The National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences has a very long history, and is the first technical and vocational higher education institution for nursing and health sciences in the country. The University has always been a trailblazer and example for the education of nursing and health sciences, and is also the Country’s first technical and vocational education institution to set up a doctorate program to cultivate nursing professionals. It was founded as the Taiwan Provincial Junior College of Nursing in 1954, which was merged with the Provincial Taipei Vocational School of Medicine that was originally founded in 1947 and later restructured into a five-year junior college. In 1981, the University was renamed the National Taipei Nursing College, and was restructured and upgraded to the National Taipei College of Nursing in 1994. To recognize the developments and achievements of the University, the Ministry of Education approved for the University to be renamed the “National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences” in August 2010.

      The University started with the Department of Nursing and during its days as a College, the Department of Health Care Administration (renamed as Department of Health Care Management in 2008) and the Department of Infant & Child Care were added. In 1999, the University was approved to establish a master’s program in the form of a Graduate Institute of Nursing and Graduate Institute of Hospital and Health Care Management while the Graduate Institutes of Long-term Care, Nurse-Midwifery, Health Allied Education, and Speech and Hearing Disorders and Sciences were the first of their kind in Taiwan. The Department of Exercise and Health Sciences and the Department of Information Management were established in 2002. The University was approved to set up a Nursing Doctoral Program in 2005, which was the first nursing doctoral program amongst technical and vocational colleges. The University was then approved to set up an International Nursing Master Program in 2007 to admit foreign students, and began to offer international courses taught in English. In 2012, Department of Thanatology and Health Counseling was established, which is the only Department concerning the life issue and phycological consulting in Taiwan’s vocational education. To respond to government’s policy, Department of Long-term care (2-year program) was established in 2014. Also, Department of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology was set up in 2015 to comply with early intervention needs. In addition, Department of Leisure Industry and Health Promotion was established. Then, Department of Gerontological Health Care, Department of Post Baccalaureate Nursing, Department of Midwifery and Women Health, and Department of Allied Health Education and Digital Learning (2-year Program) were established in 2016 respectively. Since 2017, The university started recruiting international nursing PhD students. It is followed by the Smart Healthcare Interdisciplinary College’s establishment in 2020, and approval of Graduate Institute of AI & bigdata of Health under the College in 2023, so that the University could develop into having four Colleges in “Nursing,” “Health Technology,” “Human Development and Health,” and “Smart Health Care Interdisciplinary” and 14 Departments/Graduate Institute. The educational disciplines of each department cover all of the needs throughout life, and cultivate high-quality healthcare and management talent.

      The University has always believed in being proactive when it comes to running a university and after years of hard work, the University has gradually developed into a comprehensive and matured educational institute. In addition to having high-quality and solid talent-training academic units, the University also has the “Performance Examination Center” that includes healthcare practices along with innovative specialty administration units of the Office of Research and Development such as the “Health Care Industry–Academia Operation Center” and “Incubation Center” that combine industry–academia cooperation and application, which are solid foundations for cultivating the Country’s societal healthcare professionals. When talking about the long-term development for the future, the University will rationally continue to pursue excellence and sustainable management, take advantage of opportunities and situations, and hope to stay up to speed with different trends and keep pace with the rest of the world, create a high-quality technical and vocational education institution, and become a hub for promoting nursing and health knowledge, and cultivating professional talent.

     After more than half a century, the University has cultivated many outstanding nursing and healthcare management talents for the country. Currently, the University is the premier nursing and healthcare university in Mainland China and Taiwan as the University achieved a 5-star overall rating for QS Star Ratings in 2020 and 2023, as well as Top 100 among QS subject ranking in Nursing in 2023. Such brilliant and proud achievements highlight the country’s development of its vocational education for nursing.