Established as Department of Physical Education at National Taichung University in 1998, and concerned with the training and recruitment of elementary PE teachers, the Department recruits 40 undergraduate students including recommended students of sport excellence, students who pass a test of academic subjects and sport skills of University Entrance Examper year. The Bachelor Degree of Education will be normally awarded after completing four years study. Recently, the Department has experienced the gradual shift from the teacher-training oriented position to a non- teacher-training one through transforming related learning courses to new ones. Current curriculums, which consist of academic subjects and sport skill subjects, are designed to provide students excellent learning basis in sport and physical education fields.
Due to the reconstruction of Chao-Chen Building, the Department moved to Yao-Chun Building firstly, then to the Chung-Cheng Building. The Department owns many excellent sport facilities such as gymnastics hall, various ball courts, center of physical fitness and swimming pool etc. Note, there are some more excellent sport facilities belonging to the Department located in Campus II of NTCU. With regarding to the graduates’ future development, the students are no longer to have advantages of becoming elementary teachers. Therefore, the Department in 2004 started to provide extra modules in sport health and sport management and so on which were designed to enhance professional abilities of graduates.
On May 2002, the first ‘Sports Skill Exhibition Show’ was held by the Department and students and has become the annual spotlight of the University from then on. There are various extracurricular activities, for example, Community Service Programs, Practical Training in outside private companies, provisions of administrative assistance in sport affairs for communities and schools, publishing work of the Department Journals, participation in University sport teams and clubs and so on to enrich students’ learning experience. Besides, the excellent performance of this Department is also reflected in the fact that the Department has successfully hosted some important conferences such as the ‘Innovation of PE Curriculums and Teachings Conference’, ‘Health for All and Body Culture Conference’. In 2005, the Department introduced new Postgraduate Program which is expected to make a contribution to recruit new academics in sport field. Finally, the aims of this Department are further illustrated which are to provide multi-optional programs and modules, to train diligent and honest students for the Society, to implement the work of ‘Education Reforming Policy’ from the Ministry of Education, to promote local, folk, and community cultures and recreational activities, to cooperate with private companies and so on.
In the future, the main tasks of this Department are as following: to recruit new academic staff gradually; to expand sport facilities; to purchase new equipments; to promote the interactions between teachers and students; and to supply guidance and assistance for students and graduates. By doing these, the Department feels confident to become the best place which is able to provide excellent leaning environment for students.
