新作坊 Humanity Innovation and Social Practice

After more than a year of successful control efforts, Taiwan’s first significant COVID-19 outbreak began in May 2021. The shortage of test kits and vaccines during the initial wave led to significant public anxiety, which further escalated during the subsequent Omicron wave in the spring and summer of 2022. This paper investigates how Taiwanese universities addressed these difficult periods of the COVID-19 pandemic through social engagement under University Social Responsibility (USR) programs. What were the specific features of university partnerships during this “bad time” for society? Focusing on Fu Jen Catholic University College of Social Science, this paper explores the real experiences of social engagement that university students experienced in a community work course under the university’s social responsibility plan. The course was based on action research and developed the partnership between the university and community organizations in Xinzhuang District to explore the community’s needs and concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic during the 2021-2022 Academic Year. The outcomes were solid and valuable including identifying implicit needs, providing professional services for 40 poor families, holding 4 online activities for disadvantaged youth, interviewing recent immigrants for profiles in a local magazine and developing an innovative service program for immigrants. In addition, a multiple analysis framework was developed to capture the effects of USR and the “super connection” that was formed between university and community actors as they navigated the bad times of the COVID-19 pandemic.