⇒Japanese

 

   Kazuyuki Nagai, president and chancellor of Chuo University, discussed the challenges and initiatives the school is pushing to promote its further internationalization. He was speaking during an interview he gave to the Hakumon Herald Association on the occasion of its DVD production project. The gist of his interview remarks follows: (Interviewed by Susumu Hiyama)


(President Nagai speaks during the interview)



 

Q: To begin with, tell us what you do to make Chuo more international. Promotion of international exchanges was one of the aims Hakumon Herald had upon its inauguration half a century ago.



 

President: What we do boils down to one thing: to help the students go out into the global society, work there and live there. A growing number of Japanese businesses have their own programs to hire staff and accept trainees on a global basis. One of the initiatives we have launched is what we call the “Yaruki (can-do) Scholarship" for the Faculty of Law students. Students who want to seek career at a Geneva-based international organization, for instance, are encouraged to do all necessary preparations by themselves except a flight ticket, which is subsidized with the scholarship. This scholarship is funded with the donations made by Chuo’s alumnae and alumni. On the campus, too, we do various things to give the students more chances to get international training. For example, we compose classes in accordance with their TOEIC marks.

We have also instituted what we call the “Challenger’s Program” for the Faculty of Policy Studies students. In this program, all lessons are given in English. At present, about a third of the students are enrolled in the program. This is indeed a tough challenge for them. We are planning similar programs for the students of the Faculty of Letters and the Faculty of Science and Engineering. As you know, Faculty of Science and Engineering graduates are now inevitably required to make their presentation to academic conferences in English.

The number of foreign students at Chuo dropped to 400 from 800 at one stage. It has increased to 600 now. Chinese lead the list, followed by Koreans. We have fewer students from Europe and the United States. Today, many of them choose to go to China. We may say that’s the trend of the times. So we have worked out a joint program with Chinese and Korean universities with the aim of sharing European and American students. We have also instituted an international dormitory to help foreign students mingle with Japanese students. A compartment with three beds is shared by two foreign students and one Japanese student. The scheme is aimed at promoting international exchanges on a day-to-day basis.



 

Q: It’s more than 30 years since Chuo moved to the Tama campus from the Surugadai campus in the center of the metropolis. Do you see the move as a success? 

President: About 80,000 applicants annually sit for Chuo’s admission exams. The number is some 30,000 fewer as compared to those at Meiji University and Waseda University. In the four metropolitan prefectures alone, we have 10,000 fewer applicants. The biggest factor for the gap is the difficulties students have commuting to Chuo (which is located on Tokyo’s western suburb). Particularly fewer is the number of female applicants. In terms of the number of male applicants, Chuo ranks fourth or fifth each year among all universities across the country. But we are nowhere in the top 10 in terms of the number of female applicants. I would say this is one of the demerits we have as a result of our move to Tama. On the other hand, one of our merits is a sense of affinity or coherence among the students. Today, our students grow through friendly competition on a single campus (Chuo’s five faculties used to be located at different locations before the move). I call it a “potato washing” effect though I shouldn’t say this to the students. I’d say no other university in Japan can hope to have such effect.


(President Nagai reads papers during the interview with Hiyama)

 



Q: Is there any possibility of Chuo coming back to the metropolitan center?

 



President: That would be impossible given a huge amount of funds and a big land site we would need. However, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of Chuo having more of its facilities in the center of the metropolis (in addition to the Faculty of Science and Engineering which is located in Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward).

 



Q: Tell us about your future image of Chuo.



 

President: Students have a single entrance when they are enrolled at the age of 18. But I think they may have various exists when they go out. My future dream is to put all faculties together to form a single faculty. I’m dreaming of creating something quite flexible in structure. The image I have in mind is “The School of Athens” as depicted by famous Italian painter Raphael. This is for all disciplines to get blended and fused together on a single campus. Actually, however, I am having difficulties getting my idea understood.



 

Q: Are your internationalization efforts producing effect?



 

President: I would say one of the effects is that at least one Chuo student passes the national diplomatic service exam each year. We used to have many successful students in the exam, but the number had fallen to nil at one stage. We’ve begun to have successful applicants again. We hope to see more in the future.



 

Q: We are hoping that our DVD project will lead to reviving Hakumon Herald.



 

President: The Chuo Daigaku Shimbun, the Japanese-language student paper, had once seen its staff member diminish to only one. We have provided some support and they have three or four members now. You might have had precious experiences (as members of Hakumon Herald). You say you are going to put the DVD at your website. Chuo has many foreign students and they may help you in a way or another. I would like to consider what we can do to help you revive Hakumon Herald.



 

(The interview was made on July 4, 2011)

 



President Kazuyuki Nagai, a native of Tokyo, graduated from Chuo’s Faculty of Law in 1968. He was named a reader at the faculty in 1969 and was promoted to assistant professor in 1974 and professor in 1981. He assumed the presidency in November 2005 and the concurrent post of chancellor a month later after serving as dean of the Faculty of Law from 1999 to 2003.