As we put together the RSP400 and move forward with our projects, we position the following six "top-priority strategies", in particular, as projects we need to tackle on a priority basis, to enhance the effectiveness of change throughout the entire project and to design an effective future plan.
From here on, our society will certainly see the expansion of globalization, and information technology will likely evolve in ways that exceed our imagination. Ryukoku University will continue to roll out the education that makes us who we are, regardless of how society evolves, whether it be a globalized society, a society permeated by artificial intelligence, and so on. Through our activities, we will contribute to humanity and to the development of society through the values we create, by fostering the development of citizens with the qualities of "Magokoro," regardless of what changes society faces; and we must likewise foster the development of those who bring about significant changes in our society, where no one is left behind. For this purpose, in addition to generic skills, we will need to foster a wide-ranging cultural education and a deep level of specialization, by enriching the education we offer for each degree course. Furthermore, as we take a hard look at the trends in educational reforms and the increasingly diversified fundamental scholastic ability of students, we need to create a framework for more "learner-centric" ways to learn.
Within the process of making educational reforms, we will establish a venue for our students to get involved in these reforms in a self-reliant way, so that we are able to hear the opinions of the learners. Furthermore, in cooperation with our students, we will create a scheme for reforms from the point of view of our students, who are engaged in the creation of instruction and learning. To do so, we will set up both regular and extracurricular educational programs as part of our initiative for cultivating the competency (literacy) that is at the foundation of all learning, carried out to make our three points for the "strength and mentality that should be nurtured" a reality. Specifically, we will (1) foster the "strength and mentality that should be nurtured" for being exponents of a society that demonstrates both change and harmony; and (2) foster the development of citizens with the qualities of "Magokoro," as per our Long-Term Objective #1. For this reason, we will roll out an education wherein our students come to terms, through self-reflection and dialogue, with questions that have no answers, promoting reforms in order to realize these goals. By doing so, we do not simply stop at defining how we are different from other universities. Rather, we make our individuality as a university even clearer, which we believe will lead to firmly establishing our brand and positioning.
As a university, we intend to foster the development of citizens who possess the qualities of "Magokoro" and contribute to creating world peace, as shown in our Vision 2039. To do this, the question of how we roll out our global strategy will be vitally important in terms of policies. For this purpose, we must consider our future expansion. This not only includes our aim to increase the quantity of our international exchanges, but also make this a reality and develop the organizational frameworks, facilities and equipment necessary to make these exchanges meaningful, in terms of education.
Specific initiatives such as the number of incoming international students, the number of our students studying abroad, the ratio of foreign faculty members, the development of English-only educational programs, the organization and expansion of our Japanese language educational program for incoming international students, the expansion of our cooperation with partner universities as well as the enrichment and enhancement of said cooperation, maintenance of our facilities for accepting students, and so on will be separately dealt with mainly by our Center for the Promotion of Global Education, and policies will be created in cooperation with each organizational body of instruction and learning.
The foundation for realizing the overarching role that our university plays, as well as for the expansion of our characteristics and appeal, not to mention for putting our competitiveness into action, lies in our level of research. Modern universities are expected to contribute to society by means of the research they carry out that makes use of its collective impact, and it is expected that these universities have accurate strategies for making a sustainable society a reality through their research.
In regard to our mission regarding the research we are expected to carry out, we are able to meet these demands by strengthening and fostering an individualistic and unique kind of research, through realizing the things that identify our university as well as the unique experience that we offer through said research. We will engage in initiatives to enhance the level of our research and to establish a level of acclaim from society by affirmatively pushing forward with the acquisition of external funding on the part of all Faculties, taking incentive-based measures towards research that has shown results, and so on. We will further engage in initiatives as a priority to enhance our level of research and as supporting strategies, so that the efforts and results of individual research undertaken can be linked to the enhancement of the level of research conducted at our university overall.
In response to the issues that are occurring which impact humanity as a whole, such as fluctuations in climate, environmental destruction, and the widening disparities in society across the globe, not to mention the problems of conflict and poverty, our university will take the initiative in creating schemes towards the resolution of these problems from the perspective of making a contribution to society, taking the lead in building a "new vision for society."
To do this, we will rally our overall strengths by engaging in diverse research that spans different fields irrespective of field of expertise; and we will create a collective impact in tandem with various groups outside of our university (such as local municipalities, companies, NPOs, NGOs and so forth), in our aim to create values as a leader of societal change.
Through these activities, we will make the objectives of the SDGs a reality, and engage in initiatives aimed at achieving world peace over the long term.
Also, in recent years, wind and flood damage due to fluctuations in climate has occurred in many different regions, and earthquakes are a frequent occurrence throughout Japan. Owing to the characteristics of this country such as its location, geology and terrain, Japan is in a situation where such wind and flood damage as well as the impact of earthquakes are unavoidable. For this reason, in view of the long time frame of the two decades remaining before the 400th anniversary of our university's founding, we will prepare for the risks of disaster along with the local community, while keeping in mind the need to operate as a university with this type of risk natural disasters that may occur at any time, and consider our relationship with society in the region with our RSP400 as the foundation. By doing so, we will create a university that can overcome these kinds of disasters.
Today's issues and the needs of our modern times will not be able to be solely handled by education and research, or by top-to-bottom organizations such as our departments for instruction and learning for our students, or by organizations responsible for making decisions. Rather, there are an increasing number of cases where we must get involved by means of departmental or cross-organizational efforts to resolve issues posed by a complex array of factors. At the same time, the quality and accuracy of our decision-making process has come under question due to increased difficulties in our external environment and intensifying competition with competing schools. This has brought about the need for our university to make decisions more efficiently and rapidly. This issue came to light in our Long-Term Plan V; and upon review we recognize that one of the issues is the need to deal with these problems at the core.
With this, as part of the RSP400 we will create and bring about reforms so that our administrative body and lines of decision-making can flexibly deal with these changes in the times and complex issues, which we will engage in while creating a system for expertly studying and making decisions as an incorporated school (including our business planning and finances) regarding crucial business and top-priority issues, thereby increasing the level and speed at which we can operate our organization and make decisions.
Through the various projects and reforms in the RSP400, we will strive to enrich ourselves as a university, but we will also roll out new strategies as a business.
For instance, we will devise a variety of measures in our relationship with affliliated Heian Junior and Senior High School, such as education, sharing the use of our facilities, integrating our educational programs from the standpoint of connecting high school to university education, and so on. Along with this, we will roll out measures that take advantage of the merits enjoyed by Ryukoku Sogo Gakuen, owing to its size.
We will also create strategies that include possibilities for our relationships with other companies, etc., aside from our affiliated school, Ryukoku Sogo Gakuen. In other words, measures towards future situations, such as the decreasing birthrate in Japan along with corporate integration and so on (mergers between universities as directed by national policy, transfer of Academic Staff, etc.) that are predicted in the years to come will be considered as our top-priority strategies.