Unification of Industry and Academia

Today, Japan is facing several challenges, including a lack of labor force globalization compared to other countries. Additionally, with Japan’s decline in population, there is increased pressure on the global workforce. It is estimated that in 2040, Japan will face a shortfall of 10 million workers. To address this challenge, the government is setting ambitious targets of attracting over 400,000 students from overseas to study in Japan. What role do you believe Japanese colleges can play in addressing these challenges that Japan is facing?

I think that the labor shortage is a big issue, but with the introduction of cutting-edge technologies such as AI, the shortages can be covered. We are also facing challenges that cannot be resolved by usual business or traditional ways of working. In the past, we learned very specific academic ways, particularly in higher education institutions, which could then be used to address these issues, but nowadays, there are issues that cannot be solved with this way of thinking.

I want to introduce you to some of the reforms we’ve done in our university over the past ten years. Generally speaking, the characteristics of Japanese universities are equal to the characteristics of Japanese people. When it comes to globalization, we always think that we need to promote English first, but I think the things done by universities are very similar. When we attempt to promote English, we care about what others are doing. We always care what our peers are doing, and this is actually applicable beyond globalization issues. Within each department or discipline, universities compare themselves to other universities. Essentially there is a combined benchmarking, and we don’t want to be beaten by others. We have to hammer out certain aspects to stand out among all our peers. That comes only thanks to the unique culture and history fostered by each university.

We have 64 years of history within the academic industry. Our university boasts three major discipline fields; humanities, science, and arts. With our mid-Term Plan (2021-2030), we have promoted the fusion of all these disciplines. Through university wide programs and projects, over 10,000 students are studying on one campus, interacting with each other across disciplines.

Main campus

Looking around more established universities in Japan, fusion of humanities and sciences is common. Still, in our university, we have combined these with art to create this unique melting pot. This has made our university striking and unique. The design aspect, in particular, is indispensable. We are always striving to become the number one private university in these fields, but we’ve yet to reach that level. That is why we’re always challenging ourselves to reach our goals. The belief is that one day we will reach that number one spot among private universities. Pursuing solutions to new problems epitomizes our challenging spirit, one that defines our university and our students.

20 years ago, we began taking a project-based approach to learning. We implement projects in collaboration with local businesses, communities, and government. Since implementation, we’ve now reached about 100 projects per year, including ongoing and new projects. Design has started to play an important and active role in giving rise to new things and ideas. This is something that I think other universities cannot do, making our university unique. We annually set the place to present the results of those projects and research. We refer to this as “KSU VISION DAY”.

Design and art are concepts that are inherently global by nature, and the universal language of design really transcends languages such as English, reaching some sort of primal understanding among people around the world. Design and art can be a common language beyond English. Many of our international students are participating in those projects. We can then take their input from a different perspective, creating things that are new and different. I think this is a great cycle and boosts the diversity of our university.

You mentioned that many universities focus on English for globalization, but you also mentioned the importance of offering different perspectives, such as art and design. Japan should be an attractive place for students, yet the numbers show it isn’t reaching its potential. It has world-class facilities and education, with an ever-increasing availability of English language courses and programs. If we look at the total number of international students, it is at about 5%, quite low compared to the UK and the US at between 20-30%. Are there any strategies you’ve implemented at your university to attract more foreign students to study here?

To provide the opportunity for foreign students to have interest in studying in Fukuoka and KSU, we offer extra-curricular activities for foreign high school students and partner universities. They experience our lectures and cultural exchanges with our domestic students as staying at university dorm.

We also provide financial and academic support for international students after enrollment. For example, tuition reduction of 30% for all privately financed international students whose grade meets our requires, up to 50% reduction for high achiever.   From the first to the second year, students are required to take “Academic Japanese” classes for basic and practical skills necessary for studying at university, and from the second semester of the second year, they take “Business Japanese” classes to reach to Japanese level required by Japanese companies. In addition, in cooperation with the faculty to which the student belongs, detailed support is provided in the form of study guidance, course guidance, and department-specific three-party interviews.

The first benefit is the degree they can receive here, but on top of that, about 50% of international students studying here want to secure a job in Japan. As you mentioned at the beginning of this interview, Japan is currently struggling to find labor, and this problem will only worsen for the foreseeable future. The employment rate of our international students is now at 100%. To achieve this rate, we provide  special programs for international students, giving them lessons in things such as job hunting in Japan. We also match students with companies that are recruiting foreigners,

By living in Japan and having connections with Japanese society through university projects, international students become very versed in Japanese culture, and they appreciate the Japanese way of doing things. They learn about aspects such as hospitality and the detail-oriented approach that Japanese people take. Their sensitivity to these cultural aspects is very high, making them more than ready to take on the challenges associated with studying in a foreign country. To put it simply, they are highly motivated, which is something that will continue to drive them forward. This amazing spirit is what also motivates our domestic students, resulting in an interdisciplinary impact. I’ve experienced this positive influence even personally.

Our Global Plaza is designed to promote the exchange between domestic students and international students. At our Global Plaza, we hold events like tea ceremonies and many other things. This enables domestic and international students to mingle.

We have 10,000 students at our university, and since there are so many, English level of domestic students is varied. We provide general English lessons, but they are not enough, so we believe that we need to trigger a greater curiosity in foreign cultures. Students need to feel as if they want to learn a foreign language in order to see results. It is also important to globalize the campus.

The Global Plaza

Your university ranks very highly in Japan, with over 20,000 citations in over 3,000 publications. From our research, we believe that you’ve set out a new mid-term management plan. Could you tell us about some of the key strategies involved in this plan and what steps you are taking to achieve these goals?

Prior to the mid-tern plan, we renewed all faculties at the university before the 60th anniversary. This involved carving out some, restructuring others, and consolidating things together. Essentially the streamlining was done between 2016-2018. The current mid-term plan you mentioned runs until 2030, we are now at the half way point. Next year, we are looking to introduce a quarter system, moving away from the Japanese two-term system. By doing so, we think that it will be easier for foreign students to study at our university. In our original quarter system, we set flexible class terms according to the characteristics of each course, which will improve the learning effect.

The core aspect of our mid-term plan is to change the learning model. The old idea was that we teach, and students grow. We focused purely on the teaching aspect to foster the growth of students. Still, we understand that more is needed, so we are looking to introduce more extracurricular activities, which is an important part of the learning process. We hope that this fosters more active learning from students, particularly with important life skills. At the same time, our goal is to foster creative talents with 360-degree perspective that builds on their core expertise and blend the knowledge of other disciplines through the fused education of the humanities, sciences, and arts.

Partnerships were mentioned earlier in the interview, both with academic institutions and industrial companies. Could you tell us the importance of collaboration in achieving your university’s mission?

Based on our Founding Philosophy, we face the problems which local industry, community and government have, try to find solutions to them by combining our research and educational method. Let me introduce the project I was engaged in before. We ran a project to develop ginger syrup as functional food. Food with Functional Labeling is a food that is allowed to label its health function. In order for the notification to be accepted, the company must either conduct clinical trials on the final product or conduct a systematic review that comprehensively collects and examines a vast amount of relevant domestic and international research by experts and explain the scientific basis for the function. Therefore, although small and medium-sized food product manufacturers understand the advantage of being able to label health functions, the burden on companies is significant, and in many cases, they abandon the application process.

In order to conduct this project, the Faculty of Life Science conducted a systematic review of approximately 100 highly reliable references from among more than 18,000 studies on ginger in Japan and abroad to identify the content of active ingredients required for functional labeling, and repeatedly analyzed the functional ingredients in prototypes to determine the recipe. In addition, the Faculty of Collaborative Regional Development formulated a marketing strategy based on market analysis of ginger food products, and the Faculty of Art and Design designed the brand mark, package, and label. This was one example of the industry-academia collaboration which was undertaken cross-faculty.

The university is engaged in all sorts of similar projects. As I mentioned earlier, we hold an annual exhibition for all of these projects (KSU VISION DAY). This year, we hold it on 1st and 2nd November, so please feel free to come and see some interesting projects and products.

Are you currently looking to broaden your partnerships with overseas academic institutions?

We always seek referrals from our faculty members, particularly in terms of partnerships with other academic institutions. We can always expand partnerships by starting with one department and then widening the scope to other departments. Making these relationships larger can become more secure and beneficial for both parties. We have a relationship with Stanford University, with an international and cross-cultural educational program we have launched together and also exchanges for art, design, and sports. This communication is made easier thanks to this starting point of the exchange.

Do you have a message you want to deliver to your readers?

Our university has always stood proudly as one that takes challenges head-on, and this challenging spirit, along with our creativity, epitomizes our university as a whole. We would like to continue contributing to local society so that it prospers now and in the future. The perspective of our students should expand to the whole of mankind. As a university, it is our job to shape the minds of young learners who will lead the world into the future.

For more information, visit their website at: https://www.kyusan-u.ac.jp/E/