Cultivate New Innovative Energy, establish Vocational Education
The finals –of the 15th National Technical Creativity and Training Team Competition for Vocational High School Students sponsored by the Sayling Wen Cultural and Educational Foundation kicked off at 1 pm on July 29th at the National Taiwan Normal University. Of the 157 teams from various vocational high schools from around the country, only 34 elite teams managed to emerge from the preliminaries to reach the final. In the 13-hour final, each team had to fully demonstrate team spirit and technical creativity to jointly vie for the highest award. Lin Ya-li, Executive Director of our Foundation; Wu Ching-Chi, Chancellor of Taiwan University of Education; Yang Yu-Hui, Director of the .Technical and Vocational Education, Ministry of Education; Huang Tzu-Teng, Counselor; Lin Wei-Chi, Deputy Director of Taoyuan City Education Bureau; Liu Dai-li, Superintendent of Taichung City Education Bureau; Tsai Ping-Hsin, Division Chief of the Technical and Vocational Education Division, New Taipei City Education Bureau and many others have shown their full support of technical and vocation education by personally attending the awards ceremony, which is of greatest encouragement to the students.
This event was opened to 4-person student teams from public and private vocational high schools and comprehensive high schools (including high school affiliated vocational divisions). The theme for this year's preliminary competition was "Multifunctional Assistive Device for Handicap Access Toilets.” The competition was held simultaneously in the north, central and southern regions on April 21 and 34 teams were selected to enter the final. The 4 days and 3 nights of training courses were conducted from July 1st to July 4th. Students participated-in and discussed themes such as creativity and teamwork, and applied what they learnt to the final which was held on July 29th and 30th at the National Taiwan Normal University. As usual, the topic was announced on the spot, and the teams were segregated for 13 hours over two consecutive days during the competition. In 2017, the Arduino Microcontroller Units were introduced to enhance the integrity of the entries. In addition to testing the students' on-the-spot response and technical creativity, the units also tested team cooperation. Last year, we invited teachers from Vietnam and Malaysia to observe the final. This year, we had outstanding teams from Foon Yew High School- Kulai, Malaysia join us in Taiwan and interact and learn together with our students. We hope that our activities can be the first step toward internationalization, and that there will be future opportunities for more foreign teams to participate in the event.
The theme for this year's finals was creative applicable mechatronics design for preparations in juice and tea shops and improving the efficiency of the smart beverage makers. The champions of this competition were the High Technology 107 team from National Lotung Industrial Vocational High School (Students: Fang Wei-Chi, Lin Guan-Hao, Wu I-Chin, Chang Ting-Hsin; Teachers: Lin Chien-Ming, Lin Chung-Huai). This was the 8th year that the National Lotung Industrial Vocational High School participated in the competition, and the first time to win the championship.
All throughout the preliminary selection, preliminary competition, training, and all the way to the final, all the schools not only required participants to perform in their daily work, but were also expected to demonstrate creativity, imagination and team spirit. Moreover, they had to complete a machine that had automatic control and comprehensive mechatronics, within the time limit of the competition. In addition to cash awards, students of the top four teams earned an additional 15 to 20 percentage points toward their Joint University of Science and Technology Entrance Exams or special outstanding skills enrollment. Cultivating talents is critical to enhancing national competitiveness. Hence, it is hoped that through the professional training courses and team competition, this event can strengthen vocational education and stimulate student creativity and energy. Ultimately, this is the goal and direction of the Foundation.