Top Global University Project （Type B） Soka University

1. Outline【 Name of project 】

Global Initiative for Humanistic Education
Fostering Global Citizens for Building Peace and Sustainable Prosperity【 Future vision of the university planned in TGU project 】
We aim to foster global citizens for building peace and sustainable prosperity, and will undertake the development ofhumanistic education in global society to foster such individuals.

【 Summary of Project 】
Soka University’s mission is to foster creative individuals in line with our founding principles, and to produce
individuals who will contribute to the society. With our active efforts in the international exchange, Soka University
was selected for the MEXT “Project for Promotion of Global Human Resource Development” in fiscal 2012. In thisproject, we set a goal to foster “Creative Global Citizens” who lead the way for peace and sustainable prosperity, andwe define “Creative Global Citizens” as individuals with “intellectual capability” and “strength of character” who will
creatively open up the international society. In order to foster such individuals, we will undertake the following 4
initiatives:
1. “Global Mobility: supporting study abroad and accepting students from abroad to advance the globalization of thecampus,” 2. “Global Learning: improvement of undergraduate and graduate programs that meet global standards,”
3. “Global Administration: globalization in the university governance,” and 4. “Global Core: establishment of the
Global Core Center and a new graduate program to promote world-class peace research.” Through these, we aim toestablish a “Global Initiative for Humanistic Education.”（Outline Figure etc.）

Global Initiative for Humanistic Education
Fostering Global Citizens for Building Peace and Sustainable Prosperity

Founding principles of Soka University-Be the highest seat of learning for humanistic education.
-Be the cradle of a new culture.
-Be a fortress for the peace of humankind.

Development of Soka University’s Grand Design Initiative 2.0
Medium- to long-term plan extended until the university’s 60th anniversary year (2030)

2010 Soka University’s Grand Design Initiative

Image of Soka University as it marks its 50th anniversary

Medium- to long-term plan extended until the university’s 50thanniversary year (2020)

University fostering “Creative Individuals” based on its founding principles

Adopted in 2012
The “Go Global Japan” (GGJ) projectIntellectualcapability[1] Expansion of study abroad opportunities[2] Enhancement of English learning programs[3] Increase in the number of courses conducted in English in theUndergraduate Programs[4] Improvement of the support system for study abroad[5] Expansion of the maximum number of international student enrollments[6] Advancement of internationalization of faculty and administrative staff

IndividuaI Potential

Strength ofcharacter

Specific efforts
Expansion of exchange programs with universities located in various
linguistic areas and regions, including developing countries (Africa, etc.)

Deepened into four points whereby the projects implemented
under GGJ were improved

Global Mobility
Advancement of globalization of the campus by supporting students
for study abroad and expanding international student enrollments

Global Learning

Almost all domestic students studying abroad
Expansion of the ratio of international students to about 15% of the whole
student bodyExpansion of support systems to realize the above efforts (dormitories,scholarships, systems for credit recognition, etc.)
Establish “Global Citizen Education Courses” in the common subjects for
all faculties
Provide common subjects of all faculties in EnglishFull-scale adoption of the English Track by all faculties

Advancement of globalization of the Undergraduate andGraduate Programs to foster “Creative Global Citizens”

Improvement of language education systems to realize the above effort, andenhancement of the assessment of foreign language skills through TOEFL andother language tests

Global Administration

Expansion of the number of international faculty and administrative staff, and recruitmentof management-level employees from overseas

Advancement of globalization in management anddecision-making processes of the university

Language training programs for administrative staff and dispatching staff to overseas countries

Implementation of various FD and SD programs

Establishment of the“Global Core Center”
Opening of the “Graduate Schoolof Peace Research andWorld Citizenship Education”(working title)

Global Core
Taking global initiatives for humanistic education
Development of a functional promotion organization to support the project
Board of Trustees
President

Strategy Council for Soka Grand Design(Grand Design)

School for Excellence in
Educational Development (SEED)
Undergraduate Programs (6 faculties)
Faculty of International
Faculty of Nursing
Liberal Arts

Global Education
Promotion Center

International Strategy Office

Global CoreCenterAdministrationGraduate Schools (4 majors)

Global Education
Promotion Center
for Graduate School

Graduate School of Peace
Research and World
Citizenship Education(working title)【Summary of the 10-year plan】
The summary of the 10-year plan to realize the “global initiative for humanistic education”, which will provide programs inorder to produce “Global Citizens” who are dedicated to advancing peace and sustainable prosperity, will be the below:○ Fiscal 2014
- Provided pre- and post- study abroad session, and created and distributed a risk-management handbook (every yearonward)- Provided IP courses to study specialized courses in English, and hired adjunct instructors and extramural instructors(until fiscal 2017)- Provided pre-enrollment English course using e-Learning system (every year onward)- Promoted English translation of administrative documents, and enrichment of simultaneous interpretation system (everyyear onward)- Implemented self-assessment and third-party assessment centering on IR (every year onward)○ Fiscal 2015
- Enhance new and ongoing study abroad destination through utilizing publicity pamphlets in English (every year onward)- Implement and improve pre-arrival entrance examination for international students using the online application system(every year onward)- Enhance English writing centers utilizing graduate students (every year onward)- Develop new overseas center and hold exchange events (when required)- Promote multi-lingual websites by hiring specialized translation staff (every year onward)- Prepare towards a symposium commemorating the opening of the Global Core Center○ Fiscal 2016
- Implement academic advising for international students in their language by students with overseas experience (everyyear onward)- Provide common courses in English (every year onward)- Open the Global Core Center and hold of the commemorative symposium○ Fiscal 2017
- Renew the registrar system for Fall admissions- Renew the graduate school registration system to support the GPA system- Commence the discussion on Global Design 2.0 aiming towards 2030 (until fiscal 2018)- Apply for the opening of the Graduate School of Peace Research and World Citizenship Education○ Fiscal 2018
- Establish an overseas center in South Korea (tentative)- Open the Graduate School of Peace Research and World Citizenship Education○ Fiscal 2019
- Establish an overseas center in the Philippines (tentative)- Announce the Grand Design 2.0 aiming towards 2030, and create and distribute publicity pamphlets (until fiscal 2021)【Featured initiatives (Internationalization, University reform, Education reform)】○ Internationalization- Increase the number of International Students
With the goal of increasing the yearly international students to about 1200 students (approx. 15% of the entire class) by fiscal
2023, we will undertake the following initiatives:
1. Establish English Track in both bachelor's degree and master's degree program, 2. Renovate international students admission
for undergraduate and graduate programs in line with the implementation of English Track, 3. Newly build and expand theinternational dormitories, 4. Enrichment of career support for international students, 5. Establishment of short term programs foroverseas partner universities based on their various needs (development of a program available to yearly 400 international
students by fiscal 2023), 6. Enrichment of scholarship programs for international students- Implementation of English Track in the bachelor's degree program
With the English Track of the Faculty of International Liberal Arts serving as an example, and with the success of the International
Program of the Faculty of Economics that has performed highly for over 10 years developing into the English Track, "SUCCEED,"
we will expand the courses offered in English by considering the implementation of the English Track in all other faculties aside
from Nursing.
○ University Reform-Promote non-Japanese national in the Exterior Assessment Committee
Scheduled to re-examine the initiatives taken for the globalization of our campus through international perspective throughpromoting non-Japanese committee member in the Exterior Assessment Committee of this project and GGJ in fiscal 2016.
○ Educational Reform- Implementation of early graduation, enrollment, and 5 year consecutive degree program
The Graduate School of Peace Research and World Citizenship Education (working title) and the Faculty of Liberal Arts will
implement a consecutive degree program in which students can earn the bachelor's and master's degree in total of five years.
With this five-year consecutive degree program, students can earn their bachelor's degree at the end of the bachelor's program(4 years), and their master's degree at the end of their fifth year at the earliest counting from their enrollment in the bachelor'sprogram.
-Placement of Specialized faculty and staff in the IR center
Soka University's IR center which collects and analyzes data relevant to the improvement and quality assurance of the education
is currently a committee consisted of faculty and staff members holding multiple responsibilities. Under the supervision of thepresident, we will consider the recruitment of professionals who have the skill to analyze big data and aim to place specialized
faculty and staff members

2. FY2014 Progress■ Common indicators and targets
Internationalization○ Expansion of Overseas Partner Universities
In order to enhance global mobility among students, we expanded our partner universities from 148 universities in 47
countries and territories (as of the time of application) to 161 universities in 48 countries and territories (as of June 2015).
We will deepen the international exchange through exchange programs and short-term study tours, as well as increase ourpartner universities to 200 universities in 60 countries and territories by 2023.

○ Japanese Students Studying Abroad
We aim to increase the number of students with overseas experience to 80% of
the entire undergraduate students, and students earning credits in overseas
universities to 1260 students by fiscal 2023. In fiscal 2014 there were 933
students studying abroad, which includes 78 students in the Faculty ofInternational Liberal Arts (FILA), a newly established faculty where students cangraduate by only taking lectures in English. FILA students study abroad for one
year from their second semester to four universities in the U.S., U.K., Canada,and Australia, and about 20 students study at each destination respectively. From
this fall semester, they are scheduled to take specialized courses in English.

〈 Students of Faculty of International Liberal Arts
studying at London University, Goldsmiths 〉○ Enrichment of Japanese Language Courses〈 Participants of Japanese language andculture study program from Malaysia 〉

Japan Studies Center improved the learning environment by increasing thenumber of Japanese Language Courses from 5 to 6 by adding a beginner levelcourse in response to the increase of international students. In addition, weoffered the Japanese Language and Culture program as requested by ourpartner universities. In fiscal 2014, we welcomed international students fromfour universities in China, South Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore. From thissummer, we will launch the same program open for public, and we arescheduled to have 25 participants.

University reform○ Recruitment of International Faculty and Staff
Through international open recruitment, we hired competent non-Japanese faculty, as well as Japanese faculty who earned
a doctorate degree at overseas graduate schools. With these efforts, the number of non-Japanese faculty and faculty with adegree from overseas universities in fiscal 2015 became 158, which amounts to 45.7% of the entire faculty. As forrecruitment of staff members in fiscal 2014, we hired two staff who earned their bachelor's degree in Malaysia and Brazil,promoting the internationalization of university governance.

○ Initiatives in Faculty Development (FD) and Staff Development (SD)In fiscal 2014, we sent 1 faculty to Teachers College, Columbia University for one
semester, and held specialized classes to the local students in English. In addition,
for the purpose of improving their skills in teaching to non-English students, weconducted a short-term FD program on campus in which we invited two lecturers
from the University of Southern California, and 17 faculty participated in the program.

○ Initiative in sophisticating the administrative staff〈 Short-term FD program on campus 〉

In addition to hiring people with job experiences and who holds a degreefrom overseas universities, we will preferentially hire those with certain language proficiencies (TOEIC 730). In fiscal 2014,
35 full-time staff members met the language requirement (TOEIC 730), which amounts to 15% of the entire staff members.

Education reform○ Specialized Program offered in English
In order to provide specialized programs in English unique to each Faculty, with the International Program (IP) offered in theFaculty of Economics for over 10 years, we have been implementing specialized English courses in other faculties as well.
In fiscal 2014, Faculty of Education and Faculty of Science and Engineering have launched such program. With theseundertakings, in fiscal 2014, the number of classes offered in a foreign language in both undergraduate and graduate
program has become 161. As a result, about 5% of the classes are conducted in a foreign language. In the future, with theEnglish Track program, SUCCEED, which was launched by the Faculty of Economics, we will consider the implementationof the English Track in all other faculty excluding the Faculty of Nursing.

○ Applying External Examination for Undergraduate Admission
Regarding the selection process of the applicants, from the recommendation-based Entrance Examination in fiscal 2014,
applicants with TOEIC 730, TOEFL-iBT 79, IELTS 6.0, Pre-1 Level of English Language Proficiency Test, Level A of United
Nations Association's Test of English, GTEC for STUDENT 800+, GTEC CBT 1190+ are exempted from taking the English
test, and the scores were converted to a score of 100. Starting from fiscal 2016, this will be implemented in the generalentrance examination and unified faculty entrance examination as well as the recommendation-based entrance examination.

■ University’s own indicators and targets○ Soka’s unique goals Toward the Global Initiative for Humanistic Education
While we keep putting efforts in achieving the goals set under GGJ, we have set a theme, “Global Initiative for HumanisticEducation,” as an ideal vision for an educational/research institution. The goals to measure the promotion ofinternationalization that secures diversity and quality assurance in order to foster “Creative Global Citizens” are as follows:- Expansion of countries and territories with which we have exchange (37 countries and territories as of fiscal 2014 60countries and territories as of fiscal 2023)- Students studying in the African countries as the benchmark of the expansion of overseas experience to learn theprinciples of coexistence and unity (13 students as of fiscal 2014  50 students as of fiscal 2023)- Students satisfying foreign language skills (40 students as of fiscal 2014  150 students as of fiscal 2023)- Students earning credits (more than 6 credits) during study abroad (65 students as of fiscal 2014  400 students as offiscal 2023)- Nurses who have overseas experiences (no students yet as it is still the third year of the Faculty of Nursing as of fiscal
2014 50 students as of fiscal 2023)- Elementary, Junior, and High school teachers who have overseas experience (15 students as of fiscal 2014  70
students as of fiscal 2023)○ Quantitative Measurement through the number of students working for a Global Company
For the purpose of quantitatively measuring the social assessment of students from Soka University in light of fostering
global citizens who lead the development of the economical society, we set our goal of potential employee of the 500
companies listed in the Fortune Global 500 Ranking which is announced once a year in the U.S. magazine Fortune. In fiscal
2014, 105 students were employed in 29 companies (103 students in 22 companies in fiscal 2013), and among thosestudents, 54 had overseas experience. Some of the companies are are NEC, Goldman Sachs Japan Co., Ltd., Nihon GE,IBM Japan, Ltd., Microsoft Japan Co., Ltd., and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.

■ Featured initiatives based on the characteristics of the university
The following three points are Soka’s featured initiatives of this project:○ Promotion for further globalization of the university
Faculty of International Liberal Arts in which all classes areconducted in English was launched in fiscal 2014, and English
Track “SUCCEED” in the Faculty of Economics was started in fiscal
2015.
In order to maximize the globalization of the learning environment,
new international dormitories (capacity: 100 male students; 100female students) were established in fiscal 2014 with the concept of“Living & Learning.”■ Free description○ Development of international relation study program anddiverse international exchange network to foster coexistence
and unity of philosophy
Based on our past achievements in international exchange, below
are the list of universities with which Soka signed an agreement infiscal 2014 to start student exchange to provide diverse overseas
experience, and to cultivate students’ cross-cultural understanding
and consciousness of coexistence and unity:
YANGON university of foreign languages (Myanmar), Universiti
Tunku Abdul Rahman (Malaysia), People’s Friendship University ofRussia (Russia), St.Xavier's College (India), Inje University (SouthKorea)○ Initiative to Achieve Global Initiative for Humanistic Education
Scheduled to open the Global Core Center in fiscal 2016 to promoteresearch under the theme of “Building Peace and Sustainable Global
Society” in the area of “Peace,” “Development,” “Environment,” and“Human Rights.” Also scheduled to launch Graduate School of Peace
Research and World Citizenship Education (working title) in fiscal
2018. International Strategy Office was reorganized in fiscal 2014,
and started the discussion on the opening of the Global Core Centeras well as the new graduate school.

○ Selected for MEXT AP Project in Fiscal 2014
Established in year 2000, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning has took
the lead in promoting collaborative learning and FD programs at Soka University.
The achievements being acknowledged, Soka University was selected for the AP
Project in fiscal 2014. In this AP Project, we will enrich the quality of our active
learning, and through visualizing the achievements and putting efforts in theassessment process, we will implement active learning in 80% of the entire
courses. All students will then register for at least 4 classes that implement active
learning. With the campus-wide development of active learning, Active learning
style such as "Learning Through Discussion (LTD)" and "Project Based Learning(PBL)" have been promoted campus-wide. This has improved the international
competency of the bachelor's degree program at Soka University.

〈 Project adventure study session of Active Learning 〉