College of Fashion and Textiles, Fu Jen Catholic University

2022~2023 Annual Performance and Highlights of “The Program on Bilingual Education for Students in College, BEST”

The college of Fashion and Textiles in Fu Jen Catholic University is the first and only of its kind in Taiwan. Our mission is to educate our students with professional knowledge and skills, a global view, and sense of humanity and social commitment. Our college is also one of the few Arts and Humanities colleges which have obtained the “The Program on Bilingual Education for Students in College, BEST” grant from the Ministry of Education. 

We expect that with this grant we can assist our students to elevate their English proficiency level which will enhance their global mobility, increase their competitiveness as they develop careers on world stage, and contribute to the overall expansion of interdisciplinary communication. The areas in our college where we have implemented our specific EMI education strategies include: 

1. Administration,

2. Teachers, 

3. Teaching materials, 

4. Students, 

5. Expanding the influence of international education, 

6. Expanding the breadth of EMI education nationally. 

The following are the highlights of our performance in the BEST program for the 2nd year, 22/23 corresponding to the KPIs of the EMI provision:

1. Institutional strategy and management: 
   1. The International Bilingual Office (IBO) in our college was founded and established its operational mechanism with a coherent approach in relation to the university-level Bilingual Education Center (BEC) to promote the BEST program and bilingual education. 
   2. A space dedicated solely to our college’s bilingual project has been created in Fashion and Textiles Hall＃2 in effort to bring an All-English environment. We have purchased audio-visual equipment and some other bilingual materials for the bilingual events which are hosted in this space. 
   3. A reward system for seed teachers has been established in our college to promote the BEST program and EMI education. We have been continuously recruited five seed teachers and have encouraged them to develop an EMI education pedagogy and teaching materials. 
   4. The International Bilingual Office (IBO) in our college has been reported to our EMI strategy committee monthly, to update the implementation of EMI education to them and to collect their advices. The IBO has also communicated and promoted our EMI education to more relevant stakeholders, including students, faculty members, alumnus…etc.). 
2. Teachers and Teaching: 
   1. Planned and opened new EMI courses on professional subjects relevant to Textiles and Clothing in order to refine the learning map for our students, to improve their English ability in relation to professional skills, and to enhance their competitiveness internationally.  
   2. Continued encouraging our EMI teachers to develop multimedia teaching materials and improve EMI teaching pedagogies. Six of our EMI teachers have shared their EMI teaching experiences in a panel discussion at the “2023 Conference on Teaching Practice in Foreign Languages and Literatures” hosted by the College of Foreign Languages in our university. 
   3. 45 EMI courses were offered during the 22/23 school year (39 in-person and 6 online); we will continue to gradually add new EMI courses in the future. 
   4. Among the 10 observed EMI courses, all fully met the working definition that 70% of class communication takes place in English. 
3. Students and Learning: 
   1. There were more than 600 English EMI learning outcomes presented in videos/portfolios/presentations of students from our EMI courses (Print Design/Portfolio Design/Fashion Retailing/Fashion Buying/Circular Economy) which showed a good result of our EMI education. 
   2. Held 23 topics of English Corner activities during both semesters of the 22/23 school year. 
   3. Continued assisting students from our college who participated the MOE Scholarship Program for Overseas Study in Arts and Design (SPOSAD) prepare their English study plans and personal statements, and continuously one of them was successfully admitted to the Royal College of Art in 2023.  
   4. English writing and editing workshops were offered to help many students on their documents and portfolios to obtain a higher rate of admission to international competitions. Also, 2 students published paper in international conference, IFFTI and one of them has been awarded. 
4. Information to students and the public: Continued operating our EMI website for the BEST program to promote EMI education and communicate to our students and to the public. We have also updated the contents of “eCloud@FT” which aims to offer self-learning textiles/fashion design/fashion resources to students. The contents of eCloud@FT include:
   1. Resources from the CTCCC (Chinese Textiles and Clothing Culture Center): 2 bilingual audio-visual clips of Chinese textiles and clothing were published and been promoted in different social media platforms and conferences. Additional audio-visual series were continued to be made and will be published in 2024. 
   2. e Textile Science: 3 bilingual articles about Textile Sciences were published. 
   3. Fashion Glossary: 10 volumes of bilingual entries plus pictures of fashion terminology were published online. 
5. Quality Assurance:
   1. Continuously promoted different kinds of quality assurance and inspection mechanisms to be regularly implemented that could ensure the quality of EMI course delivery. 
   2. There were 78 students received our BEST Programme Rewards during 22/23 school year, including 46/10/1 students whose English Proficiency level reached CEFR B2/C1/C2; and 21 students received rewards for their EMI course credits.  
6. Other initiatives: 
   1. Continuously invited more international scholars for co-teaching collaborations for EMI courses or workshops. Successfully invited three scholars to co-teach with our teachers or host workshops during the 22/23 school year. 
   2. Continuously Participated in international conferences (ITAA & IFFTI) to keep up with trends in our academic and professional fields worldwide. We have also done some international expansion for cross-institution cooperation in the future.
   3. FJU Talents: a group of talented young designer students from our college showcasing their designs by participating Fashion Scout at London Fashion Week, and were able to tell their statements to the international medias in English.