President’s Message

Cultivating globally aware students who can impact society and shape the future

Jissen Women’s Educational Institute, made up of Jissen Women's University and Jissen Women's Junior College, was established in 1899 by Utako Shimoda, a pioneer in Japanese women's education, whose spiritual motto was that “when women change society, they change the world.” It was established with the philosophy of “Fostering self-confident women who can be independent and self-directing.” The year 2019 marked the 120th anniversary of our founding, and this spirit and philosophy has been passed down to us to this day. We have produced a large number of graduates in a wide range of fields.

The world’s social, economic, scientific and technological systems are intertwined and currently undergoing extensive changes. As a result, countries are increasingly interconnected and interdependent, necessitating a common effort to address issues as they pertain to the international community as a whole, including poverty, conflicts, the plight of refugees, suppression of human rights, and destruction of the environment. Moreover, the population decline in Japan is accelerating due to the falling birthrate and aging population, highlighting a shortage of human resources and nursing care issues in the labor force. The worsening of relative poverty is exacerbating disparities in education and creating a fertile ground for both social discrimination and gender inequality.

In the current era of globalization, societies are diverse and highly fluid. It is essential then that individuals recognize the issues raised by SDGs as their own and address them within their immediate surroundings, which will lead to generating new ideas and developing successful strategies to help create and maintain a sustainable society for all. However, accomplishing such objectives demand more than just broad-based education and expertise gained through the conventional transfer of learning. It also necessitates a focus on abilities and attitudes that cannot be replaced by AI, including problem-solving skills, proficiency in foreign languages, cultural awareness, logical thinking and decision-making capabilities across the humanities and sciences. At our university, we strive to enhance the type of education through which our students can develop and put into practice such abilities and attitudes.

When students are confronted with issues facing society, communities, and companies, they become aware of themselves as members of society, understand the social significance of their learning, and proactively deepen their learning. In addition, in a globalized society, it is essential to acquire foreign language proficiency, communication skills and deepen an understanding of different cultures. We can convert such abilities and understanding into practical skills by having students engage in overseas activities such as studying abroad. These activities are important opportunities for students to develop an awareness that they are members of the international community. We will review our curriculum and educational platform so that students can expand their learning both in their classrooms to off-campus venues, as well as to connect to local and international communities. By cooperating socially through education, it is necessary to expand students’ learning from the inside to the outside of the university, while at the same time providing a learning environment for working adults and international students in our on-campus classrooms. We will expand our offerings of public lectures and lifelong learning opportunities, and create an environment for accepting international students.

Research in higher education plays an important social role, such as accumulating knowledge that contributes to social development and world peace, and intellectual inquiry that leads to personal reflection and introspection. Moreover, today, the creation of new knowledge and value is also expected in research. In order to respond to these needs, it is necessary to proceed with interdisciplinary research activities that are not limited to specialized and subdivided fields. Based on this trend, we are promoting research that seeks to integrate its focus inside and outside the university, along with contract research and joint research. While doing so, we will continue to actively support the acquisition of public research funds such as scientific research grants and the research activities of our graduate students.

In a globalized society, the relationship between individuals and higher education is undergoing major changes. In a situation where the time to go on to higher education, students' academic ability and interests, and career paths after graduation are extremely diverse. Therefore, it is important to provide support tailored to the needs of individual students. With her goal in mind, we have introduced the university-wide individual support system “J-TAS (Jissen Total Advanced Support)” to provide individual support that places value on the individuality of each student from before enrollment to after graduation. In the future, faculties, departments, curriculums, learning methods, etc. will become unstructured by utilizing AI and ICT, and it is expected that we will increase admission to adults and acceptance of long-term and short-term international students. We will further promote student support using “J-TAS” and consider a system to support appropriate learning for students with various careers in higher education.