I• A Brief History

The Department of Special Education has been well recognized as headquarter of expert cultivation in the field of special education in Taiwan . The master's program was approved by the Ministry of Education and established in 1986, directed toward fostering special education professionals in general. The undergraduate program was launched 4 years later, and followed by the doctoral program in 1992. Professor Wu-tien Wu, Ph.D., former Director of the Special Education Center of the University, served as the first-term Chairperson of both undergraduate and graduate programs. Founded on the solid achievements of the Center, the Department has grown and boomed as if it had a history of more than 3 decades.

II• Goals and Objectives

A. Expertise Development

Among the primary goals and objectives of the Department involve fostering special education teachers, academic researchers, and special education administrators. The Department focuses on assisting related departments on and off campus in setting up special education programs. As well, it delivers on-the-job training programs for special education teachers and professionals at all the education levels.

B. Academic Research

The Department encourages faculty members to engage in research work on the special education and related fields (e.g., education and psychology). Efforts are also made toward taking initiatives in communication and collaboration both at the international and collegiate levels.

C. Social Services

In terms of social services, the Department endeavors to distribute research findings to the public and publish special education papers, books, and journals. Staff and faculty members are encouraged to reach out to the community, advocating and, if necessary, making corrections of myths and misconceptions concerning special education.

III• Faculty and Staff

The faculty and staff of the Department consist of 23 members and 15 adjunct lecturers. Among the faculty team, 13 are full professors, 7 associate professors, and 3 teaching assistants. Except for those teaching assistants, most of the faculty members had studied abroad in the United States , Japan , and the Great Britain , to name a few, and thus have developed their international perspectives and a great variety of expertise in the field of interest.

IV• Curriculum and Instruction

The undergraduate program employs a bi-track system. Students are required to choose either “Teaching-Oriented Group” or “Non-Teaching Oriented Group.” For undergraduates in the Teaching-Oriented Group to earn the bachelor degree, they are required to complete a minimum of 138 credit hours in a period of four academic years. Among the required credit hours, 10 credits are demanded by the College of Education, whereas the rest are involved with special education, such as Practicum in Special Education and Teaching Practice in Disabilities (Mild/Severe). For those in the Non-Teaching Oriented Group, a minimum of 128 credit hours are required to be able to earn the degree. Additionally, students are allowed and, in fact, encouraged to take their minors or earn dual degrees.

The master’s degree is awarded to graduate students who have obtained a minimum of 30 credit hours and finish by a thesis. To be awarded the Ed. D., a doctoral student is required to complete a minimum of 30 credit hours, pass the comprehensive examination, publish at least one paper on a journal, have an oral presentation prior to the application of dissertation proposal, and finally complete the dissertation.

V• Features and Honors

As research is one of the top priorities of the Department, faculty members have demonstrated tremendous efforts in the studies. To illustrate, over the past 5 years research proposals and projects approved by the National Science Council (NSC) and Ministry of Education have amounted to around 100 cases, not to mention those funded by other institutions. There are 12 studies awarded by the NSC in the academic year of 2007 alone.

In addition, The Bulletin of Special Education, a yearly journal, put out its first issue in 1985. Five years later, it was transformed into a semi-yearly journal and currently publishes 3 issues a year. As part of the achievement, the Bulletin was rated second in the country of the education-related journals in 1998. Moreover, it was awarded the Excellent Journal by NSC in 2002 and as the Best Publication in 2003 by Executive Yuan, and thus admitted to the formal list of TSSCI.

VI• Future Perspectives

The Department has developed a list of guidelines for future growth. On the list are enhancing teacher training programs, upgrading research, refurnishing facilities, promoting in depth curriculum and instruction, increasing the amount of books and other software resources, developing test instruments, training more professionals who take leading roles in special education, establishing international scholarly collaborations, and providing more social services.