The General Education Center (GEC) was previously named the
“General Education Curriculum Department” set up in August,
1972. When Kaohsiung Medical College changed its name to
Kaohsiung Medical University in August 1999, “the General
Education Center” was established. In order to schedule and
promote curricular affairs, “Humanities and Social Science
Section,” “Science and Fundamental Science Section,” “Physical
Education Section,” “Service Learning Section,” and “Language
Education Center” were set up successively from 2004. On August
1, 2012, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences was
founded. The “Physical Education Section” and “Language
Education Section” in the GEC were transferred to the College of
Humanities and Social Sciences, expanding into the “Physical
Education Center” and the “Languages and Culture Center”.
Similarly “Humanities and Social Sciences Section,” and “Science
and Applied Science Section” were upgraded into the “Humanities
and Arts Education Center” and “Fundamental Science Education
Center” and placed under the nascent college. Teachers in the GEC
were assigned to different centers according to their specialties.
The GEC hopes to strengthen students’ cooperation in teamwork,
to cultivate communicative ability and altruism. It also fosters to
integrate knowledge and practice through official and unofficial
curricula. In so doing, the objectives of “life and ethics, humanities
ethos, social concern, and basic skills in using language and
information technology” will be attained.
Currently, the GEC is responsible for scheduling the general
education courses of KMU. Students have to take 28 credits of
such courses including basic general knowledge and liberal arts
courses. In August 2015, the general education courses will be
revised as follows:
1.Adjustment of General Education Courses
Marginally general education and professionally lopsided courses
will be allocated to the professional curriculum as required or
elective courses. The general courses will have to strengthen the
Liberal Core Curriculum. The seven domains of the core courses
will be intensified and integrated into a new Liberal Education
Program. These seven fields include citizenship nourishment,
localization of globalism, critical thinking and inferring,
aesthetics appreciation, environment and general science, and
integration of interdisciplinary knowledge. Students have to take
at least one course each of the seven fields (two at the most) to
develop a holistic concept of general education. Besides, the
GEC will open up “integration of interdisciplinary knowledge”
to allow individual departments to offer courses in ethics.
2.Adjustment of Basic General Courses
Chinese and English advanced courses will be added: students
will be exempted to take “freshman English” or “freshman
Chinese” courses if they pass the proficiency test or meet
the criteria at the end of the first semester. Instead, they can
take courses on Chinese and English classics to upgrade their
appreciation of the inspiration of masterpieces. In addition,
“Application of Computer Information” is changed to be a
noncredit course. If students have approved certificates or have
passed an evaluation examination, they too do not have to take
the course.
3.Adding “Physical Education” to the General Education
Curricular frame
KMU’s physical education belongs to the General Education
category but has not been included within the general education
curricular framework. Therefore, the GEC will add “Physical
Education” to the general education curricular frame.
4.Adding “Experience Program” to the General Education
Curricular Frame
“Getting Started in College Life” is the deepening course of
general education, as the course contents include introduction to
the Academy of Life Education and related services. It requires
students to participate in the Academy’s activities and experiencing
“learn from doing.” As a result, the GEC plans to include this
course and “Service Learning” in the “Experience Program”.
KMU Academy of Life is one of the characteristics of GEC. At the
beginning of its establishment in early 2010, on the basis of KMU’s
core value—“Respecting Life, Pursuing Truth”—and the traits of
medical universities, the Academy takes “life exploration” as a
special feature of its experimental classes. Since 2013, the objects
of the experiment have been expanded to all KMU freshmen. The
Academy is composed of five thematic halls, including “Jishi,
Chuanxi, Huaiai, Rixin and Housheng” so as to promote the
educational core indicators of “Gratitude, Enthusiasm, Respect,
Courtesy, Esprit de corps, and Caring”. These are supplemented
by the five citizenship nourishments (Ethics, Democracy, Science,
Media and Aesthetics) as pillars to enrich the life learning
environment of students’ dormitory.
The Academy will hold ongoing lectures on literature, history,
philosophy, arts, and society and aesthetics activities to create a
campus full of literary and cultural environments. At the same
time, the formation of a democratic campus will be completed
by formulating dormitory conventions, autonomous room
management, campus media and electronic bulletin boards, and
student participation in discussing public issues.
In the future, based on the existing foundation, the GEC will
promote quality general teaching modules to all general education
curricula by holding workshops and activities for teachers, and
enhancing citizenship nourishment through renovative teaching
approaches to shape up a cultural milieu on campus. The GEC will
help students learn from the “experience program,” and strengthen
teamwork, communication, negotiation, and altruism through
practical activities so as to carry out knowledge and action at the
same time. Finally, through the Academy of Life, official and
unofficial courses will be connected, which will help students
internalize what they have learned before. The GEC thus hopes to
cultivate modern medical professionals with professional expertise,
medical humanitarianism and a sense of citizenship in their
mission of maintaining and improving human health and welfare.