午夜剧场

As a summer university event, the season has arrived where announcements for Open Campus catch one's eye on train advertisements. These types of events began about 30 years ago, and it is said that Ritsumeikan University was the first to hold an event using the name "Open Campus" in 1988. The first one held at 午夜剧场 was in 1992.

In this era, events that opened university campuses in the summer for prospective students were not yet popular, but SFC had already held several information sessions on campus in 1990, immediately after its establishment. Young staff from the Academic Affairs Department and the Office of Communications and Public Relations took the lead in visiting other universities to turn this into an event featuring all faculties, allowing prospective students to get to know 午夜剧场 while seeing the campus. After two years of planning, the project was finally approved in the spring of 1992. With the determination that there would be no next year if they failed, they planned an event for the first year that could be handled by staff alone. On August 28, the event was held at the Mita Campus using the entire old South Building under the name "University Information Session." The program included tours of the library and the Enzetsukan (Public Speaking Hall), and the number of visitors exceeded 1,100, which was an outstanding record for an inaugural year at that time.

Based on the success of the first year, faculty members were asked to provide explanations for each department the following year. However, on the day of the event, Typhoon No. 11 hit the Kanto region directly. Despite the adverse conditions of heavy rain and wind, which caused public transportation to stop in the afternoon, over 900 participants arrived one after another. Upon hearing this, President Torii (at the time) rushed to the venue himself and personally spoke to the soaking wet prospective students.

In the third year, the event was held at Hiyoshi with full preparation. On the same day, an information session for the Faculty of Science and Technology was also held at Yagami, and summer events for prospective students continued to expand. Although the events were initially held under the name "University Information Session," in 1998, with the cooperation of the faculties, mock lectures were incorporated for the first time, and the name was changed to "Open Campus."

By the late 1990s, Open Campus had become common, and as high schools began actively encouraging students to participate, the number of visitors continued to increase. In 2000, the total for the four campuses exceeded 10,000 for the first time, and around 2008, the number of daily visitors at both Mita and Hiyoshi exceeded 10,000, making it difficult to even move through the school buildings. Consequently, they were forced to switch to a pre-registration system starting in 2010, limiting the number of attendees to this day.

In addition to the Open Campus for all faculties, various other projects have been developed and implemented. Among them, the university information sessions limited to students from regional areas, which started in 2012, are unique. They focus on explanations of scholarships and student dormitories, as well as introductions to and consultations about life in Tokyo, and have been well received.

(Editorial Department)