Chuo aims to step up information sharing New Pres. Sakai and Vice Pres. Takeishi tell students

大学内情報の共有と発信力の強化を ―酒井新学長と武石副学長に聞く―

1/14/2015



Universities and colleges across Japan face a severe environment today. Chuo University is no exception. In the case of Chuo, prob­lems involve not only external factors such as the falling deviation values for its faculties and a drop in the number of applicants sitting for its entrance exams but also internal factors such as poor inter­personal relations among students as well as thin communications between students and alumni. Ha­kumon Herald interviewed Shozaburo Sakai, professor of the Faculty of Commerce who became chancellor and president in November 2014, and Chikako Takeishi, professor of the same faculty who became vice president, to ask them how they are going to lead Chuo in such difficult situation. Prof. Sakai had served as dean of the Fac­ulty of Commerce (in 2003) and a member of the Board of Directors (in 2005) be­fore assuming the post vacated by Prof. Tadahiko Fukuhara. Prof. Takeishi, who obtained her Ph.D. from Harvard University, joined Chuo in 2013. She concurrently serves as director of the Chuo Interna­tional Center.


今、中央大学に限らず大学を取り巻く環境は厳しい。偏差値の低下、受験者数の低下など、外的評価にとどまらず、在校生間や在校生と卒業生とのコミュニケーションの希薄さも指摘されている。このような状況の下で、今後どのように中央大を導いていくのか、2014年11月に総長・学長に就任した酒井正三郎商学部教授と、副学長に就任した武石智香子商学部教授に話を聞いた。酒井総長・学長は商学部部長(2003年)、理事(2005年)を歴任。前任者である福原紀彦総長学長の退任に伴い、総長・学長に就任した。武石教授はハーバード大学大学院卒業後、2013年に中央大学商学部教授に就任。国際センター所長も務める。



From top-down to bottom-up style.

トップダウンからボトムアップ型へ

-One month after assuming your new post, what is your impression?


Pres. Sakai: Each of our faculties and the International Center have carried out their own policies and activities in various ways. I have just begun sorting them out to learn exactly what each of them has done in the past. There were many cases in the past where the decision-makers launched various new projects that cut across the faculties but failed to materialize them due mainly to the lack of mutual cooperation between the faculties involved. Taking that into consideration, I would like to change the decision-making process from the conventional top-down style to a bottom-up one where the school staff think across the boundary between the faculties about what is really needed in Chuo, speak out their opinions and try to spread them across the school. So I am making a round of visits to various faculties and offices in the school to take hold of the present situation. When I have gone through that process, I will try to align the vectors (direction and velocity) of education, research and governance systems that have so far been different from each so that the faculty members and students will be able to go forward in the same direction. In the future, I want to see to it that the chief executive regent, the highest officer in management, and the president, the highest officer in education, will jointly tell the students, faculty members, parents and alumni in an understandable way how they are going to change Chuo by presenting specific medium- and long-term guidelines and plans devised for that purpose.


 ―総長学長に就任されてちょうど1か月経ちましたが、感触はいかがですか。

 

酒井 これまで各学部、国際センターは独自に様々な政策や活動を行ってきました。過去にどのような取り組みが行われてきたのか、それらを洗い出して把握し始めたところです。例えば教学執行部が学部間を超えた新しいプロジェクトを立案しても、横の連携がうまくいかず実現まで至らないケースがありました。こうした反省に立って、これまでのトップダウン型から、教職員が部門の垣根を越え、今の本学に何が必要なのかを考え、意見を出し合って広めていく真のボトムアップ型へ意思決定の方式を変えていきたいと考えています。それを把握するために各部へ出向いて回っているところです。これが進めば、今までバラバラに向いていた教育・研究やガバナンス体制のベクトル(方向と勢い)を、学生・教職員が一体となって同じ方向に向かうよう揃えていけるものと思っています。将来的には経営のトップである理事長、教学のトップである学長が共同でどのような大学にしていきたいのか、その中長期の指針、計画を学生、教職員、父母、卒業生に分かりやすく伝えていけたらなと思っています。


 -Specifically, how are you going to change the present situation?


Sakai: In the first place, it will be important for Chuo to enhance its inward and outward information transmission capacity. Now, students have relatively less hope that their school will do something good for them. They feel they cannot draw their self-portrait or, so to speak, a clear image of their own identity. One of factors responsible for this is the school administration’s weak information transmission capacity. It has something to do with our future direction I mentioned above. To make that possible, we need to structure a system to share and spread information within the school.


 ―具体的には現状をどのように変えていくのですか。

 

酒井 まずは学内外への発信力を高めることが重要でしょう。今、学生たちは大学に対し何かをやってくれるだろうという期待感がやや希薄な状況にあり、そして確固たる中央大学の学生としての自画像、いわばアイデンティティーを明確に持ち合わすことができないでいると感じています。ひとつの原因は我々大学側の発信力の弱さです。前述した方向付けにも関連しますが、そのためにはまず大学内で学生を含む構成員全員が情報を共有し、広めていけるようなシステムを構築して行くことが必要です。



Interchanges with alumni

OBとの交流を活発化したい


Needless to say, changing Chuo alone will not serve our purpose. The flow of information between Chuo and the outside world can constantly bring changes to us. When I say the outside world, it includes both alumni and alumnae. At Chuo, the relationship between the incumbent students and the alumni is rather thin. I don’t think students care much about how that relationship ought to be. However, students reacted favorably when we invited executive officers of top-notch companies to speak at a special lecture in 2014. (The “Sankei Shimbun Donation Lecture” was sponsored by the newspaper with donations from some businesses.). Many students who attended the lecture, and parents and alumnae who heard of it from them came to us, saying that they want more of such lectures to be held in the future.


  もちろん大学内だけを変えればよいわけではありません。内から外、外から内への情報の行き来が常に大学に変化をもたらします。中大の場合OBOGは学員と呼ばれます。中大は学員と在校生のつながりが薄く、在校生もこうした関係の在り方を意識しているようには見えません。しかし、今年度、有名企業の経営陣などを招いての産経新聞寄付講座(企業などからの寄付金を財源に開かれる講座)を開講したところ、受講生やその話しを聞いた父母・学員などから反響が大きく、このような機会をもっと増やしてほしいという声が多数聞かれました。


A number of Chuo graduates assume top posts in the Japanese business world. Among them are Chairman & CEO Toshifumi Suzuki of Seven & i Holdings Co., Chairman & CEO Fujio Mitarai of Canon Inc., President Koji Nagai of Nomura Securities Co. and Chairman & CEO Osamu Suzuki of Suzuki Motor Co. So far, however, I cannot say we have made full use of their valuable talents. Most of those graduates are willing to speak at our special lectures. But we have been unable to organize such lectures quite often due to some bottlenecks on our part, such as the inconvenient access to the Tama campus and the starting time of such lectures. From now on, I think we will be able to turn up the potentiality that Chuo has by taking necessary measures such as arranging lectures to be given in the fifth or sixth period (within the framework of office hours) at our downtown campus. I will see our faculty members to join hands in support of more frequent interchanges between students and alumni.


セブン&アイ・ホールディングスの鈴木敏文さん、キャノンの御手洗冨士夫さん、野村証券の永井浩二さん、スズキ自動車の鈴木修さんなど、中大学員には日本の経済界のトップにおられる人財が多くいるのにもかかわらず、その良さを生かしきれているとは必ずしも言い難い状況にあるように思います。私たちが特別講義などの依頼に行きますと、多くの場合どなたも喜んで引き受けてくれますが、交通の便やそれに伴う講義開始時刻の問題などがネックになっていました。しかし、5,6時限目に講義を開くなどの対策をとり、開講場所を都心キャンパスにしたりとさまざま工夫をおこなうことによって、本学がもつ豊かな潜在力を掘り起こすことは十分可能であると考えています。これからは在校生と学員とのさまざまな交流を活発化するために、教職員一体となってサポート体制を作っていきたいと考えています。

 

The society changes quickly. If we don't change accordingly, we will be left behind in the society, which may mean that students who study at Chuo will also be isolated from the society. We shouldn't necessarily go after the trend of the times. Rather we should identify our strong points and school motto, retain them and develop them. That is more important.


社会の変化は速く、それに応じて自分変えていかなければ、大学は社会に取り残されます。それはすなわち大学に属する学生たちもが孤立させてしまうことを意味します。もちろん、ただ単に時代を追えばいいというわけではなく、建学の精神と本学の強みを中心に据え、いかにそれを維持し発展させていくかという観点からアプローチしていくことが重要になります。

 

Rich humanity, broad culture expected of Chuo students 

中大生に望む豊な人間性と広い教養


-(To Prof. Takeishi) You double as vice president and director of the Chuo International Center. What do you think Chuo should do amid the ongoing globalization?


―武石副学長は国際センターの所長でもありますが、グローバル化が進む中で、中大はどうすればよいと思いますか。

 

 Takeishi: Chuo opened its first overseas office in Honolulu in January 2014 as part of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s “Project for Promotion of Global Human Resource Development”. We launched our second office in Bangkok on December 1, 2014. In addition, we are planning to enlarge our International Residence (dormitory for foreign students). But we won’t be able to go along with globalization by simply increasing the number of foreign students. One of good points at Chuo is that it takes a very good care of foreign students. We would like to encourage communication between foreign students and Japanese students and promote cultural exchange with local people. We want to make Chuo a school where foreign students can feel at ease and comfortable. We shouldn't simply try to accept more students. Rather we must bear full responsibility for the foreign students who have chosen to join us and provide them with education rich in substance.


 武石 今年1月に文部科学省「グローバル人材育成推進事業」の一環として 、中央大学の海外拠点第1号がホノルルに開設されましたが、これに続いて12月1日、バンコクに第2号が開設されました。このほか中央大学の国際寮の増設、拡充も目指しています。ただ、国際化といっても単に外国人留学生を増やせばいいわけではありません。中大の良さの1つは留学生に対する手厚いケアです。今までは交換留学生だけが入居できていたのを、私費留学の学生や日本人にまで範囲を広げ、より活発な交流ができるようにしていきたいです。留学生が中大に来てよかったと思い、満足できる大学にしていきたいのです。数を追うのではなく、海外からわざわざやってきてくれた留学生に対し責任を持てる、内実を伴うやり方でなければいけません。

 

-What do you expect of Chuo students?


―中大生に望むことはなんでしょう。


Takeishi: Since its foundation, Chuo has educated its students to be "simple and strong." It has taken pride in its brilliant records in national certification exams such as the bar exam, certified public accountant exam and civil servant exam. Chuo students have been reputed for their ability to see through the essence and for their high professionalism. We must retain and develop this education policy. But that alone does not produce persons who are respected in society after leaving school. I think what will make Chuo graduates truly global are what I call "Three Ds" that stand for diversity, dialogue and dignity. I mean humanity and respect for others by diversity, broad cultural understanding by dialogue and grace and self-esteem by dignity. I want Chuo students to look ahead to their future and make an effective use of their school. I am always ready to listen to what students have to say. If you students need me, don't hesitate to come to me. I look forward to meeting you.


武石 中央大学は昔から質実剛健を掲げ、司法試験、公認会計士試験、公務員試験などの資格試験が強みでした。本質を見極めることができ、かつ専門性が高い人。それが中大生です。この教育方針は維持し続けなければいけません。しかし、これだけでは社会に出てから尊敬される人にはなれません。豊かな人間性(Diversity)、広い教養(Dialogue)、相手に敬意を払う(Dignity)この3Dこそが他者と一線を画すポイントだと思います。皆さんは今から将来を見据え、大学を有効活用していってほしい。私は常に生徒の声、意見を真摯に受け止めていきたいと思っています。今の中大に対して何かあれば、どんどん私へ伝えてください。楽しみにしています。


(Interviewed by: Yu xi Luo, Kento Isogai Hideki Kato)