History of the Graduate Institute and the Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling

The Graduate Institute was first founded in the 1999–2000 academic year, offering a master’s program for teaching counseling. In the 2001–2002 academic year, it was named the Graduate Institute of Educational Psychology and Guidance, and was subsequently renamed again in the 2004–2005 academic year as the Graduate Institute of Educational Psychology and Counseling. In the 2005–2006 academic year, the Graduate Institute and the Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling were merged into the single administrative unit that exists today (the 2016–2017 academic year). In the 2014–2015 academic year, the former master’s program for professionals was divided into an “Industrial and Organizational Psychology” program and a “Guidance and Counseling” program. The goal of both the institute and department is to train students as professionals and equip them with the competencies in the following areas: educational psychology and counseling, community mental services and counseling, and industrial and organizational psychology.

To enhance the faculty members’ professional Development indifferent areas of psychology field, the department has recruited additional teaching staff specializing in counseling and clinical psychology as well as that specializing in industrial and organizational psychology (including human resources (HR) and marketing psychology for brand names) between the 2005–2006 and 2010–2011 academic years. These efforts were made to integrate expertise in psychology, counseling and guidance, and industrial and organizational issues. In the 2016–2017 academic year, the National Hsinchu University of Education (NHCUE) was merged with National Tsing Hua University (NTHU). The Department also recruited psychology-related staff (including experts in guidance and counseling, cognitive psychology, social psychology, and educational psychology) from the NTHU and professionals in HR (including HR development and management) from the NHCUE. The institute comprises 19 full-time faculty members providing specific expertise in the following four disciplines: guidance and counseling psychology; cognitive and educational psychology; social and cultural psychology; and industrial and organizational psychology. Furthermore, the undergraduate program provides an interdisciplinary program for students from other departments to study psychology curricula as primary and secondary specialties, and HR management curriculum as a secondary specialty. The institute also offers a series of courses to train teachers specializing in counseling. The graduate institute consists of three subunits: “Counseling Psychology,” “Psychology,” and “Industrial and Organizational Psychology.” Currently, the master’s program for professionals includes two subunits: “Guidance and Counseling” and “Industrial and Organizational Psychology.”