Spring 2019

K o b eU n i v e r s i t y

Gender Equality OfficeNewsletter

Kobe University Gender Equality Oﬃce 1-1 Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe 657-8501 TEL：078-803-5471/5017

by RA

FAX：078-803-5285

Greetings from the New Executive Vice President Prof. Kazurou Sugimura
I have been appointed as the executive vice president responsible for genderequality. My ﬁeld is clinical medicine, and I specialize in radiology, conducting
diagnoses and treatment of cancer patients. In 1988, I was working at Shimane
Medical University and was given an opportunity to study in San Francisco. Afterarriving in San Francisco, I began to notice rainbow ﬂags on electric poles and inwindows. They looked very stylish and I asked the university secretary about
them. He told me that the Gay Pride Parade would be held that weekend, andthat he was planning on participating. This was 30 years ago, and in those days
very few people had come out in Japan. Participants, supporters and tourists
came from all over the United States to attend, and that joyful celebration left avery strong impression on me.
The secretary was always very kind and helpful, but unfortunately he died young. At the university there were many
LGBT people, although at the time no one used that term. And my supervisor had come to the United States from auniversity in Croatia. She was very talented and in just a few years became a full professor at the University ofCalifornia. She later became the Chair at the Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, known as one of the top three centers in
the world, and today at 70 she still leads global cancer treatment. I have been able to interact with so many diﬀerentpeople, but there are not many people who have been so fortunate. Through education, we can give people whocannot experience something an even better understanding than they would have gotten from actual experience. Ithink that is the beauty of education and an important mission of universities. I hope to work with Professor
Alexander and the faculty and staﬀ of the Gender Equality Oﬃce to help Kobe University contribute to the creation of
an inclusive society that is proud of its diversity. My predecessor, Executive Vice President Uchida, succeeded ingetting a grant for diversity promotion from the Ministry of Education’s Japan Science and Technology Agency. I will
work hard not only to get the project going but also to develop the program to continue after the end of the funding
period. Your help is essential for the success of this work, and I thank you in advance for your continuing support.

Message from Director of Gender Equality Oﬃce Prof. Ronni Alexander
Recently, one often hears the term “diversity,” but what does it mean for Kobe University? It means increasing thehiring and promotion of women faculty and inclusion of more women in the university administration but that is notall. Diversity also means that people with a variety of backgrounds, aﬃliations and identities respect one another, work
together, and are able to laugh and cry together in an inclusive atmosphere. In such an environment, each person canfully use her/his abilities to create something new. Eﬀorts to create such a diverse environment have begun in earnest
at Kobe University with such measures as the adoption of the Kobe University Diversity Statement (2018.12) and theappointment of an Executive Adviser to the President for Diversity (to be held by the director of the Gender EqualityOﬃce, beginning from 2019.2.1), but in order to be successful everyone must be involved. I want to make Kobe
University a model for diversity for Japanese universities. With your help, I am sure we can achieve this goal!
Professor, Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies
Executive Adviser for the President (Diversity)

The Program “Initiative for the Implementation of the Diversity
Research Environment” Starts!
In 2018, Kobe University successfully applied for the JST program, “Initiative for the Implementation of the Diversity
Research Environment”. Implementation of the program began in November 2018 (to 2023). While the main focus ofthe grant is on increasing the hiring and number of women and promotion of women scholars, another important
aspect is to promote diversity in general. Details of the objectives and initiatives are indicated in the table below. The
target numbers of this project are: 22% of women faculty members (% of total); 20% of women faculty promotions(annual rate); 33% of women faculty hires (annual rate) by 2023. In order to achieve all of the objectives of thisproject and to continue the project, we have established a Diversity Fund with a Network for Cooperative Diversity
Promotion Partners (consisting of corporations, a regional bank and a local newspaper) .

(A) Build new human resource
governance system(1) Reach andmaintainemployment rate ofover 30%(2) Improve career
progression/
promotion rate＊＊＊(B) Implement PI training programfor international collaborativeresearch(3) Expand support
for the next
generation of earlycareer researchers＊＊(C) Implement international humanresource exchange program＊＊(D) Implement international
collaborative early-career
researcher training program＊＊(E) Establish an internal Diversity
Promotion Council(F) Establish a diversity fund andbuild a Network for Cooperative
Diversity Promotion(4) Improve theenvironment fordiversity andpromote this outside
the university

44 scholars weregiven grants to explore
new knowledge
internationally!!

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＊

＊

＊

＊＊

FY2018 Number of Grant Recipients# of People

International PI Training Programfor researchInternational Scholar Exchange Program for dispatch
for inviting international scholars
International Research Training Program for Young Women Scholars

38424
5

For more details,
please visit the Gender
Equality Oﬃce website(Click on the pink icon)※Some people participated more than once.

Diversity Program Kick-Oﬀ Symposium was held
Kobe University Diversity Program Kickoﬀ Symposium was held at ANA Crowne Plaza Hotel Kobe on March 27th, 2019.
First, Professor Hiroshi Takeda, President of Kobe University, gave opening remarks and Mr. Akira Kusume, Director forOﬃce of Human Resources Development for Science and Technology, Human Resources Policy Division, Science andTechnology Policy Bureau, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology gave congratulatory remarks
respectively. These were followed by a lecture titled, “Introduction to the Kobe University Diversity Initiative” byProfessor Kazunori Uchida, Vice President in charge of Public Relations and Community Cooperation, Kobe University.
In the latter half of the symposium, there were three lectures by invited speakers: Ms. Saniye Gülser Corat, Director,Division for Gender Equality, UNESCO; Ms. Kumiko Bando, President, Japan Legal Support Center; former
Director-General, Gender Equality Bureau Cabinet Oﬃce; Ms. Hiroko Miyano, Team Leader, Diversity Development
Team, Global HR & Diversity Development Section Human Resources & General Aﬀairs Dept. Sojitz Corporation
The Kickoﬀ Symposium was attended by about 100 participants from corporations and universities, and it ended withsuccess.

Kobe University Diversity Statement has been adopted
Kobe University Diversity Statement

Kobe University strives to educate leaders equipped to address the complex issues of this 21st century world
and able to contribute to the development of knowledge, protection of the environment, well-being of
humanity and to world peace. This requires not only rich experience and wisdom born from understanding ofdiverse perspectives, but also the creativity and innovation that comes from encountering the unknown.
Therefore, building on its work since 2007 to achieve gender equality, Kobe University will now also promotediversity. We will create an environment for study, education, research and work where each person is treatedwith respect and can express her/his/their individuality and talents regardless of gender, sexual orientation,
gender identity, ethnicity, culture, religion, language, background, age, educational background, physical ormental characteristics and/or other aﬃliation and/or identity.
The promotion of this kind of diversity may at times result in discord or confrontation. However, rather thanfearing such disagreements all members of the Kobe University community will work together to create acampus where diﬀerence is respected and appreciated. Convinced that the knowledge born out of this process
will open new horizons from Kobe to the world, Kobe University hereby declares its commitment to thepromotion of diversity.
President Kobe University
December 13th，2018★This Statement is also on the Kobe University website /Gender Equality Oﬃce HP http://www.oﬃce.kobe-u.ac.jp/opge-kyodo-sankaku/

UNESCO Chair Summer Program will be held
FY 2019 UNESCO Chair Summer Program is going to be held at Gadjah Mada University from 19 to 30 August. This
program aims to improve students' critical thinking, practical skills, ability to collaborate internationally,
communication skills, and leadership skills through discussions, ﬁeld work, training, and workshops focused on
examining gender and vulnerability in disasters. All programs areheld cooperatively with students in various academic ﬁelds from
Gadjah Mada University, National Kaohsiung University of Scienceand Technology, and Universiti Tunku Abdul Raman (UTAR). Sorry,
application for this year has already closed.
More details are available at Gender Equality Oﬃce
Website (Click the blue icon)
FY2018Gender Equality Oﬃce will open “Summer School for Kids”
On August 2nd and 5th, “Summer School for Kids” will be held! As soon as details are ﬁnalized, an announcement will
be made on the Gender Equality Oﬃce Website: http://www.oﬃce.kobe-u.ac.jp/opge-kyodo-sankaku/

FY2018Gender Equality Oﬃce HP http://www.oﬃce.kobe-u.ac.jp/opge-kyodo-sankaku/