Joining the ErasmusMundus Program―Planning and Practice of a Program

at Osaka University―Conceptualizing an Erasmus Mundus Program and the Application Process

Prof. Dr. Lit. Kenji TSUTSUMIGraduate School of Letters and Member of the

Global 30 Project , Osaka University(a graduate of Kyushu University)

(28 slides)1Erasmus Mundus Information Day (Kyushu Univ.), ACROS Fukuoka, Nov.3rd 2009

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S K E L E T O N(1) Beginning(2) Preparation(3) The First Year (4) Present (The 2nd Year)(5) Future(6) Problems and Essentials(7) Closing Remarks

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(1) Beginning• Originally Osaka University has had

exchange programs with Groningen University (NL).

• By the EM Program “Euroculture” (master program, D.D.) has established by consortium of 6 universities, and Groningen University has become a core university of the Euroculture Program.

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• The consortium members: Groningen (NL), Uppsala (SWE), Cracow (PLN), Göttingen (GER), Olomouc (CZE), Deusto (SPA). Corraboration members: Udine (ITA), Strasbourg (FRA).

• And encouragement by Groningen University in 2006, our Graduate School of Letters has decided to join the program as one of the members of the third country pertnership.

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(2) Preparation• To join the program our school had to

research about the system.• We collected several information by

researches at the member universities and by intimate communication with them.• At first we studied about TUNING and

ECTS (A book of TUNING translated into Japanese will be soon published by

Prof. Toru TAKENAKA et al).5

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• In 2007 two professors and I went to Europe twice for two weeks each.• We went to Groningen, Uppsala, Cracow,

Deusto and Pisa, and took part in the lectures or seminars. Also we had interviews with teachers and students there. In addition, in some universities we informed them our new program in Osaka University, whose title is “Contemporary Japan in Global Context.”

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• We brought two computers and one printer with us, and every night we discussed about the results of our research.

• Until midnight we had made reports of the research everyday, and sent the reports with e-mails to our Graduate School of Letters, Osaka University.

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Groningen Univ.

Uppsala Univ.

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Cracow Univ. Cracow Univ.

Cracow Univ.

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Deusto Univ., Bilbao Deusto Univ., San Sebastian

Pisa Univ.

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• Our research items were: (1) Contents, styles, and facilities of classes. (2) Communication between teachers and students. (3) Tasks, reports and examinations. (4) Evaluation method. (5) Credit system. (6) Cooperation among teachers and universities. (7) Scholarship. (8) Accommodations. (9) Daily life. etc. 11

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• Another operation at our school(1) Contract with the consortium.(2) Preparation for acceptance of the EU

students; accommodations, insurance, exemption of tuition fee for five classes.

(3) Planning of the five classes; grand design, teachers, contents, budget for part-time lecturers.

(4) Preparation for sending our students to the Euroculture Program in EU universities.

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EM Member Operation

Consortium Osaka Univ.

Students

Faculty Members

5 students/ 10 weeks

2 students/ 3 semesters

several months

3 months

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(3) The First Year• 5 course units were opened: (1) Contemporary Japanese Culture (2) Contemporary Japanese Thought (3) Modern Japanese Literature (4) Contemporary Arts (5) Modern Japanese History• 2 students went to study to the consortium

universities from Osaka University.• 5 students (from Germany, Great Britain,

Poland and Spain) came to Osaka University.14

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• 2 teachers and 1 staff came to our school and the teachers had some short classes, and they also took part in and observed the classes.

• Evaluation of our course units by the EU students and teachers were relatively higher among the third partnership member universities; earnestness of the class teachers may be appreciated.

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Merits of the EM Program at the first year

• Introduction of the European higher education system; TUNING, ECTS, contents, styles etc.

• Good preparation for better infrastructure to accept more foreign students.

• Intensive communication and collaboration among teachers of the program.

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(1) International Standards of Education

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Merits of the EM Program at the first year

• The EU side kindly paid for the exchanges.

• Good terms; in the case a student was sent to the consortium universities; 10,000 Euro for one-time payment and 1,600 Euro for scholarship per one month.

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(2) Budget

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Merits of the EM Program at the first year

• Stimulus to closedness of classes in higher education system in Japan.

• International standards.• Interactions between students and

teachers, and also between European universities and us.

• Feedback to improve classes further. 18

(3) Improvement of consciousness of educational environment

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(4) Present (The 2nd Year) • Also 5 course units have been opened: (1) Contemporary Arts (2) Comparative Studies in Social Environments (3) Modern Japanese History (4) Contemporary Japanese Thought (5) Modern Japanese Literature. • 2 students have gone to study to the consortium

universities from Osaka University.• 5 students (from Germany, Poland, Portugal and

Spain) have come to Osaka University.19

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• Also already 2 teachers from the consortium have come to Osaka University in this fiscal year and 2 more teachers will come soon.

• One course contains of 10 lectures/seminars and field trips (3 ECTS/2 credits).

• Syllabuses and important information have already been offered to the students.

• A few of Japanese graduate students also take some classes.

• A teacher can have a teaching assistant (TA).20

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• Schedule of a course (ex. “Comparative Studies in Social Environment” by K. Tsutsumi)

• Oct. 6: Introduction, (1) What is regional change?, (1-1) Region, space and society.• Oct.13: (1-2) Social change and regional change.• Oct.20: Lecture about Senri New Town (SNT) and field trip to SNT (Up to ca 17:00,

a quiz will be given about the town).• Oct.27: (2) Theory of regional change. Deadline of the answer to quiz.• Nov.10: (3) Regional change in Japan, (3-1) Outline of regional change in Japan. Deadline of the 1st report.• Nov.17: (3-2) Some cases of depopulation in Japan.• Nov. 21-22: Field trip to Nichi’nan town, Tottori prefecture.• Nov.24: (3-3) Social Capital in depopulated community.• Dec. 1: (4) Regional change in foreign countries, (4-1) Some cases of regional

change.• Dec. 8: (4-2) Cases of regional change in the students’ home countries

(presentation task). • Dec.15: The last lecture. General discussion about regional change. Deadline of the

2nd report.21

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(5) Future• Founding of a new master program related to the

EM Program.

• Relating the new program as above to the International College Organization which will be soon established with the Global 30 Program at Osaka University.

• The new program has a plan to gather students also from Asia-Pacific regions.

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(6) Problems and Essentials• Support for the EU students about accommodations, on-

campus services and adaptation to Japan even in a short-term stay.

• Offering and arrangement of the course units in English. Faculty development (FD) program for the teachers of the courses is inevitable.

• Employment qualification of teachers, esp. of ability in English.

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• Maintaining the intimate relationship with the consortium universities and with their teachers.

• Adaptation to the new phases of the EM Program; The EM Program is evolving moreover.

• Further development for internationalization and consciousness of it among us.

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(7) Closing Remarks• Internationalization of Japanese universities

can be more developed through activities related with the EM Program.

• As for Japanese universities, there are the other kinds of demand comparing to the EU universities surely.

• Good balances between globalization and uniqueness of each university can be resources for the future internationalization and for social/global contribution. 27

Thank you for your attention and cooperation!

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