Developing Student Staff at Universities:
A New Category for Student Engagement

OKI Hirotaka*
This study examines several typical Peer Support Program
examples, such as the Peer Leadership Programs and the Peer
Tutorial Programs conducted in the US, and the Student Campus
Volunteers, the Peer Net, and the Ritsumeikan Peer Support
Programs conducted in Japan through a review of the effectivenessof the learning support activities and by summarizing the role of thepeer supporters and highlighting the advantages of the various
programs. To identify the future of these programs, the required
training for the program and the program alignment are examinedthrough case studies at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University and MieUniversity.
Through a detailed examination of the Student FD Staff activities,
a subject which recently attracted attention in Japan, the definition
and the position of the Student FD Staff was reconfirmed. A further
student engagement category “Student Staff,” is then proposed,
which encompasses the present Peer Supporters and Student FD
Staff apart from the activities of faculty development.

Professor, Institute for Teaching and Learning, RitsumeikanUniversity357

Student-Support Devices Embeddedin Course Programs at Mie UniversityNAKAGAWA Tadashi*This study introduces the student-support systems embedded infirst-year experience (FYE) and career course programs at Mie
University. Although Mie University introduced elective problembased learning (PBL) courses as an attempt to achieve the academic
goal of providing a way for students to acquire the four basic
competencies, many students did not enroll in these courses. To train
all students in PBL, an FYE course in the PBL method wassystematically introduced. Through this FYE, maladjusted students
were identified, allowing them to be referred for relevant support.
Mie University also introduced a career education program called the“Career Peer Supporter Certificate Program” in 2009. To be certified,students need to take the FYE,Career Planning,” and one othercareer-training course. These career-training courses had classes
such as “International Student Support Training,” “HandicappedStudent Support Training,” and “Student Life Support Training.” If
the certified students took additional courses in academic facilitationand mental support training, they were eligible to be StudentAssistants in the program classes. These certified people organizedPeer Supporter Student Committees for the various support activities.
The evaluation proved that that the students who took these courses
achieved higher academic competencies.

Professor, Assistant to President, Career Education, MieUniversity358

Study Support for University Students
with Developmental Disorders:Student Counseling Perspective
YASUDA Michiko*
SUZUKI Kenichi**
IDEHARA Chie***

This study examines how teachers and counselors support
university students who have or present developmental disordertendencies. Scores from two measures, the “Autism-Spectrum
Quotient,” an assessment of behavioral features, and the “Needs
Questionnaire for Students with ASD and ADHD,” an assessment ofsubjective difficulties, were utilized to classify freshmen at X
University into four groups. The “support group,” who scored high on
both measures, was given either a psychotherapy intervention or
supportive messages consisting of feedback about future difficulties.
A psychotherapy case study involving students with developmental disorders who used the Student Counseling Center services
at X University suggested the utility of psychological support when
faced with determining university advancement at high school, as it
was found that these students had been unable to assert their own
preferences to teachers and/or parents. After entering university,
academic support was deemed to be helpful in small group settings inthe third year or later. It was further concluded that it is importantfor support professionals to develop nurturing relationships withstudents with developmental problems.

*Professor, Center for Student Counseling, Nagoya University**Associate Professor, Center for Student Counseling, Nagoya
University***Assistant Professor, Center for Student Counseling, Nagoya
University359

Higher Education Anti-discrimination Reformfor People with Disabilities
AONO Toru*

In Japan, higher education systems and structures are currently
facing a period of reform. In particular, the Basic Act on Education(Act number 120 of 2006) Article 4-2 states, “The national and local
governments shall provide support in education to persons withdisabilities, to ensure that they are given adequate education inaccordance with their condition.” Support for students withdisabilities in universities has become a pressing need. New
legislation, operational from April 2016, places a duty on all publicauthorities, including higher education institutions, to actively
promote equality of opportunity for people with disabilities. It will
become the policy for all national universities in Japan to provide orreasonably modify accommodations for qualified students withdisabilities, in accordance with the new anti-discrimination law forpeople with disabilities.

Professor, Research Center for Higher Education, Kanazawa
University(Visiting Professor, Center for the Studies of Higher Education,Nagoya University)

360

Vocabulary Analysis for English Educationin the Engineering Field
NISHIYAMA Kiyohisa*
FURUYA Reiko**Gang ZENG***
Emanuel LELEITO****
The importance of English education in Japan is increasing becauseof globalization. Many Japanese students study English to achieve
higher scores in proficiency exams, such as TOEIC, which is acommon method to evaluate English skills among Japaneseorganizations. However, in the field of engineering, the contribution ofthe vocabulary toward research activities, such as in the field ofliterature reviews and writing, is unclear.
In this research, three vocabulary lists were developed: (a) theGeneral Vocabulary List (GVL), (b) the Engineering Disciplinary
Vocabulary List (EDVL), and (c) the Engineering Interdisciplinary
Vocabulary List (EIVL). GVL is the vocabulary from universityentrance examinations and TOEIC, while EDVL is the vocabularythat frequently appears in journal papers in the five engineering
disciplines of Nagoya University. EIVL is the vocabulary common tothe five engineering disciplines.
The comparative analysis of the lists has revealed that more thanhalf of the vocabulary in GVL is missing from EDVL. In addition,
EDVL and EIVL have a larger proportion of the total number ofwords in the analyzed journal papers than GVL. On the basis of thisanalysis, the future of English education for engineering students is
discussed and a part of the EIVL vocabulary is attached for reference.

*Associate Professor, International Academic Exchange Office,Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University**Associate Professor, International Academic Exchange Office,Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University***Associate Professor, International Academic Exchange Office,Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University****Associate Professor, International Academic Exchange Office,Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University361

Some Characteristics of the “Lifelong Guidance”
Policy in EU and Career Development
Activities of Universities in the UK
NATSUME Tatsuya*This paper aims at reviewing the contents and process of the“Longlife Guidance” policy carried out in European countries, as well
as examining some characteristics of United Kingdom (UK)
universities’ career development activities for students.
This paper reached the following conclusions:
1. The European Union regards Lifelong Guidance as one its mostimportant goals. It urges some relevant bodies to study thecontents of lifelong guidance and implement it in educational
institutions, including universities.
2. In terms of implementing a Lifelong Guidance policy, the UK is
the most advanced country in the EU.
In Scotland, a Career Management Skills Framework has beenestablished by the government aimed at helping its people
develop career management skills within the framework ofLifelong Guidance.
3. Universities offer some programs for helping students to develop
career management skills and employability. The programs
include academic subjects, extra-curriculum activities, career
counseling, internships, career fairs, entrepreneurships, and so on.
4. There are some forms of collaboration among relevant bodies andpersons in universities for implementing the programs. Career
Development Centers are responsible for implementing theprograms in universities in cooperation with research centers forcareer development, which are responsible for developing thecontent of the programs. Teaching staff offer academic subjects
in cooperation with a specialized staff in career development
centers.

Professor, Center for the Studies of Higher Education, Nagoya University362

Developing College Students’ Critical Thinking

KUBOTA Yuka*
IKEDA Fumiko**
Recently, similar to the trend in America, England, and Australia,
fostering college students’ critical thinking has become an important
aspect of students’ general learning outcomes in Japan.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the theoretical andpractical issues for developing students’ critical thinking in higher
education and to show an example of educational practice that
contributes to students’ development during their first year, which
serves as a foundation of improvement.
This paper reviews the field of critical thinking research anddiscusses the following four points: (1) the definition of criticalthinking and Student Learning Objectives, (2) the generalizability
and transferability of critical thinking, (3) four approaches toincorporate critical thinking in the curriculum, and (4) the problems
specific to first-year students and an overview of effective pedagogy.
This paper concludes that to cultivate a college student’s criticalthinking, creating a cooperative learning environment toward social
construction is important.

*Designated Assistant Professor, Center for University Education,
The University of Tokushima**Associate Professor, Faculty of Intercultural Studies, Yamaguchi
Prefectural University363

Understanding the Key Practices of College
Teachers Who Successfully Facilitate Deep
Approaches of Learning in Large Classes
NAKAJIMA Hidehiro*This paper examines the key practices of college teachers who
effectively stimulate deep approaches for learning in large classenvironments. A qualitative study of faculty members recognized as
the best professors in large comprehensive, private universities
reveals three key components for successful teaching. First, the best
professors expect students not only to comprehend the knowledge
taught in the course but also integrate and apply it to social andprofessional settings. Second, to achieve the goals, the best professors
prepare lecture notes and a set of questions. The comprehensivelyorganized lecture notes include explanations of subjects, figures,equations, practical applications, and examples as well as the order ofthe presentation or designated color of text. Third, for better
illustration of knowledge application, the best professors accumulate
and revise the instances of social and professional problems on aregular basis.

Associate Professor, Center for the Studies of Higher Education,
Nagoya University364

Improving the Teaching Practicein Malaysian Higher Education
KOBAYASHI Tadashi *This study examines the efforts for improving the teaching practicein Malaysian higher education within the context of global trends inquality teaching reforms. I focused on three levels of efforts: national,university, and classroom levels.
This study yielded four findings.
・ The government urged universities to develop a new curriculum
integrating soft skills and to implement in-service training forteaching skills.
・ The government established the national center for improving
teaching practices in higher education. The center provides avariety of programs for training trainers and developing a training
model program for higher educational institutions.
・ The Public University established a teaching and learning center,
which provides training programs to employ teaching methods on
the basis of Student-Centered Learning (SCL) and E-learning.
・ More than half of the faculty members in higher education
introduced the teaching methods based on SCL to their class.
The Malaysian government is reforming teaching practices inhigher education with a “top-down” approach, using in-service
training and personal evaluation for faculty members.

Research Fellow, Center for the Studies of Higher Education,
Nagoya University

365

The Effect of the University Staff’s
Job Description
HATA Keiji*This study describes an efficient method for the development
of job descriptions for university staff in Japan through acomparison of job description in the US and the division of duties
regulations in Japan.
The following five points are discussed: 1) The merits anddemerits of the division of duties regulations in Japan. 2) How
job descriptions are currently used for recruitment in the US. 3)
The differences between specialist and generalist professionals in
the US. 4) The different perceptions and notions of “team” in theUS and Japan, in which the methods a supervisor uses to provide
assistance to their staff s career developments are elaborated
on and the US perception of “team” as a collaboration between
faculty and staff is investigated. 5) The efficiency of job
descriptions.
Vice president, Otemon Gakuin University
Director, Center for Educational Development(Visiting Professor, Center for the Studies of Higher Education,
Nagoya University)366

Study Abroad Policy in China: the Case ofState-Sponsored Graduate Scholarship Programfor Building High-level UniversitiesGAO Yimin*This study examines the study abroad policy in China, focusing on
the State-Sponsored Graduate Scholarship Program for Building
High-level Universities. Based on the national policy for sending
graduate students abroad, this study describes some of the practices
in this program at selected universities, and analyzes certain positive
and negative effects of the program on these universities.
From the analyses, the following results were obtained.
(1) The program for top level scholar cultivation is a part of theScience, Technology and Education as well as Talent strategies. This
program was found to contribute to higher education, especially forhigh-level universities; (2) While the program did not contributedirectly to the universities that sent students because of the weak
relevance between the program and the universities’ strategies, it
resulted in stimulating them; (3) Problems with the program caused
by a decline in students were found, such as educational difficulties
and research team formation obstacles; (4) The program demonstrated the benefits of studying in world class universities and an
acceptance of their values, and also showed a confidence in the returnof the students and in the competition for self-financing studies
abroad.

Professor, Institute of International and Comparative Education,
Beijing Normal University(Visiting Associate Professor, Center for the Studies of Higher
Education, Nagoya University)367What is the Impact of “Leadership Development
Program thorough Regional Problem-solving”?:
Program Design and Evaluation by Action
NAKAHARA Jun*
The objective of this paper is to examine the effect of “leadershipdevelopment program thorough regional problem-solving” in particularly the learning that occurs in relation to the planning, supervision,and facilitation that the author conducted at the request of thecorporate human resources departments. This program wasconducted over the course of approximately six months from May
through October 2014. Heterogeneous teams were formed withmanagers from five companies in differing industries. The program
focused on action-based learning with the teams that first exploredthe regional problems confronting the town of Biei in Hokkaido,
followed by a process of making proposals to the mayor and citizensof Biei on possible solutions to these problems. People in management
are usually in charge of focusing not only on day-to-day operations
but also on innovation within their organizations, and their role is toserve as primary agents that guide the development of the next
generation of managers from among the diverse membership of theorganization. However, active inertia gained after an organization
excessively adapts to daily management often obstructs this role.
This program offers an opportunity to those viewed as nextgeneration leaders from these five companies in differing industries
to solve regional problems prevalent outside their organizations byworking with managers from other companies and in doing so, aim torelativize their “fixed perspective” formed from active inertia.
Additional objectives of the training are to further increase theparticipants’ desire for innovative behavior, allow them to encountera greater range of people, and make them accustomed to thinking
from a management perspective.

Associate Professor, Center for research and development of higher
education, the university of Tokyo(Visiting Associate Professor, Center for the Studies of HigherEducation, Nagoya University)

368

The Effectiveness ofthe New Faculty Mentoring Program
NAKAI Toshiki*
New faculty members might be uneasy and have questions about
their competencies and career. They feel isolated and alone in therecent competitive academic profession market. The mentoring
program is supporting the new faculty members through exchanges
with experienced faculty members.
This study clarifies the effectiveness of a new faculty mentoring
program through the survey of 19 mentees and 20 mentors. Thefindings from the qualitative analysis of opinions of the mentees andmentors are summarized as follows. First, mentees receive wide
benefits from the program. The benefits are categorized into sevencomponents, support on teaching and research, support on life,
supportoncareerdevelopment,

expanding

networking,role

modeling, reducing anxiety, fun to talking. This shows that thementoring program have both career and psychosocial functions andincludes elements of faculty development. Second, mentors also
receive wide benefits from the program. The benefits arecategorized into nine components, acquiring knowledge on research,understanding a different academic field, understanding circumstance of new faculty members, expanding networking, collaboration,reflection and renewal, gaining vitality, satisfaction on supporting,fun to talking. Third, the effectiveness of mentoring program isaffected by academic fields of mentors and mentees, sexes of mentors
and mentees, mutual hesitation.

Associate Professor, Center for the Studies of Higher Education,
Nagoya University

369