NEWS

On Saturday, July 25, 2015, APU held a forum for high school teachers at the Ritsumeikan Tokyo Campus. Dubbed "The Global Citizen Development Frontier," the forum was attended by twenty teachers from 13 high schools in the Kanto region.

The aim of the event was to explore new possibilities for cooperation among high schools, universities and companies with regard to cultivating talent who can succeed in the global arena amid rapid globalization. APU Associate Professor HIRAI Tatsuya (Educational Development and Learning Support Center) moderated the first session, which featured a report on recent trends in globalization and human resources development and the increasing demand for global talent. This was followed by presentations from high school teachers, university professors and the HR manager of Unicharm.

KUROSAWA Shinji (Vice Principal, Kanto International Senior High School) gave a presentation on his school’s initiatives
and the ideal format for teaching foreign languages from neighboring countries at the high school level.

The second session was a panel discussion that addressed the following three questions from the participants:
1) What is a Global Citizen?
2) How should education address introverted students and encourage individual initiative?
3) What do companies expect from high schools and universities, high schools from universities, and universities from high schools?

In response to the first question, one panelist said, “Global citizens are not just leaders, they are also the individuals who can support leaders." Meanwhile, another panelist said the key to encouraging individual initiative was to provide students with regular opportunities to test their skills. Yet another panelist comment on the last question by saying, "High schools expect universities to create systems that can deepen the learning of high school students; therefore, they want universities to implement high school-university linkage programs."

A scene from the panel discussion. Left to right:
ICHIMURA Yuko (Vice Principal, Tokyo Metropolitan International High School),
KUROSAWA Shinji (Vice Principal, Kanto International High School),
Prof. YOKOTA Masahiro (Dean, School of Global Japanese Studies, Meiji University),
SHIMIZU Naoto (Global Human Resources Main Division, Unicharm Corp.),
Prof. KONDO Yuichi (Dean of Admissions, APU), Assoc.
Prof. HIRAI Tatsuya (Education Development and Learning Support Center, APU)

Following the forum, participants were asked to complete a survey, which included some excellent feedback. One participant said, "I felt that it would be easier to define learning goals to produce 'Global Citizens' since the concept of 'global human resources development' is difficult to incorporate into the secondary education curriculum." Another participant remarked, "This was a great opportunity for high school teachers to think about education at the university level and beyond." Yet another participant said, "I agree with the idea that students can develop the ability to take initiative through experience.”