Our history

Located at the east foothill of Guanyin Mountain in Kaohsiung County, I-Shou University (ISU) was established by Mr. I-Shou Lin in 1986 for commemorating his mother and benefiting the villages and towns where he grew up. Its predecessor, Kaohsiung Polytechnic Institute (KPI), started to recruit students in August 1990. In 1997, after being approved by the Ministry of Education, KPI was formally renamed as I-Shou University.

Rapidly expanding in the past decade, ISU currently has six colleges: College of Science and Engineering, College of Electrical Engineering & Information Science, College of Management, College of Language and Communication, College of Medical Sciences, and International College

Dr. Shen-Li Fu, who has served as the President of ISU since the beginning of KPI, has been leading its faculty, staff and students to pursue excellence in teaching and academic performance.

In September 2006, Yenchao Campus, which is next to E-DA Hospital and is reserved for the building of the Medical School, was opened to accommodate the departments of the College of Medical Sciences.

More than 87 percent of the faculty holds doctoral degrees. When recruiting new faculty members, incoming scholars’ research areas are as important as their experience as practioners. All of the academic programs are established based on the principle of 'respecting both theories and practices; balancing between teaching and research'. The entire faculty is also encouraged to involve their students in interdisciplinary research that is of academic and practical significance.

In 2009, the Webmetrics Ranking of World Universities ranked I-Shou University 371th in the world, 11th out of 163 accredited universities in Taiwan, and number 2 among private universities in Taiwan.