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To Establish an Importance Index of Basic Chemistry Competence in the Universities of Science and Technology, Taiwan

1. Introduction In order to facilitate the intellectual industry and innovation ability, the government in Taiwan has proclaimed a “National Development Plan” since 2002 (Council for Economic Planning and Development, 2005). One of the targets in the plan is to increase highly qualified manpower, to fuel the desperate demands from the electronic engineering, green energy, chemical engineering, and biotechnology fields. From the viewpoint of the future development, nanotechnology, communication technology, green energy, environmental industry, optoelectronic industry and biotechnology are seen as rising industries in 21st century. These industries have great influence on national security, society and people’s livelihood. Fundamental scientific competences, e.g. mathematics, physics, chemistry or biology are essential to the qualified manpower of these emergent industries. As a consequent, how to enhance the basic scientific competence of college students in order to strengthen the core competitiveness of Taiwan is an inevitable issue of Taiwanese higher education. In particular, chemistry competence is highlighted in the present study. The development of the emergent industries such as semiconductor industry, optoelectronic industry, green energy, environmental industry and biotechnology, as well as traditional petroleum, plastic, rubber, and textile industries are profoundly related to fundamental chemistry ability. Nonetheless, there is a common perception within Taiwanese industries that the basic chemistry competence of many graduates from universities of science and technology could not satisfy the industry demand. More efforts should be made on devising appropriate curricula and finding effective learning approach. However, it is difficult to assess whether students’ chemistry competence in the universities of science and technology is appropriate for industries or not; as a result, we may need some indicators to be observed (Gabel, 1999). From this point of view, establishing a basic chemistry competence index in terms of employment prospect for the engineering students in the universities of science and technology is a crucial issue for engineering education in Taiwan. In the present study, a modified Delphi method was used for establishing the importance index of chemistry competence in terms of occupation domain. Additionally, a number of semi-structured interviews with experts were conducted in order to investigate the experts’ views about chemistry education. The findings of this study might be implied in the assessment of current curriculum design and teaching contents of chemistry in the universities of science and technology in Taiwan. By the same token, the findings could be further utilized in an Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA).

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Chen, P., & Kuo, K., & Hsu, M. (2010, June), Establish An Importance Index Of Basic Chemistry Competence In The Universities Of Science And Technology In Taiwan Paper presented at 2010 Annual Conference & Exposition, Louisville, Kentucky. 10.18260/1-2--16372