Secret behind ongoing success of Sophia University’s Faculty of Science and Technology Undergraduate awarded at academic conference and another granted patent
Tetsuhiro Tsukiji,
Dean, Faculty of Science and Technology
Professor Tetsuhiro Tsukiji, the dean of the Faculty, seems content with the results, remarking, “Our Faculty supports female researchers with the aim of thrusting them onto the world stage. The award won by a fourth-year female undergraduate student is indeed a wonderful outcome of our initiative.” He is all the more pleased, he notes, because it has been his long-time wish to foster the next generation of researchers and engineers who will contribute to the development of science and technology from a global perspective.
Diversity offered at a small university where international students gather from around the world
Science and technology faculties of private universities are often located away from the main campus, where other faculties are concentrated. At Sophia University, however, nine faculties including the Faculty of Science and Technology are consolidated at its Yotsuya Campus. Flexibility, a distinctive strength of small universities, is on full display in the global education offered at the Faculty of Science and Technology.
“By being located on the same campus, different faculties can cooperate with one another to facilitate collaboration and information sharing among faculty members, thereby formulating interdisciplinary curricula,” explains Dean Tsukiji. “Sci-tech students therefore can enroll in a wide array of courses offered by other faculties, as well as the Center for Global Discovery and the Center for Language Education and Research.”
Being a small-sized university, Sophia has a unique advantage in helping students and faculty members with diverse backgrounds interact with one another to encourage in-depth understanding of different cultures and societies around the world. The Faculty of Science and Technology offers courses symbolizing this strength, namely, the Green Science and Green Engineering programs, launched in the autumn semester of 2012 by the Department of Materials and Life Sciences and the Department of Engineering and Applied Sciences, respectively. Both courses are undergraduate degree programs taught entirely in English, including all lectures, labs, and research guidance, and attract international students from across the world.
Furthermore, in the autumn semester of 2013, the Green Science and Engineering Division was established as a graduate program taught entirely in English, meaning that the Faculty offers English-based education at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. In seminars, lively discussions often take place in both Japanese and English. Interactions with English-taught international students help Japanese students use English almost as an everyday language.
