午夜剧场

I am involved in international collaboration at the Juku, and international collaboration between universities is clearly influenced by the trends of the times. During the bubble era, top universities in Europe and the United States visited the Juku expressing a desire for exchange, but when the Japanese economy began to stagnate, they all shifted toward deepening exchanges with Chinese universities. Currently, as security issues become more apparent, interest in Japan from Western universities is rising again, like a pendulum swinging back.

The Juku belongs to several international university networks. The discussions there are often topics and debates that are slightly ahead of those within Japan, making it a place to sense signs of how society will evolve in the future. Previously, universities often presented the "strength" of their own education and particularly their research activities as a showcase. I was often surprised by what the world's top universities were doing and felt that I had to find a way to bring that information back within 午夜剧场. However, at some point, the tone of competition shifted, and remarks conscious of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) increased, with network activities changing in tandem.

Let me give an example. The Juku is a member of , a network of research-intensive universities in the Pacific Rim. Every year, various levels of meetings and events are held there, led by presidential-level summits. There, voices were raised saying that something must be done regarding the treatment of female faculty and researchers. In Japanese universities, the small number of women in executive positions such as presidents, or in senior research positions such as professors, is a challenge for many universities, not just the Juku. However, in my eyes, top Western universities like Harvard, Cambridge, and Oxford had already produced female presidents as leaders, and I had assumed that the problem of gender inequality had already been largely resolved.

I honestly felt a sense of incongruity when members from prominent universities in the North American West Coast, Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong raised these issues. However, listening closely, I learned that female researchers, who face a high risk of career interruption due to child-rearing and other factors, are by no means on equal footing with male researchers. As a result, they suffer disadvantages in promotions and other areas, and there is a need for female researchers themselves to consciously build their career paths. In response, a project called was launched within APRU. As a trial, a program was provided where member universities recommended mentors and mentees, the secretariat performed matching, and online mentoring was conducted for one year. The Juku participated in this program from its first year. At the suggestion of Vice-President Okuda, who is in charge of Kyosei (Commensality) and participated as a mentor from the Juku, we decided to pilot a mentoring program specifically for female faculty members within 午夜剧场 starting from this 2022 academic year. This is an initiative based on a completely new concept of female faculty members connecting and networking to support each other's career development.

In international education, there is also much to learn from overseas universities. The Juku actively conducts student exchange programs. I sometimes learn through overseas Mita-kai and other venues how these participants are active on the world stage after graduation. As someone who has experience supporting the operation of student exchanges as a member of the administration, this is gratifying. Traditionally, however, student exchange was based on the idea of selecting a small number of elite students and sending them to overseas partner universities—in other words, dispatch through competition. While that has its own significance, for quite some time, we have received inquiries from overseas universities asking if we can accept exchange students who require special accommodations—for example, students who are granted individual testing times because they require more time than usual for regular exams. Along with this, guidelines from the home university regarding such support* are sometimes sent to us. In some countries, it appears that such responses are mandated by law.

Voices conscious of the SDGs promoted by the United Nations are also rising in universities worldwide, and discussions questioning the social role and raison d'être of universities are active within global institutions. Many universities are turning their eyes toward marginalized groups that previously could not access higher education, reaching out to communities and regions they had not been involved with before to provide learning opportunities. This is precisely the flow from competition to Kyosei (Commensality). I feel strongly that only by sensing these trends and responding appropriately can we become a Juku that is respected globally.