Notes from the President

APU has a system of Academic Advisors in which world-renowned scholars act as advisors to the university. One of these advisors, the Harvard Professor Emeritus Ezra F. Vogel, visited APU in September and gave a lecture on one of the great leaders of modern China, Deng Xiaoping, to Beppu residents. Professor Vogel was visiting Japan on the occasion of the Japanese publication of his work “Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China”, and we were able to welcome our Academic Advisor Professor Vogel to APU during his visit. He had high praise for APU as one of the foremost international universities in Japan, and commended our university for nurturing a generation of young people that will improve relations between Asian countries.

Another prominent scholar, Professor Tommy Koh of the National University of Singapore, who also acts as Ambassador-at-Large for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore, also mentions APU in the book “Nihon no Tachiichi wo Kangaeru” (Considering Japan’s Place in the World) (Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, September 2013). This book, edited by Mr. Akashi Yasuo, is a collection of reports from a symposium in which intellectuals from Japan and other countries discussed Japan’s challenges and future path. The editor Mr. Akashi is a former UN Under-Secretary-General, and is also a member of APU’s Advisory Committee. Professor Tommy Koh mentions APU in his lecture, saying “I have been serving as an Academic Advisor at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Beppu city, Oita prefecture. This university holds lectures in both English and Japanese, and 80% of their students are international students (note: this number is a mistake – 50% of our students are international students). Japan needs more universities like this”. He continues by saying “Japan has many outstanding universities. Why do these universities not transform themselves into globalized institutions? Why are they not lecturing in both Japanese and English?” I hope to take the advice of these two Academic Advisors to heart by continuing to improve upon the globalization efforts of APU.