International Technological University's (ITU) Founder and President, Dr. Shu-Park Chan, followed the mandate of his father, General Jitang Chen, the Warlord of Guangdong Province in China during the 1930's, to create an institution that proactively pushes the curriculum of the university to directly meet the needs of local industry.
ITU was founded in 1994 with the vision to bridge cutting-edge theory with practical applications on a global scale. The institution's mission is captured in ITU's motto - Global Development Through Silicon Valley Education.
Founded in the heart of Silicon Valley, ITU pioneers the latest in hi-tech developments, tailoring its curriculum directly to the needs of today's job market. Representing the third generation and carrying this family value forward, Yau-Gene Chan, executive vice-president of ITU, has set ITU's official goal to become the world's largest university by the fall of 2012.
ITU calls out for like-minded individuals and institutions to collaborate on various levels of expansion. This includes collaborating on industry, student, and education opportunities.
ITU's consistent position of creating and retaining close connections with current and emerging industrial areas allows them to create customized curriculum models for a particular company's needs. They believe that the mutually beneficial relationship of industry and education is a proven model for both company and individual growth.
The university is also very proud to say that the main ITU Sunnyvale campus achieves approximately a 60% job placement rate before students even graduate. The school's cutting-edge curriculum allows students to build skill sets that are in highest demand in the job market. There has consistently been a gap that has limited the average engineer's ability to get promoted into management. Every one of ITU's courses - including engineering - emphasizes the practice and mastery of both written and verbal communication.
ITU encourages open exploration of the many opportunities to cooperate with other institutions on joint research projects, undergraduate through Ph.D. degree programs, vocational/certificate programs, commercialization of developed technologies, incubation of start up enterprises and other areas of mutual interest. They are able to provide the most up-to-date Silicon Valley industrial curriculum as well as custom curriculum sets for particular groups. This includes government and industry-specific needs. All ITU courses follow a standardized learning outcome pedagogy that allows the school to attach credit to each class towards earning an ITU degree.
Current Global Operations and Cooperations
Taiwan Joint MBA Programs
ITU has joint MBA programs with two organizations in Taiwan: IVY International Education Group (Taipei) and Newera International Education Institute (Chungli). These two programs offer the most advanced Silicon Valley business models and management thinking - contained in ITU's MBA curriculum - to Taiwan-based managers and corporate industry. These MBA programs represent the ITU global model of education, delivering the latest in Silicon Valley hi-tech business development, tailored specifically to serve Taiwan's local industrial market. The school is also currently exploring the opportunity to introduce its new Clean-tech MBA into the Taiwan market.
Joint Robotics Lab with Beijing University
ITU's robotics lab is partnered with China's number one university, Beijing University. R&D teams in Beijing and Sunnyvale are working together to develop multiple input vision systems for autonomous robots and automobile systems. Like all ITU projects, ITU labs develop not only cutting-edge technology, but also commercialize the technology by spinning out startup companies in ITU's Business Incubation Program (BIP). BIP's integrated pipeline - from lab to market - allows a seamless transition of university research directly into the commercial market.
International Exchange Program
One of the many advantages of ITU's global network university model is that students are able to freely travel from one ITU branch location to another. This international exchange program offers students the opportunity to travel and get true international exposure with the continuity of ITU education. Currently there are several ITU students from Taiwan and China, who have gone to ITU's main Sunnyvale campus to finish out their degrees. ITU also offers students the option to choose where they would like to have their graduation ceremony. ITU's Silicon Valley staff is highly experienced in assisting students through the visa process to make everything as easy as possible.
WASC Accreditation Update
Achieving WASC accreditation is ITU's number one institutional priority. After deeply getting to know WASC, the school believes that they are the right partners to grow with. In the time that the administration has been exposed to WASC, it has collaborated with them on how to create new standards for global education and have received nothing but support and enthusiasm for amplifying the school's educational quality control model. ITU is officially scheduled to have their Sunnyvale and Taiwan site visits in March of 2010, and upon successfully meeting WASC's criteria for review the school will then progress on to the next stage. The school is expecting to get full accreditation by the end of 2010.
ITU's Goals in Korea
Global Development
ITU recognizes that it shares many of the same core values with the Korean culture. Specifically, after building expertise in Korea's major industrial areas, it believes that this expertise should be focused and used to assist developing nations around the globe. We are excited to share this same perspective with education. ITU is familiar with the fact that Korea has many projects in South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, and would like to be involved with providing long-term educational support.
Industrial Connections
ITU seeks to develop connections with the many giants and entrepreneurial industry leaders in Korea. ITU brings significant experience in providing the most cutting-edge technology-based education in areas of engineering, computer science, business management, and multimedia. ITU is also capable of providing assistance to Korean companies for securing intellectual property rights through joint research. ITU can be the primary source of educating and training domestic and foreign corporate employees in specific areas of expertise as well as help develop good relations with any foreign countries that Korean companies operate in by providing education for those foreign employees.
ITU educational offerings include Doctorate of Philosophy degrees in Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Business. Also, the school offers Master's of Business Administration degrees in Entrepreneurial Studies, Clean-Tech Management, Engineering Management, Healthcare Management, and Finance. It offers Master's of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering, Software Engineering, and Computer Engineering. It offers certificates for Silicon Valley Entrepreneur, IT Security, and Project Management. It also offers ITUGreen corporate training programs and custom training solutions. The university also does research and development in biotechnology, clean technology, and other fields. These courses may be tailored for any particular focus or specific needs of any company/project.
