Chi-Mei Community University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
About CMCU
Chi-Mei Community University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Basic Date
1. Date of Foundation: 2001.03.03
2. Co-Sponsor: Corporate Chung Li-Ho Culture and Education Foundation
3. Principal: Chung Tieh-Ming
4. Dean: Chang Cheng-Yang
5. Chief Secretary: Chou Chia-hui
6. Address: No.21 Shu-Ran Rd, 842 Chishang, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan
7. Telephone: +886-7-6629378, 6616600, 6629625
8. Fax No.: +886-7-6629379
9. Web Site: http://cmcu.ngo.org.tw
10. Blog: http://www.wretch.cc/blog/cmcu
11. E-mail: cmcu@e-info.org.tw
----------------------------------------------------------
Preface
Chung Li Ho Culture & Education Foundation is the most lively Foundation in the southern Taiwan. There are nine villages and towns in Chi-Mei, Kaohsiung. Chi-Mei area have much less government resource and social education resource than other areas in the past. The frequent field investigation and community construction have shaped its image as the "window of the community culture in Kaohsiung". It excellent life-learning environment has accumulated considerable community energy. That is the initial motive of Chung Li Ho Culture & Education Foundation to strive for the community university to be set up in the Chi-Mei area.
Introduction for the School Feature
Chi-Mei Community university was being hosted by Kaohsiung County Government and assisted by Chung Li Ho Culture & Education Foundation. It engaged the staff of a very active organization in Chi-Mei area, Meinung People's Association, to plan and execute. Their goal is to organize various human and material resources by the function of the community university and help the rural village to find the way out as well as re-build up the disconnected social relationship in the village and then increase the energy needed for the villages' independence and development. It uses the community working experience of Meinung People's Association as the basis and then expands to different races, societies and cultural network.
Due to many limitations for opening the classes in the rural village areas, in order to overcome these difficulties and several problems existing in the village, it oppositely community university.
1. Build up the link between the community and the world
When the globalization stirs up the violent protest in the world, the rural village, when is supposed to be impacted most seriously, is surprisingly quiet. It appears to be weird before the big change brought to them by WTO. For this reason, except for the formal curriculums, we arranged public forum, inspection and learning curriculums, etc, and focus on the subject about the impact brought by WTO to the rural village development for all the citizens in the
community to participate.
2. The curriculums fully reflect the local features
For example, opening the curriculum in aboriginal villages, due to the distance to the school is far and the content of the curriculum stress on the practice and self-participation, we broke the schedule arrangement routine, 2 hours every week, and made a proper schedule for them. During the rainy season, the road along the mountain to the classroom is easy to have the landslide. The schedule arrangement has to avoid the rainy hours, and the curriculum hours have to be concentrated.
3. Combine with the local groups to expand the width and depth of the participation
For instance, in various discussions about how Taiwan rural villages face the impact after joining WTO. Organic agriculture is always the noticeable possibility. The community college is different from farmers' association. It lacks for the substantial power from farmers' organization. Therefore, all moves have to be started from individuals. For this reasons, we opened organic vegetable class. Due to that all the organic fertilizer the organic vegetables need is from the garbage, in the 2nd semester we work together with Meinung Environment Protection League to teach the students how to do the recycling and make composts from the leftovers. This activity not only increases the yield
of the organic fertilizer, but also greatly reduces the domestic garbage. It is also helpful to speed up the Meinung small-sized incinerators.
4. The curriculum vision covers all community problems
The crises the rural villages face are not only economically, but also socially and culturally. The Hakka Eight Notes Club in Meinung is well preserved in the traditional type and famous for the unique local type and content developed in Meinung. It is also the indispensable music in all customs of Hakka people's lives in Meinung. Therefore, we opened "Hakka Eight Notes Club" to recruit the people who are interested in Hakka Eight Tones. By the understanding, practice and performance of the Eight Tones, this important musical and cultural heritage can be continued and the identification and respect of the citizens in the community for the Eight Tones can be promoted at he same time.
During the several decades of the village development after the war, the cultivation environment was being polluted. Lots of young people and labors moved out of the villages. The present problems in the society such as construction insufficiency and that the farmers estranged from the agriculture and the rural villages became the challenges of the village-typed community university. Before the community universities enter the villages, unless they realize it is important to involve the difficulties of the rural villages into the vision of the community universities no matter on the thoughts or the way of doing things, the so-called village-typed community universities will be never reached. Especially, the core task of the community universities to learn by directly facing the people has people has become the most expectable chance for improving the preset problems in the rural villages.
