Notes from the President

This fall, APU welcomes 642 new students, bringing its enrollment to 2,666 international students and 3,134 domestic students, a total of 5,800 students. Congratulations to all of you.

APU is approaching its 15th anniversary as an international university representing Japan. Its campus, boasting a world-leading multi-cultural environment, is a singular point, a singular topos, both in the Japanese islands and in Asia. This is where, through your four years as a student, you will create the rest of your life. What will you do with your life? How will you live your life? University is the place you will search for the answers to these questions. Spend your time here productively so that four years from now, when you leave this university, you will be able to say with confidence that your life is just beginning.

The components of education at APU are outstanding professional education, intensive language education and liberal arts centering on global justice. APU is a university that specializes in social sciences such as management, economics, sociology and international relations. Cultivate an extensive knowledge of your chosen field. Domination through power and realpolitik run rampant across the world and there seems to be no end to the tragedy of many human beings losing their lives to war and violence everyday. But nothing can come of war and violence. The human race must turn towards compromise and tolerance arising from dialogue. It is not military force or brutality that controls and manages the world of human beings but rather the wisdom that brings civilizations together.

APU has pursued diversity since its establishment. From diversity comes creativity and the wisdom to produce new values. No matter what country you come from, APU is a cross-cultural and multi-cultural environment. Such diversity is the source of our drive for progress and our new values. This multi-lingual and multi-cultural environment will provide you with the opportunity to look anew at the culture of your own country and to cultivate the relativist perspective toward the Self and the Other that is fundamental to the mindset of those who work as global human resources.

What opens the door to cross-cultural understanding is language. A language does not only function as a communication tool but also forms an essential part of the foundation of a cultural sphere. APU provides an intensive Japanese-English bilingual language program as well as courses in six other languages, referred to as Asia-Pacific languages. English basis international students begin by studying Japanese, while domestic students begin by studying English. Both sets of students then go on to take up another language, in doing so gaining at least two languages in addition to their native language. This practice of developing proficiency in multiple languages will surely become a global standard in the future.