National University Corporation: Fukushima University

An accessible university with a face you can see:
Fostering people through education and research results

We now live in a fully-globalized world, one in which changes in local events can instantly be felt almost anywhere. In this increasingly competitive atmosphere, the importance of Japan's national universities to society as promoters of knowledge and bastions of cultural heritage has been re-recognised, and universities themselves are endeavouring to meet the expectations that have built up for them to act.

Originally, universities were centres for research and the higher learning of a broad range of liberal arts, where the professoriate concerned themselves with their primary duties to students and to the pursuit of educational and research activities. However, following the recent corporatization of national universities, our institutions have been assigned a third task of reforming in order to contribute more to their localities. How best to move ahead in consideration of these three responsibilities has become a serious issue for modern day university management.

Until recently, many felt that university faculty blissfully studied and conducted research, existing outside a society driven by industry, politics, and economics. However, circumstances at universities have changed greatly and are now such that, in anything one does, one needs to provide transparency while preserving autonomy, and must respond to the needs of the community. Localities now expect that those employed at universities make data and other information, including research results, accessible to the public. Thus, academic studies need no longer be expressed in the form of published articles alone. They may take the form of visualized information, hands-on experimentation that communicates pertinent findings, or other media that promote a means of apprehending the public's understanding of research. Our communities want to be involved in activities and discussions of important topics; and we, as members of these communities, should respond. In order to make this response, we must first render our educational and research activities visible to people off-campus. I believe this will produce a publicly recognisable face that expresses the wealth of knowledge acquired, will allow our work to be evaluated and thus improved upon, will promote awareness of the university in society, and will allow us to be supported with greater confidence.

Situated in the heart of a picturesque natural environment, Fukushima University presents a unique, compact combination of four faculties of study within the two large academic "clusters" of the social sciences and science and engineering. As of April 2010, the Faculty of Symbiotic Systems Science has expanded to offer a Ph. D course, pursuing new heights in education and research. Fukushima University has realised the objectives made in its 2005 declaration to new students, and will continue forging ahead in the same spirit with a second series of term objectives, set out in "Plan 2015."

We shall endeavour to develop and promote Fukushima University as an accessible centre for learning and research, one which will draw national and international attention while making significant contributions to its communities in the Tohoku and North Kanto regions.