Solidifying Vocational Skills is Key to Transformation

In response to Taiwan's industrial development, the Foundation has continued to support the technical creativity activities of vocational students around the country. We expect to cultivate new service talents who are capable of technical creativity and team work so that they may become a key strength for Taiwan's industrial upgrading and transformation. This competition has been held since 2003, and is an important stage for national vocational high school students to shine. It is one of the few activities approved by the Ministry of Education, and can be used as credit toward entrance exam scores.

The 14th National Technical Creativity and Training Team Competition for Vocational High School Students was held in 2017. Participants from Taiwan’s public and private high schools and comprehensive high schools (including high school affiliated vocational curriculum) registered as teams of four. At the end of May, 36 teams were selected from the preliminary round, and in the beginning of July, a 4-day and 3-night training course was conducted. In the participation and discussion of themes such as people-oriented value insight and teamwork, students gained experience which they applied to the final.

Creative Achievement and Team Work

The final was held on October 14th and 15th at the National Taiwan Normal University. As usual, the topics were announced on-site, and the teams were segregated during the final. Only 35 teams who had won the preliminary and completed the training made it to the final. In the 12-hour final over which lasted over 2 days and 1 night, each team demonstrated teamwork, creativity and what they learned from each other, to compete for the highest award.

In addition to adopting the12-hour-2 consecutive day method of competition in 2016, Arduino microcontroller units were included in 2017 to enhance the integrity of the entries. In addition to testing the on-the-spot response and technical creativity of students, the microcontroller could also test team cooperation

The theme of this year's final is creative applicable mechatronics design for joint rehabilitation patients to enhance the medical efficiency of smart assistive rehabilitation devices. The Crazy Sisters and Brothers Team from Chung Shih Industrial Vocational High School took the championship. From the start of the primary selection within the school to the preliminary competition, training and eventually the final, the vocational high school contestants were not only required to demonstrate their regular learning, but were also expected to express creativity, imagination, team spirit, effective division of labor and ability to complete mechanical creations. These creations also needed to satisfy the specifications within the time limit of the competition.

In respond to Taiwan's industrial development trend, we will continue to strengthen vocational high school education and organize national technical creativity activities for vocational high school student teams. In addition, training courses and competitions will be conducted to cultivate quality talents. Moreover, through various levels of events, the FIT & HUG service characteristics and concepts will be promoted. Furthermore, by connecting with future NST cultivation targets and curriculum pathways, new service talents who are capable of both technical creativity and team spirit will be cultivated.