Back in August 1975, in response to the flourishing development of the wood processing industry, a 3-year program was established in the “Division of Forest Products Utilization,” when the University was known as National Pingtung Agriculture Institute. During the 1980s, due to the restrictions on log export in East Asia, industries that strongly rely on export logs were the first to bear the brunt and had to relocate or transform their operating methods. But with the furniture industry still at its peak, factories that manufactured wood boards with wasted wood started to establish. Therefore, in August 1986, to expand the level and depth of processing technology, the division was renamed as “Division of Wood Industry.”

　　At the end of the 1990s, due to rising wages, difficulty in obtaining raw materials and the government’s Southward policy, Taiwan’s wood processing industry was brought to a turning point. The school was renamed National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, and the department was renamed the Department of Wood Industry. After the status changes of institutions, the department began to recruit vocational high school students with a background in agriculture and furniture woodworking and started their own master’s program in 2001.

　　Furthermore, to improve the vocational teaching system, the department increased the enrollment for students with designing backgrounds, making the source of students more diversified. The course contents were revised to meet the needs of  more diverse development in the future, and in 2004 the department was renamed as “Department of Wood Science and Technology.”With a transformation towards a combination of scientific theory and design, it is expected that the diversified development will cultivate students to the level required by the industry, meeting the goals of technical and vocational education.