At universities located in the Tokyo metropolitan area
Improving education to meet the needs of industry
At universities located in the Tokyo metropolitan area
Improving education to meet the needs of industry
Business Overview
This project ("Improving education in response to the needs of industry at universities located in the Tokyo metropolitan area") is one of the initiatives adopted for the "FY2012 Project to Improve and Enhance Education in Response to the Needs of Industry" organized by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (initiative period: three years from FY2012 to FY2014).
The basic role of universities as expected by society is to educate students and send them out into society, in other words, to equip students with the ability to live independently both socially and professionally after graduation while they are enrolled. Students should understand the needs of the industry they will enter after graduation while enrolled and acquire the ability to be "socially and professionally independent."
To meet the mission placed on universities by society, this project will see 18 universities* with their main campuses in the Tokyo metropolitan area work together with industry to improve and enhance their education, with the aim of nurturing human resources who are socially and professionally independent and can meet the needs of industry.
In order to improve education in order to develop human resources that can meet the needs of industry, this project has set the following five themes, along with their objectives, methods/project content, and results.
| theme | the purpose | Method and business details | Results |
| 1. Understanding industry needs | In order to close the gap between the capabilities required by industry and universities, we will develop methods for identifying industry needs that are tailored to the conditions of each university. | The research method will be focus group interviews, with students sampled according to the research objectives being interviewed to learn the method and then disseminate it to other universities. | By individual universities using the developed method, they will be able to understand the needs of industry at their own universities in a more in-depth manner than is possible through regular questionnaire surveys. |
| 2. Development of methods to measure social and professional independence | We will examine scales for measuring social and professional independence and develop more effective measurement methods. | We will compare and evaluate multiple existing measurement methods to extract the conditions necessary for formulating a measurement method, and based on this, develop a measurement method that reflects the needs of industry. | Each university can consider the applicability of the measurement methods to their respective students and adopt the measurement methods that are appropriate for their own university. |
| 3. Developing and organizing a curriculum that meets the needs of industry | In order to develop and systematize a curriculum that meets the needs of industry, we will investigate and examine examples of cutting-edge initiatives. | We will investigate and examine the curricula implemented at individual universities to develop and systematize them, and at the same time, with the cooperation of industry-government-academia collaboration conferences, etc., to understand and reflect the industry's views on academic studies. | We will develop a curriculum and set out the subjects that universities should offer in order to meet the needs of industry and promote the social and professional independence of students. |
| 4. Developing human resource development programs in collaboration with industry | In collaboration with industry, we will develop programs to develop human resources that will equip them with the "working skills" necessary for working adults. | We develop video teaching materials based on work situations, PBL-type education such as event sales internships, and overseas internships in collaboration with overseas companies and organizations. | We will share our human resource development programs through the use of the video teaching materials we have produced and through participation in internships at various universities. |
| 5. Nurturing engineers who meet the needs of industry | We will improve and enhance education in order to develop engineers who have the social and professional independence to meet the needs of industry. | With the aim of popularizing student engagement education and improving its implementation methods, we will conduct case studies, hold PBL study groups, and hold world cafe-style debates. | Develop and disseminate methods of system engineer education to effectively train engineers who have social and professional independence. |
These five themes are closely interrelated, and by working on each theme and utilizing the results in the other themes, it is expected that the project objectives will be achieved more effectively.
In addition, we would like to focus on "collaboration with industry," which is a distinctive feature of this project, and will work to improve the quality of the project by collaborating with industry on each of the project's themes.
* 18 universities participating in this project:
1. Aoyama Gakuin University, 2. Otsuma Women's University, 3. Ochanomizu University, 4. Kogakuin University, 5. Komazawa University, 6. Shibaura Institute of Technology, 7. Showa Women's University, 8. Joshibi University of Art and Design, 9. Senshu University, 10. Takushoku University, 11. Tokyo Kasei University, 12. Tokyo Denki University, 13. Tokyo City University, 14. Tokyo Future University, 15. Hosei University, 16. Meiji Gakuin University, 17. Mejiro University, 18. Tokyo Kasei University Junior College
Project implementation structure
The implementation structure of this project is as shown in the diagram below, with an organizer university set up for each theme, which will manage the project, including managing progress. Each theme has a member university that will be primarily involved in it, but universities from any university group can participate in each theme as observers at any time. The Industry-Government-Academia Collaboration Council will approve the project plan, evaluate the results, and provide advice.
