working with teammates from different universities and academic disciplines. He noted that their diverse backgrounds sparked ideas through discussion and debate, and that the process of jointly confronting and solving problems led to significant personal growth and valuable learning experiences. The Expo concluded successfully with rich exchanges and accumulated practical outcomes, showcasing the power of the younger generation to address social issues through concrete action and continuing to inject momentum into future social practice initiatives.

Outstanding Team: Dong’ao Culture and Sustainability in Action, presented by Yi-Ting Zheng, Director of the Center for General Education at National Taiwan Normal University (center).