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Tzu Chi Junior
College of Nursing
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| (Translated by Joy Hsiao) |
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The Tzu Chi Junior
College of Nursing, founded in 1989, is located in the village
of Chi-an in Hualien, Taiwan.
Master Cheng Yen felt
that there were three major reasons for founding the school:
- to solve education and employment
problems for young females in eastern Taiwan, especially young
female aboriginals who needed assistance in these areas;
- to train and work with local talents
to reduce the turnover of the nursing staff;
- to foster the spirit of Great Love
in educating nurses in hopes of producing more compassionate
nurses to provide better patient services in major hospitals
throughout Taiwan.
The school's emblem
symbolizes the "Eight Petals" in Buddhism. It represents
the continuing commitment of Tzu Chi members in following the
Eight Noble Paths (Right View, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right
Behavior, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and
Right Contemplation, all of which help one follow the right paths
and avoid evil). The "Coexistence of the Flowers and Fruits"
on the emblem signifies the continuing planting and flowering
of the Tzu Chi organizations and thus their fruition. A book represents
the Tzu Chi mission of education, and a nurse's cap symbolizes
the Junior College of Nursing.
The education goals
of the Tzu Chi Junior College of Nursing are as follows:
- Use Tzu Chi's best
abilities to establish the best school and to educate the most
talented students. Master Cheng Yen emphasized the importance
of shouldering social responsibility in educating and producing
talented nurses.
- Emphasize both professional
knowledge and morality. In addition to the teaching of specialized
knowledge and skills, students are also educated in the humanities
so that they will continue to search for truth, goodness and
beauty, as well as value a whole-person development of the body,
mind and spirit.
- Accept the responsibility
for saving lives and helping all those in need, and foster religious
sentiments among students. Upon graduation, they should have
the compassion to give and sacrifice themselves completely in
the nursing field and ask for nothing in return.
- Care for the community
and service to the neighborhood. Job opportunities are provided
for residents in eastern Taiwan, and help Hualien to become
an important town with a high quality of medical treatment and
humanitarian services.
The school's unique
features are as follows:
- Students are taught both verbally
and by the personal example of their teachers. Both teachers
and students wear school uniforms.
- Both humanities and specialized professional
education are emphasized. The "Yi Te Mother/Sister Association"
is a special feature of the school: Tzu Chi commissioners volunteer
to stay at the school and provide spiritual and psychological
guidance for groups of students.
- Students are responsible for the daily
cleaning chores of the entire school, as well as caring for
the plants and trees.
- The Tu Chi Volunteer Team includes
an Administrative Service Team, a Healthcare Service Team, and
a Cultural Service Team.
- The majority of the teaching staff
lives in the dorms with the students, and are thus able to provide
continuous academic and social guidance and care for the students.
Tzu Chi Junior Nursing College originally
offered five majors: nursing, hospital administration, radiological
technology, early child care, and physical therapy. In August
1999, the school was upgraded by Taiwan's Ministry of Education
to the Tzu Chi College of Technology, and new majors were added.
