The Foundation and Goals

The development of technology brings a great impact to the competitiveness of a country. Information technology is realized as one of the most important potentials toward the development of future Taiwan. Recently, with the growing importance of information technologies in electrical engineering, computer software and hardware-based industry had gradually replaced the traditional industry and had become a trend toward worldwide economic development. Thus, information technology brought a great influence to a country. One important factor toward the success of information industry is education and training in state-of-the-art technologies. To fulfill this mission, high-level education in universities plays the most important role. The department has the following goals:

1. To train students with innovative information technologies
2. To train students with professional information technology skills
3. To research and develop state-of-the-art information technologies

The department encourages independent research, experiences sharing, and building the foundation for research. We aim to educate students, for their critical thinking in research as well as technologies and skills useful to their career.

History of the Department

The department was established in 1981 with a graduate institute for Master’s program. In 1988, the department further founded a Ph. D. program to train high level researchers for industry and young professors. In 1992, the undergraduate program was founded for basic training in information technology. These three organizations established the strong curriculum of our department. Furthermore, in 1996, the undergraduate program was extended to receive 100 students each year, fulfill the high demand of our local information technology industry. In 2001, to meet the policy of the Ministry of Education in Taiwan, the department further established a part-time industrial-based MS program. The program provides an opportunity for working engineers toward practical skill training and to seek for a higher degree. As a consequence, the part-time MS program helps the local industry for advanced technologies in the competitive international market. In 2005, to meet the requirement from Ministry of Economic Affairs, the department further founded another part-time MS program for Embedded Systems. This program further tights up the connection between our department and the local industry. Shortly after the success, our department foresees the strong demand of high-level software engineers in Taiwan’s local industry, in 2006, the department further established the first Graduate Institute of Software Engineering in Taiwan. Encouraged by the National Central University to have multiple graduate institutes in a department, our department had fully developed with several graduate institutes. The department is equipped with high quality facilities, sufficient space, and is with outstanding faculty members.

The Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering at National Central University offers professional training courses, dynamic learning environment with a faculty of esteemed professionals. Each year great students from different parts of Taiwan gather here to develop their professional and interpersonal skills. Over the years, our alumni have thrived in the fields of information technology, communication engineering, phone and semiconductor manufacturing, and even finance and education. It can be said that every student in our department has a promising future.

The students in our department form a close-knit community. Each September we host an orientation camp for the 1st years, a sports day in November, and community services during winter break. As for the spring semester, there is a concert in May, and a camp in cooperation with Pinewave Radio. All these diverse activities have successfully worked as a platform for students to bond and develop lifelong friendships, and thus they have become a tradition in our department. The catchphrase for athletic events “the incomparable NCU CSIE” is memorized by heart by all the students, and represents the spirit and shared memory of our department.At NCU, not only will you be able to obtain professional knowledge and skills, the opportunity to do pioneering research and innovation, you will also be able to broaden your horizon through community service, general education and performing arts held by NCU’s arts center. NCU possesses rich and unique resources, for example, we have a Research Center for Space and Remote Sensing, an Earth Sciences department, and plenty of accessible online resources. With the skills of Information Engineering, you will be able to apply your studies and research in a wealth of fields. Furthermore, with motivation and passion, you will certainly have a promising future.

On behalf of all the faculty and students of the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, I welcome you to join our big family and flourish with us.

Department Chairs

• Fu-Hau Hsu (2017~present)

• Chia-Hui Chang (2014~2017)

• Hsiao-Kuang Wu (2011~2014)

• Mu-Chun Su (2008~2011)

• Jorng-Tzong Horng (2005~2008)

• Gwo-Dong Chen (2002~2005)

• Jonathan Lee (1999~2002)

• Jang-Ping Sheu (1997~1999)

• Kuo-Chin Fan (1994~1997)

• Baw-Jhiune Liu (1993~1994)

• Wei-Tek Huang (1992~1993)

Department Deputy Chairs

• Po-Chyi Su (2017~present)

• Min-Te Sun (2013.02~2017)

• Chia-Hui Chang (2009.07~2013.01)

Our Education

1. Each core course and elective course has a teaching assistant. In addition, each core course must have a Ph. D. student as TA.
2. The course entitled “Introduction to Information Engineering” discusses fundamentals of the six research groups in our department, including research issues, background, current trend, and the status of development in local industry.
3. For undergraduate study, the course “Robots and Programming” and the course “Introduction to Computer Science” encourage students to design robotic control programs, as well as to learn practical skills for programing.
4. The department had developed a platform for the laboratories for Embedded Systems, Digital Systems, and Embedded System Designs.
5. The department provides remedial training to encourage students with low learning performance.
6. Teaching evaluation is given to every course in our department, in addition to a school level teaching evaluation. The review from the department teaching evaluation further helps professors to re-deign their better lectures.
7. Three mentors are assigned to each class for the freshman students. Other classes (starts from the 2nd year) have two mentors each. Mentors are responsible to communicate with students to help them with study problems.
8. Mentors are responsible to keep track of student performance and potential weakness that needs help. Mentors will need to meet the class of students at least five times per semester.
9. The department encourages students for social services, such as teaching preliminary school students, especially those in a remote area.
10. Each year, the department supports students to organize a music concert. This music concert invites professors and students from other departments to join the performance.
11. The department awards the best teaching assistant and asks the TA to share experiences with others.
12. A questionnaire is given to student in each class at the sixth week of a semester, in order to help the instructors to better understand student needs.