Vision and Strategies of Hitotsubashi University for a Designated National University
Emerging as a Hub to Lead the Reform of the Social Sciences in Japan
Towards a More Sustainable Future
I. Ideals and Objectives as a Designated National University
1. To become an international hub for world-class social science research and education andlead the reform of social sciences in Japan.
Hitotsubashi University (hereinafter “the University”) will celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2025.
Since its founding, the University has worked to cultivate globally competent individuals and toestablish and advance practical knowledge in the social sciences. Upholding this proud history andtradition, the University is now committed to taking the lead in reforming the social sciences inJapan and becoming an international hub for world-class social science research and education. Its
aim is to develop global leaders to reform society through action and to generate the knowledge andsocial innovations needed to establish social and economic systems for a resilient world.
As an institution dedicated to the various disciplines of the social sciences, the University’s
characteristics differ from those of both comprehensive universities, which encompass the naturalsciences, life sciences, humanities and social sciences, and single-discipline institutions specializingin particular fields such as medicine. Globally, there are several universities that have similarly
leveraged the features and strengths of their focus on the social sciences to establish a distinctive
presence. Prominent examples include the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE),
Sciences Po, and Singapore Management University (SMU). Hitotsubashi University is now aiming
to develop competitive strengths in education and research that are equal to or surpass the world’s
top institutions across seven strategic priority areas: Economics, Management, Accounting &Finance, Politics & International Studies, Psychology, Data Science, and Global Law. By doing so,
the University seeks to become a diversified and highly attractive hub for social science education
and research where large-scale international joint research projects in the social sciences are
conducted at the highest global standards; where outstanding faculty members and students gather
from across the world; and where top-class young researchers build multitiered international
networks. The University will also tackle the most pressing problems confronting our planet andhuman society, promote cocreation between the humanities and sciences and contribute to thegeneration and utilization of “knowledge convergence,” share the outcomes thereof with the broader
society, and build its social reputation. Through this positive cycle, it will increasingly develop into a
more advanced research and education hub.
As a Designated National University in the social sciences, the University will present a model forthe global advancement of the Japanese social sciences, playing a leading role in significantly raising
the standards of the social sciences throughout Japan. Moreover, to achieve its institutional ideals
while leveraging the distinctive features of its various fields of research and education, theUniversity will harness the nimbleness of its small and smart organization to take a unified approachto strengthen international competitiveness and promote structural reform, with the entire
1organization working together in the same direction, at the same level, and at the same pace. Specificinitiatives will include the promotion of greater diversity (internationalization and diversification of
personnel) under the strong leadership of the University President, the pursuit of a personnel strategy
focused on accelerating the integration of the humanities and sciences from the standpoint of thesocial sciences that draws on the University’s strengths in empirical research and its unique data
infrastructure, and the functional strengthening of the Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study(HIAS), a university-wide research organization.
2. To analyze the strengths/features and weaknesses/challenges in realizing “Hitotsubashi
University as a Hub to Lead the Reform of the Social Sciences in Japan,” and to carry out thenecessary functional strengthening initiatives.
Hitotsubashi University, as "a Hub to Lead the Reform of the Social Sciences in Japan," will
generate world-class research outputs and innovations, cultivate highly skilled professionals, andexpand its financial capacity to sustain and grow such initiatives on an ongoing basis. From theseperspectives, the University will self-evaluate its distinctive strengths and potentials, and identify
areas requiring further development and issues to be overcome, as well as formulate practical actions
to strengthen essential functions.
(1) Current status of the University’s research capabilities (weaknesses/challenges)
Researchers at Hitotsubashi University, together with other social science researchers across Japan,
are fully engaged in research activities that tackle a multitude of key social issues; however, thesocial sciences in Japan have not been sufficiently active in the creation of knowledge anddissemination of research outputs on the international stage. Below is an international comparison ofEnglish-language research publications across the three dimensions of quantity, quality, and “Atsumi(depth)” in specific fields. An assessment follows of the current state of the social sciences at
Hitotsubashi University and in Japan, based on a comparison with three other universities withsimilar structures to Hitotsubashi and outstanding international research track records — LSE,
Sciences Po, and SMU — together with two leading national universities in Japan, The University ofTokyo and Kyoto University. The area of each circle represents Quantity (number of publications),
the vertical axis is Quality (FWCI), and the horizontal axis is Atsumi (institutional h-5 index). The
larger the circle, the more outputs the institution generates; the higher up the circle, the more
highly-cited outputs it generates; and the farther to the right of the circle it is, the greater depth theinstitution has in terms of research talent.
Economics, management, accounting & finance, and politics & international studies are the areas
Figure 1: Business, Management, and Accounting
in which Hitotsubashi has alreadyestablished strong research foundations andhas significant potential for expanded
international dissemination. Figure 1 shows
performance in the fields of Business,
Management, and Accounting. In thesefields, LSE appears as a large circle in theupper right portion of the graph, indicating
outstanding performance in Quality,2

Quantity, and Atsumi alike. SMU has a slightly lower level of Quantity, but similarly outstanding
performance in Quality and Atsumi. (It should be noted that SMU also has a School of Information
Systems, which may somewhat boost its scores in the business and management fields.) Hitotsubashi
University and other universities in Japan, along with Sciences Po, are considerably behind LSE in
all three areas of Quantity, Quality, and Atsumi. Highly similar observations can be made in otherfields as well. Figures 2 and 3 show results for Finance, Political Science, and International Relations,
respectively. LSE remains preeminent in both fields, while Sciences Po also exhibits strong
performance in the area of Political Science. Social sciences in Japan lag far behind.
Figure 2: Finance

Figure 3: Political Science and International Relations

Internationally, the competitive position of social science research in Japan is relatively weak. One
reason for this unsatisfactory performance is Japan’s traditional lack of emphasis on international
outputs. The social sciences tend to focus on the problems that societies confront. They are alsosignificantly influenced by the culture of the particular society where they are studied and possess
local features unique to their cultural sphere. The need to elucidate social problems with local
nuances, yet express and communicate research findings in the global lingua franca of English, tends
to disadvantage researchers whose first language is not English. This issue may also explain thateven Sciences Po, with its large population of outstanding scholars, has been unable to gain
ascendancy over Anglophone universities.
At the same time, however, we must acknowledge failings in the management of universities inJapan, Hitotsubashi University included, which have not undertaken the kind of bold strategicchanges of direction required to boost international competitiveness significantly. It is essential foruniversity leaders to confront the reality that the problems facing the social sciences in Japan are not
only environmental and structural but are also problems related to the domestic focus of social
scientists themselves, together with a lack of decisive action on selection and concentration by
university management.
(2) Current status of the University’s financial structures (weaknesses/challenges)
One of the factors that have impeded the pursuit of a bold strategic shift is financial structure. As aprecursor to the Designated National University Corporation system, national university
corporatization had some effect in expanding the discretionary scope of individual universities,
vitalizing education and research activities, boosting external funding, and enabling the adoption of
more flexible and elastic salary structures such as annual salary systems. Compared with leading
universities internationally, however, Japanese universities—Hitotsubashi included—still have aweak financial base, and need to diversify and expand their financial resources further. These3

conditions are the context for another challenge facing the University, which is the inadequacy of its
efforts to secure stable posts for young researchers and to recruit internationally talented faculty
members strategically to compete with the world’s leading universities.
Figure 4 compares the financial structure of Hitotsubashi University with those of LSE, SMU,
Sciences Po, and the University of St. Gallen, a renowned German-language social sciences
university that grew out of a university of commerce in Switzerland. This comparison reveals that
LSE’s financial scale is approximately four times that of Hitotsubashi, SMU’s is three times, andthose of St. Gallen and Figure 4:
SciencesPo
areapproximately double.
It also shows that all
theseoverseas
universities are larger
than Hitotsubashi, andtheir revenue sources
are also more diverse.
At
LSE,
tuitionaccounts for a large
proportion of revenue,
while public funding islow. The other three
institutions shown in
the graph receive asubstantial amount ofpublic funding while also relying on a variety of other revenue sources. At SMU, tuition andendowment income account for high proportions. St. Gallen derives more than half its revenue frompublic funding. Although its tuition revenue is low, it has a high-level of grants and subsidies forindustry-academia-government research collaborations and executive education. At Sciences Po,
public funding accounts for approximately one-half of all revenue, and reliance on tuition revenue isalso high. The financial structure of Hitotsubashi is similar to Sciences Po.
Figure 5 shows the change over ten years through 2020 in annual tuition for domestic
undergraduate students, international undergraduate students, and graduate (MSc in Accounting and
Finance) students at LSE, alongside the standard annual tuition for national universities in Japan.
In 2011, tuition at LSE was ashighas
14,592pounds(approximately 2.19 million yen at
an exchange rate of 150 yen to thepound)
forinternational
undergraduate students and 20,496
pounds(approximately
3.07
million yen) for graduate students.
Meanwhile, undergraduate tuition
for UK citizens was set at 3,375
4pounds (approx. 0.51 million yen), approximately the same as tuition at national universities in Japan.
However, tuition caps for UK citizens were raised in 2012 and 2014, and LSE increased its tuition on
both these occasions to 8,500 pounds (approximately 1.28 million yen) in 2012 and 9,000 pounds(approximately 1.35 million yen) in 2014, and then again to 9,250 pounds (1.39 million yen) in 2017.
Tuition for international students and graduate students is even higher, having increased continuously
over the same period. In contrast, tuition at Hitotsubashi University remained steady at 535,800 yen
for the entire period; however, Hitotsubashi increased its tuition for undergraduate students by 20%
to 642,960 yen.
LSE’s revenue from tuition was approximately 1.6 times higher in 2016 than it was in 2011, andoverall revenue rose by 45% in the same period, from approximately 32.9 billion to approximately
47.7 billion yen. Along with this growth in revenue came an increase in expenditures ofapproximately 40% and an approximately 13% increase in the number of academic staff. Meanwhile,
Hitotsubashi University’s budget was virtually unchanged throughout this period, and the number ofacademic staff declined by 3.4% under the pressure of increasing costs in other areas (for more
information on the change in the financial structure of LSE and Hitotsubashi, see Table A in the
Appendix). While universities across the world are proactively diversifying and increasing theirrevenue, increasing their staff of researchers to tackle social problems, and enhancing their education
to cultivate highly skilled individuals, Hitotsubashi and other social science universities and faculties
in Japan have prioritized immediate cost-cutting actions from year to year over the proactive
investment in research and education. The prioritization of science and engineering since the postwar
era in Japanese university policy is another factor that helps account for the gap in financing between
universities in Japan and those in Europe and North America.
Although the problems of the social sciences in Japan are difficult to perceive in comprehensive
universities, where they are obscured by large-scale science and engineering operations, they arereadily and symbolically visible in the case of Hitotsubashi University. It is precisely for this reason
that Hitotsubashi’s initiatives to boost international competitiveness will provide an important modelfor the future reform of social science faculties throughout Japan.
(3) Contributions and assets of Hitotsubashi University (strengths/features)
Hitotsubashi University and other social science universities/faculties in Japan have the potential
to achieve major growth through future management reforms. Despite the low level of resources,
they have a track record of producing outstanding domestic talent and high-quality national research
outputs. While still insufficient, efforts for the internationalization of research and education are also
advancing. Hitotsubashi University has achieved a position of 71st in the QS World University
Rankings for the broad subject area of Social Sciences & Management and is placed in the 51–100
range in five specific subject areas (2018 results). Thus, there is a strong foundation for contributing
to the global academic community and producing global talent by accelerating the pace at which
research energies previously directed to the domestic academic community are reoriented toward the
production of international outputs.
[1] Strengths of education and talent development
Hitotsubashi University has particular strengths in the cultivation of talent for business andindustry and contributes to providing the human resources needed for the effective operation andadvancement of the economy and society. The University proclaims that its concept for human5resource development is to produce “Captains of Industry,” and its approach to small-group
education centered on seminar classes has fostered talent to support many areas of Japanese society,especially in business and industry.
As confirmation of these achievements, Table 1 offers a Japan-UK comparison of alumni ofdifferent universities who work as corporate executive officers and the aggregate market value of thecompanies they manage.
First, the table shows the proportion of alumni from various universities among the executive
officers of companies listed on stock exchanges in Japan and on the London Stock Exchange. Thisshows each university’s share of corporate executives. To facilitate further international comparison,these executive shares have also been multiplied by the companies’ capitalization on the Japanese or
London stock exchanges to produce values that indicate the market value generated and managed
indirectly by each university through its alumni. These figures are termed “indirect market value.”
Both executive share and indirect market value are inevitably larger for universities with larger
student populations, so the values are divided by each university’s enrollment quota for a single-year
cohort to produce the “cohort-adjusted executive share and indirect market value.” The results,
shown in Table 1, reveal that Hitotsubashi University holds the top place in Japan for thecohort-adjusted executive share, followed by the University of Tokyo, Keio University, Kyoto
University, and Waseda University. For the cohort-adjusted indirect market value, if the Tohoku
University value is given as 1.0, Hitotsubashi stands at 4.37 and the University of Tokyo at 4.29,
showing that they are more efficient and effective than the Universities of Oxford and Cambridgeand LSE, which range from 2.33 to 2.92. Along with the University of Tokyo, Keio University (2.35),
Kyoto University (2.34), Waseda University (1.53), among others, Hitotsubashi University can beconsidered to have contributed to the development of superior talent for the Japanese economy. A
more detailed version of Table 1 can be found in Appendix Table B at the end of this document.
Today, when graduate schools are expected to incorporate high-level research into their teachingof professionals, the strengthening of research capabilities is essential. Even so, the small-groupseminar education model developed at Hitotsubashi University and other educational methodologies
in social science universities and faculties in Japan will surely prove important assets in international
competitiveness in the future.
Table 16

[2] Development of research capabilities and potential to contribute to the world
Hitotsubashi University has produced high-level research outputs and made major intellectual
contributions, primarily to the Japanese academic community and society as a whole. The same highstandards are observable in terms of quality as well as quantity. An example can be found in the
results of the Nikkei Prize for Excellent Books in Economic Science, awarded for outstanding
research in economics and management. If the results over the past five years are scored based oneach awardee’s institution of affiliation at the time of the award and institution at which they
completed their doctoral program, Hitotsubashi University and the University of Tokyo are bothranked first, with approximately 20% of the total each or 40% combined. Awardees include
researchers affiliated with universities in Japan and in other countries, and the prizewinningpublications include English-language texts, meaning that the prize is assessed at an international
standard and the winning books are of high-quality. If Hitotsubashi University has alreadyestablished the groundwork required to generate this high-level of research, it is not impossible toincrease the University’s international competitiveness through priority initiatives in the future.
Empirical research on social problems in Japan, which are similar to those of other advanced
countries, has an especially high potential to contribute to society in ways different from the researchundertaken in the advanced countries of Europe and North America. Japan achieved a miraculous
economic recovery and high economic growth, followed by the bursting of its economic bubble andsubsequent economic stagnation, along with the onset of a super-aging society. Distinctive empiricalresearch on this experience will provide important insights not only for economics and management,
but also in the fields of law and sociology. Hitotsubashi University has traditional strengths in using
unique data infrastructure for empirical research to study the problems confronting Japan, identify
the mechanisms behind them, and generate ideas for their resolution; thus, the University cancontribute to social innovation and, consequently, to the global community.
[3] Internationalization of research and education, proactive advancement of cocreation
between natural and social sciences
The remaining challenge for social science universities/faculties in Japan, including Hitotsubashi
University, is the internationalization of research and education. Universities have already madesteady efforts to tackle this issue and have achieved some success, but there is a need for greaterinternationalization. The acceleration of efforts to generate global research outputs, including the
deployment of the ability to produce books and journal articles in English, is key to theinternationalization agenda.
Resolving social problems into the future will require even greater cocreation between the naturaland social sciences. The boundary between the natural sciences and life sciences, on the one hand,and humanities and social sciences, on the other, is growing increasingly vague, and theinterpenetration of conventional disciplines continues to advance. These changes will drive thegeneration of emergent knowledge that resolves the social problems of the future. Hitotsubashi
University has a record of proactive advancement of cocreation between the natural and social
sciences from the standpoint of the social sciences, through initiatives such as the Union of Four
Universities in Tokyo (which brings Hitotsubashi University together with the Tokyo Medical and
Dental University, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, and Tokyo Institute of Technology) and acomprehensive partnership agreement with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science andTechnology (AIST). With the goal of addressing the problems that will confront society in the7

coming years, Hitotsubashi University is well-positioned to play a leading role in the development of
humanities and sciences cocreation that involves the social sciences making inroads into science andtechnology disciplines, rather than those disciplines crossing boundaries into the social sciences.
(4) Roundtable for the advancement of the social sciences in japan
In March 2018, Hitotsubashi University established the Roundtable for the Advancement of theSocial Sciences in Japan, a forum for gathering ideas from Japan and internationally and discussing
approaches to reforming the social sciences in Japan. Membership of the Roundtable includes
prominent Japanese figures together with the Presidents of LSE, Sciences Po, SMU, and otherexperts in university management, all contributing to vigorous discussions.
In the future, the Roundtable will be utilized as a kind of “management advisory committee” ofthe University, while we keep providing information and generating useful knowledge andapproaches to reshaping the social sciences in Japan. Hitotsubashi University will also take the leadin pursuing reforms designed to raise the international competitiveness of the social sciences inJapan and make intellectual contributions to the social sciences globally. We will disseminate these
initiatives as model cases to catalyze fundamental reform of the social sciences in Japan as a whole.
The following three key themes have emerged out of the numerous opinions put forward at theRoundtable meetings to date.
[1] Educational capabilities: It is essential to develop the ability of logical thinking from theundergraduate level, with even greater sophistication at the graduate level. In social sciences
education, it is important to cultivate students capable of formulating original questions and tacklingthose questions scientifically when they start working in society. Thus, it is appropriate to require
both originality and theoretical rigor in undergraduate theses. Educational practice of this typerequires the expertise of researchers working on the front lines of their fields globally. Moreover,international corporations today make use of employees with advanced and specialized educational
credentials. In Japan, too, there is a need for individuals who have completed specialized educationin the social sciences at the graduate level to take up active roles in the corporate world.
[2] Research capabilities: The key to research strengthening is interdisciplinary organization. A
common feature observed in the universities managed by international members of the Roundtable isthe use of thematic, interdisciplinary research organizations to deal flexibly with social issues that
may arise. Examples include SMU’s Centre for Research on Successful Ageing (ROSA), Sciences
Po’s Medialab (a joint organization combining sociology, computer science, and other disciplines),and LSE’s International Inequalities Institute. However, while the use of interdisciplinaryorganizations is a feature that these institutions have in common, the strategies used to recruit
talented researchers vary considerably. Some institutions (such as LSE) offer high salaries, whileothers (Sciences Po) place emphasis on fostering younger researchers in postdoctoral positions.
Approaches to recruiting researchers should be considered in light of the institutional environment
and the strategies of the university.
[3] Management capabilities: Pursuing grants to cover the increase in operating expenses isimportant, but at the same time, it is essential for universities to embark on their own efforts. Waste
should be completely eliminated, especially in areas not directly related to the quality of education
and research. In this respect, there is much scope for a reassessment of approaches to university
management, and it is important to cultivate personnel for proper university administration.
8

Consideration should also be given to raising tuition for educational programs as a means to boost
revenue. When doing so, it will be essential to identify which programs best reflect the University’s
educational and research strengths and offer educational services that are so critical to society that
there is no substitute for them.
[4] Cocreation between the humanities and sciences: A problem has been identified in thetendency of research policies to heavily invest funds in project-based research designed to solve
short-term problems, while neglecting curiosity-driven research that may yield greater benefits forsociety in the long-term. Predicting major structural changes from a long-term perspective requires
the integration of knowledge from across many disciplines; thus, a long-term approach needs to betaken to subsidize and allocate resources to interdisciplinary research.
[5] Cocreation with society (industry-government-academia collaboration): Because social
science research tends to emphasize the novelty of its approaches, such research is not easily
connected with outcomes that interest businesses, which makes collaboration difficult. It is desirable
to clarify, from the business perspective, how collaboration between social science research andbusiness can be advanced, using examples of best practices such as the Collaboration Center’s work
to facilitate matching.
3. To build on the University’s strengths and features to pursue contributions to global welfare,which is the University’s mission, redefine the University’s basic objectives as a DesignatedNational University corporation, and accelerate initiatives toward raising international
competitiveness in research and education.
Hitotsubashi University’s mission is to contribute to global welfare: “to create intellectual andcultural property which will contribute to the building of free and peaceful political and economic
societies in Japan and the world and to train those who will assume positions of leadership”(Hitotsubashi University Mission Statement). We strive to advance reforms for a better society bygenerating knowledge that yields social benefits and fosters leaders capable of executing the reforms;
we do these things not only within Japan but also with a global outlook. This is the mission of
Hitotsubashi University.
Our particular strengths are in empirical research utilizing the University’s substantial data
infrastructure, and thorough, attentive education based on small-group seminar classes. All the
projects conducted at Hitotsubashi University under the 21st Century COE and Global COE
programs (3 and 2 projects, respectively) were research endeavors closely attuned to social realities,
characterized especially by the collection and analysis of unique data sets and the production oforiginal empirical insights grounded in theory. The observation of societies undergoing dramaticchange and the generation of knowledge to serve social innovation is characteristic of research at
Hitotsubashi University. Moreover, in the course of developing data infrastructure and pursuingempirical research, the University cultivates graduate students through on-the-job training (OJT)
programs. In this way, we are engaged in distinctive processes of both knowledge creation andresearch talent development utilizing data infrastructure.
The University has also been developing a track record in the training of professionals forpractical roles in society. We will maintain the University’s position as a center for high-quality
education in which cutting-edge empirical research is fed back into educational practice, both at the9undergraduate level, as has been the case traditionally, and in professional education at the master’slevel. The small-group seminar model has not only been successful in undergraduate education, but
is also pursued in master’s-level professional education. In programs such as those offered by the
Law School, whose cumulative pass rates for the Bar Examination are the highest in Japan, and theBusiness School and School of International and Public Policy, which place emphasis on workshops
and other small-group, seminar-style formats, talented researchers provide each student with athorough and theoretically rigorous education. From an international perspective, there is ample
scope for the deployment of this distinctive educational method to enhance Hitotsubashi’s
international competitiveness. Strengths of this type shall be preserved as cornerstones of the
University’s education, which must not be lost in the pursuit of future reforms.
Over the next ten years, Hitotsubashi University will build on these strengths to achieve
substantial improvements in the international competitiveness of social science research andeducation. Strategic Priority Areas will be selected and synergies generated between newly appointed
and existing members of academic staff, leading to a dramatic acceleration in research andeducational competitiveness internationally.
As a result of these efforts, we aim to achieve a top-30 position in the QS World University
Rankings in the Social Sciences & Management in ten years’ time (rank in 2018 was 71st), and a
top-ten ranking in twenty years’ time. Moreover, we aim to achieve top-30 rankings in the fields of
Economics & Econometrics, Business & Management Studies, Accounting & Finance, and Politics& International Studies (all ranked in the 51–100 range in 2018) in ten years’ time.

II. Hitotsubashi University’s Aims for Functional Strengthening as a Designated National
University Corporation
1. The University’s strategic scenarios for reform (at the time of application)
The University will strengthen its governance and financial base to support reform, with a focus
on building research capability and applying research findings to education and wider society. In
doing so, it will prioritize areas where the resolution of the social issues and the establishment of aninternational track record can both be achieved, in turn enhancing the University’s presence
internationally in a positive cycle. The following strategic scenarios for reform will be pursued torealize these objectives, informed by the self-assessment presented above.
[1] Selection and concentration to bolster research capability
We will select as Strategic Priority Areas those areas of research in which there is a need to resolveinternational problems and in which insights from Japan are acknowledged as making an importantinternational contribution. First among these are the areas in which Hitotsubashi already has strong
research foundations and potential for expanded international dissemination: economics,
management, accounting & finance, and politics & international studies. Other areas poised to
become priority areas are psychology, data science, and Global Law. As these new areas grow, in the
future we will strategically review the organization, including that of undergraduate faculties, andwill give priority to allocating new faculty positions to these areas.

10[2] Establishment of a world-class research workforce(a) Net increase of 60 faculty positions: We will increase our number of researchers in the priority
areas by 30 in the five years beginning with the 2020 academic year (AY2020) and to a total of
approximately 60 in ten years. This represents an increase of approximately ten% in five years and
20% in ten years over the University’s current (AY2018) academic staff of 309 (lecturer and higher
positions). This increase will accelerate the internationalization of research and bring ourstudent-to-teacher ratio to a level comparable to that of LSE.
(b) Utilization of retiree replacements: We anticipate that 17 retiring faculty members will need tobe replaced in AY2019, followed by an additional 75 over the five years beginning in AY2020. Whenmaking these replacements, we will place greater emphasis on candidates’ international track records.
Combining this total of 92 replacements over the next six years with the 30 new positions to becreated over five years from AY2020 yields a total of 122 new faculty appointments. Many of these
122 will be international researchers. The impact of these moves is sure to be significant, given thatthese 122 new positions and replacements amount to approximately 40% of the current faculty
population of 309. Pursuing this large-scale transformation of our faculty profile concurrently withthe reform of research structures and systems is expected to lead to great improvements in the qualityof research and education. Over the next decade, the acceleration of both replacements and new
positions will see the University grow rapidly into a research hub that generates numerous
international outputs.
(c) Synergic effects of interdisciplinary research structure: In line with suggestions from theRoundtable, we will take preemptive action to address the problems that will confront future society
by flexibly and promptly establishing interdisciplinary research centers that boost our new research
output and enhance our contributions to wider society. These new research centers will beestablished within the HIAS, established in 2014 as a cross-departmental research organization
positioned directly under the President. While narrowing down the focus to areas in which bothcontributions to addressing social problems and international dissemination of research findings are
possible, projects in these interdisciplinary research centers will enable newly appointed researchers
to work together with researchers continuing their work in areas of established strengths to generatesynergies, thereby improving the international research and educational capabilities of the University
as a whole.
[3] Reinvestment of research outcomes in society and education
We will further invigorate international joint research as another way of achieving a dramaticincrease in international research output. Joint research with AIST will also be promoted with a view
to addressing social problems. As a research hub open to Japan and the world, we will pursue
knowledge creation and share the outcomes with the wider society. This knowledge and theinfrastructure that enables it will also be fed back into education at the undergraduate and graduatelevels to advance the cultivation of a wide range of high-level talent.
[4] Strengthening of the financial base and establishment of a virtuous cycle
Augmentation of the financial base is essential for pursuing large-scale reforms. Hitotsubashi
University will work to improve the efficiency of university management by eliminating waste andby building rational and efficient operational processes throughout the university organization. At the11same time, as shown in Figure 6, we will raise revenue through the development of the University’s
Figure 6:
own sources of funding and use thatrevenue for further enhancement ofresearch and educational capacitythat will, in turn, lead to more
revenue, in a virtuous growth cycle.
First, while securing equality ofopportunity,
we
will
raise
undergraduate
tuitionbyapproximately 20% and use therevenue generated thereby toincrease the number of international faculty members, improve student-to-teacher ratios, and provide
students with more sophisticated education, especially in the area of global education. Using the
Global Leaders’ Program already launched in four undergraduate faculties as a core initiative, wewill increase the number of lecture courses offered in the English-language and introduce a Dual
Seminar System under which students can elect to take an English-medium seminar class as an
adjunct to their seminar in Japanese. New faculty appointments over the first five years will befunded by this tuition increase. We will also expand other sources of funding by promoting
commissioned and joint research projects with companies and governmental authorities and by
developing additional executive programs. The effects of these initiatives will become apparent in
the sixth to the tenth year. Furthermore, in the event that deregulatory measures are permitted for
Designated National University in the future, we will incrementally raise tuition for the MBA
programs beyond 20%, strengthening and stabilizing University revenue while enhancing our
educational programs. We will pursue a progressive cycle of production by utilizing these revenue
increases to recruit more faculty and further enhance the commissioned research and executive
programs.
[5] Strengthening of the university governance
The strong leadership of the University President is essential to the selection of and concentrated
investment of research and educational resources in Strategic Priority Areas, as well as themaintenance of a personnel system that emphasizes international output. We will establish systems tounderpin this presidential leadership, as well as strengthen governance structures that checkpresidential power from external points of view. We will also create professional development
programs for university administrators. To train individuals in research and education to undertake
University reforms and University management, we will develop educational programs combining
courses offered across different departments of the University.
[6] Enhancement of diverse educational and research areas
Once we have initiated a virtuous cycle by placing emphasis on areas that combine the resolutionof social problems and international outputs, thereby boosting the University’s international presence,
stable revenue increases will enable us to generate resources for the enhancement of othereducational and research areas. First, we will invest resources in strengthening the Law School,
which already enjoys a highly distinguished reputation. The importance of legal professional
12education will increase as society becomes more complex. Hitotsubashi University will work tocultivate legal professionals to play active roles on the world stage. In philosophy, history, and otherhumanities that furnish the foundations of the social sciences, as well as mathematics and other areas,
there will be scope to employ outstanding researchers and develop structures enabling them toconcentrate exclusively on education and research. As society confronts challenges related to thesocial application of science, technology, and AI, global social disparities, and healthcare provisionin the context of aging, it will be essential to refer back to philosophy, ideas, history, and otherfundamentals of the humanities. Maintaining a solid commitment to these fundamentals is an
important precondition for advancement of the social sciences.
[7] Impacts on other social science universities/faculties in Japan
The process of establishing the virtuous cycles outlined above over the next ten years at
Hitotsubashi University will generate impacts on other social science universities and faculties inJapan. First, as we promote international joint research initiatives and research partnerships withindustry, academia, and government, we will build research networks incorporating researchers fromother universities, functioning as a research hub within Japan and beyond. Also, the publication of
the discussions of the Roundtable and progress on reforms at Hitotsubashi University will furnish
important information to inform reforms at other social science universities and faculties. Moreover,
our University Administrator Development Programs will begin within Hitotsubashi University but
will gradually be opened up to other participants, contributing to society as a type of education
infrastructure for individuals involved in higher education administration in Japan. Through these
impacts, Hitotsubashi University will become a catalyst for social science reform in Japan.
2. Specific initiatives to advance the University’s vision and strategies and relationship with thesix elements expected of a Designated National University(1) Governance strengthening through the President’s leadership (related to “strengthening ofresearch capabilities,” “international cooperation and collaboration,” and “strengthening ofgovernance”)
The President will exercise strong leadership toward the concentration of research and education
resources in strategic priority areas for the University as a whole. In the areas of faculty personnel
and evaluation and reallocation of resources to bolster international competitiveness, governance will
be strengthened by a thorough results-based allocation approach reflecting impartial evaluation.
Moreover, while leveraging its cohesiveness and nimbleness as a social science university, toestablish governance systems as part of management to underpin international competitiveness, theUniversity will utilize external perspectives through bodies such as the Roundtable for the
Advancement of the Social Sciences in Japan and the Hitotsubashi Global Advisory Board. It will
also review the University’s executive structures as necessary.
[1] Strengthening university-wide personnel governance for internationalization of the faculty
As part of the strategy for the expansion and enhancement of research personnel, the President
will exercise strong leadership in the application of key personnel rules relating to the selection ofstrategic priority areas and the consistent observance of international performance standards.
Recruitment of a total of 122 faculty members over the six years starting in 2019, comprising 30
13

newly created positions and 92 to replace retiring faculty, will generate synergies between newly
appointed researchers and the many existing faculty members already pursuing international research,significantly increasing the University’s international competitiveness. HIAS will play the core rolein pioneering novel fields of research unfettered by conventional disciplinary frameworks andboundaries and creating new knowledge that responds appropriately to the complex demands of theera. To achieve these goals, the University will strengthen its alliances with AIST and the Union ofFour Universities in Tokyo.
Both new and replacement appointments will be made following deliberation of each hiring planin the Committee for University-wide Personnel chaired by the President, based on standards formaking contributions to the University’s internationalization strategy, such as the production ofinternational outputs. Appointments to newly created faculty positions will be made in Strategic
Priority Areas determined by the Committee for Strategic Priority Areas also chaired by the President.
As replacements for retiring faculty members, candidates will be selected who can fulfill new
University-wide missions of research and education as well as the missions of existing departments.
A rigorous selection process will be followed in accordance with standards such as journal rankingsin which candidates have published articles and the number of citations, taking into account thecharacteristics of each research field. Incentives to achieve an increase in international research
outputs (international joint research projects and international coauthored papers) will bestrengthened, and the specified annual salary system will be used to provide star researchers alreadyachieving high standards of performance with even higher salaries, in combination with the use ofcross-appointment systems to boost effectiveness. Initiatives will also be pursued to improve theeffectiveness of faculty performance evaluations from the standpoint of strengthening personnel
governance. A strategic approach to personnel will be taken based on the university-wide personnel
roadmap designed to achieve an ideal age, gender, and international profile of the faculty, with
progress closely monitored by a university-wide personnel committee.
For the discretionary funds that can be deployed strategically by the President, the University isreviewing individual initiatives from the ground up that take into account the perspectives of social
impact and the establishment of a world-class education and research hub based on quantitative
indicators. The allocation of funds will reflect this evaluation. The University will also take othersteps to enhance the reallocation of internal resources, such as establishing a new DesignatedNational University promotion fund, reducing the value of research funds previously allocateduniformly based on the number of faculty, adjusting allocations based on the performance evaluationof each organizational unit, and restructuring financial resources to provide incentives to improve
international performance.
[2] World-class global talent procurement program in HIAS
To further accelerate the University’s international competitiveness in the fourth medium-termgoals period, the University will seek to become a hub of international mobility in the social sciencesby actively inviting and hosting distinguished scholars and young researchers expected to produce
international outputs. Specifically, internal personnel funds will be strategically concentrated under
the President’s leadership to enable HIAS to pursue a World-class Global Talent Procurement
Program (HIAS BRIDGES) comprising the following two projects.

14(a) Young Researcher Development Program (HIAS BRIDGES Next)
With a focus on the strategic priority areas, HIAS will use an international open recruitment
process to appoint young researchers to five-year terms and provide an environment enabling them
to focus on their research. This project will be undertaken on an unprecedented scale, with a total of
45 appointees over a five-year period. Approximately 25 top-class young researchers will be
appointed for five-year terms as full-time lecturers by 2023, with another 20 young researchers
currently developing a research track record to be appointed on the same basis. These appointees will
be exempt as much as possible from internal university duties to enable them to devote themselves
exclusively to their research, and they will be actively encouraged to pursue research exchanges withestablished researchers, under the mentorship of existing faculty members of the University. To
provide a greater sense of security for the appointees to focus on their research activities, auniversity-wide research support organization will be established and other forms of assistancestrengthened, such as support for researchers’ family members. The University will focus on theappointment of young researchers with high publication productivity, initiating knowledge clusters inthe strategic priority areas and raising the University’s reputation for developing into a “hub for thesocial sciences” where top-class young researchers form multitiered networks.
(b) World-class Researcher Invitation Project (HIAS BRIDGES Distinguished)
Distinguished world-class scholars will be invited to the University for fixed terms with special
appointments as professors and visiting professors involved in active exchanges with the
University’s researchers, mainly the young researchers in HIAS. The University will develop
systems enabling a variety of invitational modes by offering high salaries through the specified
annual salary system and through the flexible deployment of systems such as those for speciallyappointed professors and cross-appointments. These will be used as catalysts for international joint
research projects built on existing synergies with University faculty members and young researchers.
The new faculty members joining the University over the six years will be involved ininterdisciplinary research projects in HIAS, generating synergic effects that build on the networks ofdomestic and international researchers and Japanese companies held by researchers already at
Hitotsubashi University, dynamically advancing the University’s production of international outputs.
For example, projects on medical economics, social implementation of science and technology, andother topics which bring together scholars of economics, law, sociology, management, and otherfields from different disciplines will be meaningful for both new and existing faculty members. New
appointees will benefit from access to data infrastructure related to Japan’s experience with many
challenges before the rest of the world while existing faculty will be strongly motivated to pursue
further internationalization. Moreover, researchers from other universities and research institutes
both within and outside Japan will be encouraged to participate in joint research projects, providing
significant impacts to raising the standard of Japanese social sciences.
ሾ3] Emphasis on systems to guarantee sound governance from external and diverse
perspectives
The University already has a system to guarantee the soundness of its governance from an external
perspective in the form of the Roundtable for the Advancement of the Social Sciences in Japan.
Additionally, it has adopted mechanisms for obtaining input and appraisals from the University as
15well as other social science universities and faculties across Japan. The University has alsoestablished the Hitotsubashi Global Advisory Board, comprising individuals with presidential andvice-presidential experience at benchmark institutions and major international partner institutions,who provide recommendations from an international perspective to the University’s President on
matters including university management, education, and research activities. The University will use
the substantive discussions of this Board to strengthen its management insights from universities inother countries that have overcome similar challenges and achieved growth.
Since April 2022, the University has maintained an equal number of male and female external
members of the Management Council, as well as elected four female Education and ResearchCouncil members. One woman was appointed as a Graduate School Dean in May 2022 and anotheras Vice-President for Public Relations and Diversity in September of the same year, with bothjoining the Education and Research Council. Under the President’s leadership, greater diversity will
be achieved in the University’s other executive structures as well.
(2) Comprehensive internationalization of research and education and strengthening ofinternational competitiveness (related to “strengthening of research capabilities,”“international cooperation and collaboration,” and “strengthening of governance”)
With the of achieving comprehensive internationalization and strengthening international
competitiveness, the University will reform its research and education organizations, including
significantly bolstering the functions of HIAS as a highly nimble and flexible organization that spans
and integrates different arms of the University. Within ten years, we will double the university-wide
total number of publications in English to 300 annually, and achieve a ranking in the top 30 of QS
World University Rankings in the Broad Subject Area of Social Sciences & Management.
[1] Functional strengthening of HIAS in strategic priority areas
The University will strengthen cross-departmental research by concentrating its existing research
centers and establishing new centers under the HIAS umbrella. In addition to the centers establishedin the third medium-term goals period, to address the strategic priority areas established at the
beginning of the fourth period, the University has established (ⅰ) the Research Center for Data-driven

16

Society and (ii) the Hitotsubashi International Center of Research and Training of Economic
Measurements (Hi-CEM), Furthermore, it has relocated (iii) the Research Center for Asia Policy
Studies to HIAS. The University will continue to promote research directed toward problem-solving
and making policy recommendations, establishing new centers to address specific social issues inenvironmental economics, global governance, and psychology, among other areas. As researchers
within the University and invited researchers pursue joint research, they will foster synergies andquickly enhance the University’s academic potential. The centers within HIAS will run individual
research projects over periods of 2–3 years, and their research achievements will be assessed
according to international standards. If necessary, research centers will be reformed, restructured,and eliminated. By assigning faculty member to HIAS to focus on research and strengthening
research support structures such as the URA organization, the University will create a highly
attractive academic community that brings together outstanding international talent.
ሾ2ሿ Synergies between Hitotsubashi social sciences and Social Data Science (SDS)The University will proactively advance cocreation between the humanities and sciences centeredon HIAS. The Research Center for Data-driven Society is composed mainly of faculty members of
the new Faculty and Graduate School of SDS. Integrating the social sciences and data science, SDS
will discover and define appropriate issues in complex and rapidly-changing contemporary societies,
collect and analyze essential data, open up new disciplinary frontiers to enable the insights gained
from such analysis to be applied to society in practice, and train individuals capable of undertaking
these tasks. Outside SDS, many faculty members of the University are engaged in research-related todata science. In addition to areas of traditional strength such as statistics, mathematical finance, andaccounting, some researchers in the humanities disciplines, such as quantitative history andstylometry, also perform quantitative analysis, meaning that approximately one-half of the
University’s full-time faculty members are able to collaborate with SDS. By participating in joint
research projects in HIAS, these faculty members will create the new academic field of social data
science-based on university-wide collaboration, forming the hub of an international research network
in social and economic information and data analysis for the purpose of contributing to the resolutionof complex social issues.
[3] Promotion of cocreation between the humanities and sciences and international joint
research
With HIAS as the mainstay, we will take a university-wide approach to partnerships with external
research institutions, and proactively advance cocreation between the natural and social sciences.
The Research Center for Health Policy and Economics is already building close cooperative
relationships in both research and graduate education with the Tokyo Medical and Dental University
and Tokyo Institute of Technology. The comprehensive partnership agreement with AIST signed in2016 is producing joint research on topics such as data design and social implementation of scienceand technology and plans to collaborate on educational programs. In these ways, we will expand our
joint and commissioned research with external research institutes, companies, governmental
authorities, auditing companies, and other partners, and use these partnerships to drive a significant
upsurge in research output. Moreover, interdisciplinary applied research across natural and social
sciences will also inspire the revitalization of basic research inquiring into fundamental principles.
17

Thus, from the standpoint of the social sciences, Hitotsubashi University will contribute to thegeneration of new fields of research that help address social problems, as well as to the successive
formation of interdisciplinary fields activating the creation of new knowledge.
HIAS will also be the driving force for further strengthening the University’s international joint
research. The Research Center for Health Policy and Economics has embarked on joint research
projects with SMU’s CREA and has already hosted several joint international research conferences.
We will continue to prioritize international joint research on key social problems, utilizing forums
such as the Societal Impact and Global Management Alliance (SIGMA), a worldwide alliance ofnine social science universities, including SMU and Hitotsubashi.
The areas to be targeted for priority enhancement over the first five years (economics, finance,
management, politics/international relations, psychology, data science, and Global Law) are those inwhich the university already has an outstanding group of researchers and a solid research base, or
areas in which we are seeking rapid development in the immediate future. Through the concentrated
investment of research resources in these areas, we will first improve their international visibility andthen recruit outstanding international researchers and outstanding graduate students from othercountries.
[4] Emphasis on international track record in appointments and increase in international
research outputs (progress toward achievement of international benchmarks)
The University has made raising its number of English-language publications a priority throughout
the third medium-term goals period, prioritizing international track records in the appointment offaculty members and instituting programs for intensive support of international joint research in
HIAS, resulting in a steady improvement in performance. Of the 94 full-time faculty appointments inthe three-year period ending May 2022, approximately 80% (74) were appointments that prioritizedinternational experience, and 20% (17) of the appointees were of non-Japanese. Faculty members
newly appointed under this priority system have more English-language publications, higher FWCI
scores, and higher percentages of international coauthored publications than the University’s current
faculty members.
The average number of papers published in international peer-reviewed journals in the field of
economics by the 44 faculty members (including multiple affiliations) affiliated with HIAS (which
account for approximately 15% of all regular University faculty members) was 0.73 per faculty
member annually in the 2017–2021 period. This figure is almost identical to the 0.74 per faculty
member annually published in the field of economics by the top 500 active authors affiliated with
LSE, one of the world’s top institutions. The
activities of HIAS are also generating ripple
effects across the University, with the number ofEnglish-language
outputs—oneoftheuniversity-wide indicators used for international
university rankings—rising from 109 in 2013 to
184 in 2021, an increase of 69%.
As a result, the number of English-language
outputs is steadily growing toward the 2023
target of 200 per year, and FWCI, which is one
18

of the indicators of the quality of outputs, remains at a high-level. Thus, the University considers thatthe strengthening of HIAS has already had some effect on facilitating an environment where faculty
members can focus on their research and produce integrative knowledge beyond disciplinary
boundaries. By further increasing the number of researchers, while also shifting to a focus on the
integration of the humanities and sciences, the University is on track to produce 300
English-language outputs a year by 2028.
(3) Talent development and international collaboration (related primarily to “fostering of
human resources”; partially to “international cooperation and collaboration” and“collaboration with society”)[1] Bolstering the international competitiveness of undergraduate education
We will expand the number of English-medium specialized courses from 125 in 2018 to 200 in ten
years, introduce a Dual Seminar System that allows students to take a specialized seminar class inEnglish in addition to their Japanese-medium seminar, and pursue other initiatives to enricheducational activity in which talented, globally active researchers carefully train each individual
student. These initiatives will invigorate the cultivation of students with profound social
science-based intellectual capabilities that enable them to play active roles in international society.
We will also expand our international institutional partnerships at the same time as we further
develop collaborative relationships within SIGMA and introduce international active learning
programs to accelerate global talent development at the undergraduate level. Online education
methods will be developed to attain world-class international competitiveness. We will work on
initiatives that highlight the competencies students acquire through global education, accredit themin the form of a diploma supplement, and establish competency evaluation methods for transferable
skills.
To foster a new generation of entrepreneurs and promote research in new areas, a new educational
program that combines data science and design approaches (the Data Design Program) was launchedin AY2021. Additionally, we will launch a new Faculty of Social Data Science, merging data scienceand social sciences. At the same time, we will utilize AIST and the Union of Four Universities inTokyo to pioneer cocreation between the natural and social sciences and expand educational
programs on this theme. Areas such as IoT and platform business are currently experiencing growththroughout the world, and individuals capable of designing social systems with knowledge oftechnology are essential to formulate and launch businesses for global markets from the outset. To
develop entrepreneurs with a global perspective and the capacity to envisage new social systems, itwill be crucial that our undergraduate programs include social science-based data science education
through deeper collaboration with AIST as well as offer extensive global education. The
enhancement of Hitotsubashi University’s undergraduate education programs will contribute to thecultivation of a new generation of entrepreneurs essential for Japan’s future.
[2] Researcher training in doctoral programs
As we develop data infrastructure through University-wide international joint research andresearch programs designed to resolve social problems, centered on HIAS, we will also use research
OJT in the doctoral programs to train young researchers to perform on the world stage. At the sametime, doctoral students will be provided with support for study and living expenses through tuition
19

exemptions and employment as Research Assistants (RAs) and Teaching Assistants. These initiatives
will attract more talented individuals to the doctoral programs. The involvement of graduate students
from other universities, including outside Japan, as RAs in research projects, especially in priority
areas, will both enhance the outcomes of the University’s project-based research and furnish
opportunities for OJT in empirical research based on data infrastructure that is one of the
University’s strengths. This will position the University as a hub for social sciences research in Japanand Asia through high-impact academic talent development.
ሾ3ሿ Strengthening professional education (bolstering the integrated capacity of the businessschools)
We will strengthen professional education at the master’s and doctoral levels. Education and research
operate in unison in the social sciences, with the education of highly skilled professionals benefitingfrom the talents of researchers who produce outputs of international caliber. At the same time, wewill utilize means such as cross-appointments to expand the employment of academic staff withprofessional experience, building world-class professional programs that offer the world’s mostadvanced theoretical frameworks and gaining access to the forefront of professional practice.
(ⅰ) Developing professionals at the master’s level
Amazon, Google, Netflix, and other global corporations have recently come to demand advanced
specialized knowledge in the social sciences. Even within Japan, there is a growing demand forprograms such as the evening MBA program launched in 2018 to coincide with the graduate school
restructuring at Hitotsubashi University. Many people employed in the corporate world have alreadyrealized that undergraduate education alone is inadequate to meet their needs. In response to thisdemand, the University will offer education programs for highly skilled professionals in the
Graduate School of Business Administration (Business School), Graduate School of Law (Law
School), and School of International and Public Policy. English-medium degree programs will be
expanded, along with double degree networks and hybrid internships in international organizations
and think tanks outside Japan.
(ii) Developing professionals at the doctoral level
In addition to master’s programs, in AY2019 we also established a doctoral program inmanagement. This program, which can be attended outside working hours, is designed for engineers
and technologists who already hold master’s degrees in science-related disciplines. It will be used totrain highly skilled professionals and managerial personnel in the area of management of technology.
In response to the growing importance of evidence-based policy-making (EBPM) in recent years, we
also established a doctoral program in EBPM for practitioners from entities such as governmentalorgans, central banks, and think tanks who already hold master’s degrees in economics. This move
represents a valuable precedent in the development of new doctoral programs in the social sciences.
To establish degree programs that promote internationalization and cocreation between thehumanities and sciences, we will establish a new cross-graduate school degree program designed tocultivate highly skilled professionals equipped with advanced transferable skills in transdisciplinary
fields. Doctoral students participating in this program will be provided with financial support.

20

[4] Executive education
To enable top-level managers in Japanese companies to update their knowledge base in responseto the rapidly-changing global business environment, we will continue to enhance our existing
executive programs (the Hitotsubashi Senior Executive Program and the Hitotsubashi Financial
Leadership Program) and extend into other executive programs. We will create a short-term intensive
course on health economics to train highly skilled professionals in medicine and nursing, together
with other executive programs that provide a knowledge base for addressing critical social problems.
(4) Strengthening the independent financial base (related to “strengthening of financial base”)
The University aims to raise its ordinary revenue by 1 billion yen by fiscal 2029 and a further 1billion yen by fiscal 2039, as well as increase its budget by 20% over its current level. A total of 2
billion yen will have a significant impact on Hitotsubashi, a social sciences university with a current
budget of approximately 11 billion yen. Assuming that operating expenses grants and subsidies
remain at their current levels, we will pursue strategies to strengthen the University’s financial basein the areas of (i) tuition, (ii) executive programs, (iii) commissioned research, (iv) endowments, and(v) other revenue. Implementing measures to strengthen the financial base will permit strengthening
the research and education structures, including an increase in faculty personnel and additional
investments in research and education infrastructure, transforming the University into a globallycompetitive institution. The University’s strengths in the area of accounting will be applied todevelop and adopt a new university managerial accounting system that clarifies the costs, revenues,
and outcomes of projects in research and education, as well as measures performance.
(i) Tuition (increase in tuition revenue through deregulation)
The University increased tuition fees by 20% for undergraduate programs from fiscal 2020 and forsome of its graduate schools, including the MBA programs, from fiscal 2021, and is achieving stablefinancial resource growth to enhance education in these programs. To maintain the accreditation
obtained in 2021 from AACSB International (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools ofBusiness), an international accreditation organization of business programs, the MBA programs will
pursue educational improvements aligned with global standards and raise its yearly business school
enrollment capacity to 250 by fiscal 2029, while monitoring fluctuations in demand going forward. Iffurther deregulation takes place, tuition will be raised to a level commensurate with international
standards. Through increases in both enrollment capacity and tuition revenue, the business school
aims to achieve an overall revenue increase of approximately 200 million yen (a total of
approximately 600 million yen when combined with undergraduate program revenue) by fiscal 2029,
and a further increase, driven by raised enrollment capacity, of just under 800 million yen (a total of
approximately 1.2 billion yen) by fiscal 2039.
(ii) Expansion of executive programs
Demand for training programs for top management is extremely strong in the corporate sector. We
will expand our existing executive programs and develop a wide range of new programs with thegoal of raising current revenue of 138 million yen to approximately 300 million yen — an increaseof approximately 160 million yen — in ten years.
(iii) Commissioned research, etc. (acceleration of collaboration with companies)
Demand for AI capable of extracting useful hypotheses from big data in the social sciences is21

growing rapidly, such as AI to undertake accounting audits and to learn and predict the probability ofbankruptcy in small and medium enterprises. In the coming era of big data, there will be a major
upsurge in AI development projects requiring knowledge of the social sciences in areas such asaccounting, finance, marketing, and pricing. Using channels such as the Hitotsubashi Initiative of
Collaboration for Knowledge Sharing and joint-stock companies established, if selected as a
Designated National University, we will attract more research commissions in these areas and boost
revenue in the future. Such research not only contributes to the University’s revenue base, but is also
an effective means for obtaining valuable research data to be disseminated internationally. By
creating human resource development programs in data science fields and increasing collaborative
research by SDS faculty, revenue centered on commissioned research will increase by approximately
150 million yen over the next ten years.
(iv) Endowments (strengthening the Hitotsubashi University Foundation)
At the time of its conversion into a National University Corporation, Hitotsubashi University alsoestablished the Hitotsubashi University Foundation to promote the University’s vision and solicit
endowments, which, as of April 2018, had reached a cumulative total of more than ten billion yen.
Our ratio of cumulative endowment income to overall university revenue is the highest of any
national university in Japan. The University’s alumni association, Josuikai, was established morethan a century ago and has long supported the University on a variety of fronts, including
contributing to fundraising activities for the Hitotsubashi University Foundation. Going forward, we
will work to further increase our endowment income through deeper collaboration with the Josuikai.
We will place particular emphasis on companies in the growth region of Asia, utilizing overseas
branches of the Josuikai and employing international student alumni as specialist fundraisers(Advisors to the President) as we seek to build our endowment. Numerous international students
from Asia study at Hitotsubashi University every year. The Josuikai alumni association has branches
around the world and a vibrant program of activities. With the support of these branch organizations,
we will work proactively to further expand support for students studying abroad, endowed lectures,and other initiatives.
Through these activities, we aim to attain cumulative endowments of 15 billion yen by AY2028.
(v) Other revenue
The University will work with external consultants on efforts to enhance the management of funds
built from endowments and donations, as well as increase revenue from the University-owned
Hitotsubashi Hall. It will also formulate and implement a campus grand design to facilitate revenue
increases totaling approximately 50 million yen through fixed-term leases and other forms ofmonetization of university assets. All assets (cash, real estate, etc.) owned by the University will beutilized to the maximum extent possible in an effort to achieve stable, sustainable self-generation ofrevenue.
(5) Administrative organization reforms to support strengthening of international
competitiveness (related to “strengthening of governance”)
To achieve the university strategy of comprehensive internationalization and strengthening ofinternational competitiveness, the University will pursue reforms to its administrative organization,
including the strengthening of administrative units responsible for (a) research support, (b) public
relations strategy, (c) IR and management strategy, and (d) cocreation with society. Initiatives for22talent development in university administration and management will also be accelerated to increase
the efficiency of internal administration.
[1] Reorganization of research support
A unit will be established to oversee the research support organizations currently dispersed acrossdifferent departments, raising the standard of research support across the University by concentrating
expertise and allocating resources efficiently.
[2] Establishment of URA organization (HIAS)
URAs with specialized knowledge and experience will be deployed to strengthen initiatives in
research-related IR, research coordination, project management, pre-award/post-award support,international public relations, and cocreation with society. URAs will pursue international public
relations activities on a priority basis for selected flagship projects.
[3] Strengthening international competitiveness of the administrative organization
In addition to appointing approximately ten new administrative staff members each year,
international competitiveness will be strengthened at the time of appointment by evaluating
candidates comprehensively, taking into account criteria such as language proficiency, specialized
expertise and competencies, proactiveness, and cooperativeness.
[4] Developing professionals for university administrator
With the Graduate School of Business Administration and the School of International and Public
Policy, Hitotsubashi has a strong foundation for educating individuals from business and government
in the management of private enterprises and public authorities. By utilizing international
partnerships, we sent administrative staff members to our close partner SMU for periods of 6 months
in AY2019 to undergo international OJT. We also agreed with the Okinawa Institute of Science andTechnology to undergo OJT starting in AY2022. Building on this, we will design a newly structured
development program for university administrators. We will provide mandatory courses dealing withknowledge related to university research and education and essential broad-based knowledge forhigher education administration from such disciplines as accounting, organizational theory,marketing, finance, financial management, public administration, psychology, and statistics. These
form the basis of an undergraduate certificate program (launched in AY2021), which will later be
developed into a University Administrator Development Program leading to a master’s degree. The
program will be offered initially to administrative staff members of Hitotsubashi University, but later
opened up to external participants and enhanced as part of the social infrastructure for training higher
education administrators across Japan.
III. Prospects for the Fourth Medium-Term Goals Period (Conclusions)
Hitotsubashi University presently stands at a crossroads, with one path leading to stagnation, andthe other to growth into an international hub for world-class research and talent development that
leads the reform of the social sciences in Japan. Sharing this strong sense of crisis across its entire
community, the University, under the President’s strong leadership, will accelerate rigorously its
structural and management reform efforts in areas including intensive personnel strategy to drive
diversity (internationalization and diversification) and integration of the humanities and sciences,functional strengthening of the Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study and other researchorganizations, resource allocation to maximize faculty education and research capabilities, and23

improvement of the financial base through pursuit of co-creation projects with society. These reforms
will be carried out during the fourth medium-term goals period. The University will also achieve
positive collaborative cycles in both research and education with the international community andlocal society, harnessing two key driving forces: research internationalization and contribution tosocial solutions, and educational internationalization to cultivate professionals equipped withadvanced knowledge and skills.
The Sixth Science, Technology and Innovation Basic Plan (approved by Cabinet in March 2021)
states: “In the future, it will become increasingly important to accumulate ‘knowledge’ with depth in
the humanities and social sciences, and to create and utilize ‘convergence of knowledge’ that
contributes to comprehensive understanding and problem solving of human beings and society
through fusion with ‘knowledge’ in the natural sciences.” In order to respond to these expectations
and contribute to the creation and utilization of “convergence of knowledge,” the Japanese social
sciences will require radical reform and strengthening of international competitiveness. The
University will play a leading role in this process through its extensive internal reforms, furnishingother Japanese social science universities and faculties with a model for revitalization of the social
sciences and ushering in a new era for the social sciences in Japan.
The achievement of the vision and strategies detailed above will enable the University to growinto a hub for world-class social science research and education that fosters global leaders to reformsociety in practice and generates knowledge toward the establishment of social systems for a resilient
world, providing a bridge to realization of a sustainable future.

24

Appendix*FWCI: Basically, Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) is an indicator of the degree to which
the research is cited by other researchers. More specifically, papers with the average number ofcitations in a given year in the particular field are taken as the reference point for use as an indicatorof the strength of the impact of individual papers (to be more exact, the average value also varies
with the type of paper, i.e., article, conference paper, or review). This average level is assigned avalue of 1 (FWCI = 1.0). A value above 1.0 indicates that the paper in question was cited more, andbelow one, that it was cited less, than the average. Because the FWCI value rises with number ofcitations, this suggests that the paper has a higher quality in the particular field. Calculation of the
FWCIs for individual papers provides footing for calculation of the average FWCI for all papers of
the university in question in the field in question. This average FWCI serves as an indicator of thequality of research in the university as a whole. The FWCIs and result totals shown in figures 1 – 3
are for the period 2008 – 2017, and include journal articles, books, and book chapters. They do notinclude self- citations.
*Atsumi indicator: The h-index for individuals is based on calculation of the number of papers
published by a certain individual that have a number of citations higher than the order of that paperin terms of the number of citations (relative to his or her other papers). For example, the papers
authored by a certain researcher may ranks as follows in terms of the number of times each wascited: first, 20 times; second, 10 times; third, 5 times; fourth, 3 times. In this case, the researcher’s
h-index would be 3. This index indicates the extent of papers with impact resulting from the researchof specific individuals. It is used to calculate how many papers with a certain degree of impact he or
she has authored, as opposed to the impact of any single outstanding paper. The Atsumi metrics
index, an institutional h5-index devised by Koizumi, expands the h-index to the scope of entire
universities. It similarly indicates the extent of papers with impact produced by a university as awhole. It is not influenced by the achievements of any particular stellar member of the faculty; itsvalue rises along with the “thickness” (“atsumi”) of the layer of research and researchers with impact.
The Atsumi indices shown in figures 1 – 3 are for the most recent five-year period (2013 – 2017),
and include journal articles, books, and book chapters. They do not include self-citations.
*The following is a brief commentary on the figures shown in Table 1.
① Executive shares and executive share per capita of student population: We calculated the share of
the total number of executives at companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the London
Stock Exchange occupied by alumni of the universities in question. Because the alumni of the
UK universities also take positions with companies in countries other than the UK, thecalculation for the UK was based only on the share among companies within the UK in order tomake the comparative evaluation fair. In addition, as universities with more students inevitably
have a higher executive share, a calculation was also made of the executive share per capita ofstudent population by dividing the number of executive alumni by the student enrollment quota.
② Indirect market value: We calculated the market value contributed by the University bymultiplying the market value of the companies listed in each market by the aforementioned
executive share. This is referred to as the “indirect market value” contributed by each university.
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③ Indirect market value per capita: This indirect market value was converted into a numericalfigure per input made. We considered three types of input: (a) student enrollment quota per
academic year, (b) number of teachers, and (c) amount of budget. First, we divided the indirect
market value by the student enrollment quota per academic year, to derive the indirect market
value per capita (of student enrollment quota per academic year). (Although corporate executives
are not appointed for a term of only one year, this did not cause any problems for inter-university
comparison, because divisions were made with figures derived under the same conditions foreach university.)④ Efficiency per input average: As we postulated three types of input (number of students, numberof teachers, and budget amount), we took the indicator resulting from division with thecorresponding cube root as “efficiency per input average.”⑤ Comparison with the base value (Tohoku University value): We assigned the value 1.0 to Tohoku
University, which is a typical case of an excellent university, for both the indirect market value
per capita of student enrollment per year and the efficiency per input average, and made anumerical quantification of effectiveness and efficiency as a multiplier of the Tohoku University
value. Higher figures for these factors presumably indicate higher levels of effectiveness andefficiency.

Appendix Table A: Comparison with LSE; the best social sciences university in the world26

Appendix Table B: Comparison of indirect market capitalization per student capacity27