On May 7th, 1967 the founder of Hungkuang, Dr. Yu Lin Wang established the Hungkuang Junior College of Nursing, carrying forward his father’s legacy of medical service. On July 12th of that same year, following the support and ratification of the Ministry of Education, Dr. Yu Lin Wang became the school’s first president.
In the spirit of the school’s motto, “Begin from oneself, extend benevolence to all,” Hungkuang continued to expand its educational mission and opened new departments of Food Science and Nutrition, Industrial Safety and Health, and Healthcare Administration. In 1991, the school was upgraded to Hungkuang Institute of Medical and Nursing Technology, and it added the departments of Childcare and Education and Cosmetology in both the day and night school divisions.
In 1987, Dr. Nai Phon Wang became the second president of Hungkuang Junior College of Nursing. Upon returning from medical practice in the United States, Dr. Wang thought how best to apply his expertise to education. With the support of all faculty and staff, the decision was made to change the school from an institute to Hungkuang College of Technology, the first such school in Central Taiwan to do so. President Wang also set up several new departments: Information Management, Hospitality Management, Physical Therapy, and Applied Foreign Languages. More broadly, he extended the concept of management to every aspect of the school to improve both the administrative operations and educational mission.
In 2000 Dr. Guor Chuan Fang became the third president of Hungkuang. He pushed vigorously for the school to be accredited as a university, a goal that was achieved in 2003. The change was accompanied by the establishment of several new departments, including graduate programs in nursing, biomedical technology, nutrition, food science, cosmetic science, health business administration, environmental engineering, and occupational safety and hazard prevention. In 2006, the Ministry of Education awarded Hungkuang with a 9-year grant for academic excellence, totaling NT 350 million dollars. The school was also recognized as the only model institution among technological universities in Central Taiwan. In 2013, the Ministry of Education recognized Hungkuang alone among all universities in Taiwan with the Award for Excellence in Business Management.
In August of 2014, Dr. Cong Neng Wu became the fourth president of Hungkuang. During this period, he strengthened the school’s health-related programs by establishing the Doctoral Nursing Program, the Post- Baccalaureate Nursing Program, the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, and the Bachelor Degree Program in Animal Healthcare.
From August, 2016 to January, 2017, Vice President Hung Yee Shu served as Acting President. Under his leadership, the school was awarded Taiwan Foundation for Sustainable Energy Foundation “Top 50 Corporate Sustainability Report – Nonprofit Gold Award “and many other honors.
In February, 2017, Dr. Yueh Guey Huang became the fifth president of Hungkuang. In her inaugural speech, she stated her intention to continue and build on Hungkuang’s tradition of excellence. Furthermore, Dr. Huang will focus on enhancing the global competitiveness of our students by strengthening their foreign language skills and follow the government’s New Southbond Policy.
Currently there are 4 colleges: the College of Nursing, the College of Medical and Health Care, the College of Human Science and Social Innovation,and the College of Intelligent Technology. These four colleges support 22 departments, 8 graduate institutes, and 1 doctoral program. The university has a student body of 12,106. The university is not only recognized as a leader in Taiwan for health and human welfare, it also runs an affiliated Hospital for Elderly Care and three affiliated preschools.
