After being honored as one of the top universities under 50 years old in the QS Asian University Ranking, the National Chi Nan University (NCNU) enrolled in the 2022 World Universities with Real Impact (WURI) competition for the first time and ranked among the world's top 50 influential universities in five indicators. WURI, known as "World Universities with Real Impact," established by the Hanseatic League of Universities (HLU), has more than 120 university members. The ranking system evaluates the actual contribution of universities to society, emphasizing the innovative approaches of the university’s research and education. Among 792 innovative projects proposed by 309 universities globally this year, NCNU accomplished astonishing results, receiving ranking among the top 50 universities in five categories and placing 24^th globally in the digital transformation area.

The 2022 WURI virtual conference was hosted by the Institute of Competitiveness Policy and Strategy (IPSNC) in Seoul, South Korea. The recently announced 2022 WURI Rankings selected the top 50 universities based on evaluations in six categories, including Industrial Application, Entrepreneurial Spirit, Ethical Value, Student Mobility and Openness, Crisis Management, and Fourth Industrial Revolution. What is special about WURI is that it adds a new area of evaluation every year. This year, the newly added "Fourth Industrial Revolution" category, namely digital transformation, gauges whether the university can effectively use innovative digital technologies or adopt artificial intelligence to bring digital transformation to campuses or the surrounding cities.

The 792 entries received this year were sent to judges anonymously. The judges reviewed all projects according to the three criteria of innovativeness, feasibility, and real impact and recommended the 10 best projects in each category. The evaluation results were subsequently sent to the WURI Evaluation Board. Finally, the Board aggregated and tallied the best 50 projects of each category based on the evaluation results of all judges.

According to NCNU, the university's first participation in the WURI Rankings won the honor of being included in the top 50 universities worldwide in five categories, placing 40th in "Industrial Application," 38th in "Ethical Value," 37th in "Student Mobility and Openness," 47th in "Crisis Management," and 24th in "The Fourth Industrial Revolution - Digital Transformation." Of note, the project team led by Professor Jen-Shin Hong (洪政欣) of NCNU's "Education Big Data Center" received global recognition in the "Fourth Industrial Revolution - Digital Transformation" category for its contribution to establishing learning journey profiles and digital transformation for high schools. Professor Hwy-Chang Moon, Chairman of the WURI Evaluation Board, stated at the press conference that he hoped that the 2022 rankings would break the limitations of existing university rankings through the discovery of future-oriented institutions with vigorous vitality and a strong innovative spirit.

The NCNU president, Dong-Sing Wuu (武東星), indicated that a truly influential university should have diversified educational goals and, more importantly, continue to learn and innovate. Although NCNU is a young institution with only 27 years of history, it has achieved an outstanding performance in digital transformation, university social responsibility, industry–university collaboration, and internationalization. NCNU is a new type of university full of pioneering spirits.