Brief History

Originally named Chia Nan Junior College of Pharmacy, this university was founded in 1966 and renamed Chia Nan Institute of Pharmacy in 1996. After a formal evaluation by the Ministry of Education, it was upgraded to university status in 2000, and given its present name - Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science.

In the Junior College era, the Center for General Education was called “The Department of Common Required Courses.” It was responsible for the teaching of compulsory courses which were regulated by the MOE, including Chinese, English, Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Thoughts and Theories, and Physical Education. In the Institute of Technology era, the Committee of General Education was organized and directed by the Chairman of the Academic Affairs Office, and the courses for general education were organized into four categories—Liberal Arts, Social Science, Natural Science, and Recreation and Health.

Afterwards, in the early days of the university era, four instructional clusters – Chinese, English, Society and Physical Education – were integrated, and designated as ‘The Center of Humanities and Society.’ It was affiliated with the College of Social Science and Management and supervised by the Committee of General Education. The center was in charge of the organization, evaluation and curriculum arrangement of general education courses.

In order to enhance the concept of general education, the status of the Committee of General Education was upgraded within the school organization in 2002, and the “Center of Humanities and Society” was renamed the “ General Education Center”. It was responsible for carrying out the projects entrusted to the committee and drawing up a framework for the general education curriculum. The courses were developed and maintained with concern for both humanistic and professional development of students.

Since 2006, the General Education Center has been independently organized with certified faculty and staff. It was supervised by the College of Social Science and Management until 2007, after which it was promoted to become an independent level one academic unit.

            In 2016, the ‘Foreign Language Center’ and the ‘Center of Culture and Art ‘were integrated within the organization of the General Education Center. The Foreign Language Center were renamed as ‘Foreign Language Division’ and the ‘Center of Culture and Art‘  became ‘the Museum of   Culture and Art ‘.