Student Life

Description of the Program

Program Structure

The program mainly consists of three cores. Details of each core will be given the beginning of the program.

1. Academic Core
The HPGC students are expected to acquire and maintain high-quality academic standards regarding GPA, the number of credits earned, and language score/skill.

2. Future Leader Core
In order to develop leadership skills, HPGC students participate in regular seminars, lectures, and workshops which are hold only for HPGC students.

  • 1st semester: Off-campus training camp + weekly seminar
  • From the second semester and onward: Regular seminars (once or twice/month)
  • All semesters: Lectures, workshops, etc. (Intermittent)
  • Meeting with APU officials

3. Service Learning Core
The HPGC students are expected to engage in service learning in which they explore and tackle real-world problems and issues in various areas.
Students are required to earn the designated number of badges in order to complete the program by participating in a university-led program or off campus volunteer program and taking initiatives and conduct events or projects on their own.
Additionally, students who actively participate in the Service Learning Core and gained a certain number of badges will be ranked based on their number of badges. Three rankings recognize the efforts that students make in becoming a role model and will be presented to the students at program completion.

Graduation Production

At the end of their final semester, the HPGC students showcase and give a presentation which will be an accumulation of their activities and experiences for 4 years in HPGC.

Each student is to showcase their project in a poster session format around the end of their final semester followed by an oral presentation before graduation ceremony in front of fellow HGPC students, staff, and family and friends.

Requirements for Continuing/Completing Program

The continuing, completing, or withdrawing from the program will be decided by the HPGC Steering Committee. To continue or complete the program, students need to fulfill all of following requirements. Screening for continuing the program will be conducted every semester.

① Continuation Criteria
1) Grades Criteria
  a) GPA  : Cumulative GPA must not fall below 3.0 for two consecutive semesters after joining the HPGC
  b) Credits: At least 14 credits completed during first and second semesters
        : At least 16 credits completed during third through sixth semesters
2) Students whose first language is Japanese: Required to have 550 points on the TOEFL or an equivalent score at the time they advance from second-year to third-year.
  They will not be able to continue in the program if they do not meet this requirement.
3) HPGC related event and meeting attendance: Must have attendance rate of at least 90% for all meetings

② Completion Criteria
1) Grades Criteria
  a) GPA: Cumulative GPA must be 3.0 or higher
  b) Must fulfill all the requirements for graduation by the end of 8th semester.
2) Language Criteria
  Students whose first language is Japanese: 580 points on TOEFL or equivalent score
  Students whose first language is other than Japanese: JLPT Level N2 or higher
3) HPGC related event and meeting attendance
  Must have an attendance rate of at least 90% for all
4) Must participate in designated activities and initiate, plan, and conduct at least one activity and receive approval.
5) Must work for graduation production and give a presentation at the end of their final semester.

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