Aiming to cultivate human resources who have practical skills and leadership abilities
by striking the ideal balance between breadth and depth,
a liberal arts education combined with specialized education.
A system for mutual aid based on strong ties between alumni and current studentsLearning Community (LALC)
The College of Arts and Sciences operates a Learning Community (LALC) to create an environment in which alumni can continue to learn over the course of their lifetimes while contributing to the education and growth of current students.
The LALC provides support based on the Tamagawa campus for alumni continuing to learn and grow through various opportunities in society, just as they did as students. It promotes interactions among current students, alumni, faculty, and staff and creates opportunities for alumni to provide current students with career information and advice, as well as an understanding of how to find meaning in one’s work.
In one annual College of Arts and Sciences reunion held for exchanging practical information, alumni gather to discuss their workplace realities.
The LALC will continue to work proactively in advancing the College of Arts and Sciences based on strong ties among alumni, current students, faculty, and staff.
Off-campus studies
The off-campus studies program provides opportunities through various off-campus activities to promote learning in a way that isn’t possible in class. The credits earned by students are determined in accordance with the time spent on practical studies. Some off-campus studies involve a single activity over a long period, while others involve earning credits through a combination of different efforts.
Japanese-language teaching practice
Two or three weeks of Japanese-language teaching practice for students seeking to earn Japanese-language teacher’s credentials during spring break, during which they teach Japanese to local students in Taiwan and the United States. Despite the difficulties of engaging in teaching practice amid an unfamiliar cultural environment, this experience, based on the College of Arts and Sciences’ motto “Understanding the world; Changing ourselves,” nurtures not just a sensitivity toward other cultures, but an awareness of the role students can play in the larger world.
Field research
The College of Arts and Sciences conducts field research as a part of its practical social research activities. This involves going into the field and engaging in surveys, interviews, participant observation, and other research activities to gain a feel for the atmosphere in a way that is only possible by being physically present. Combining this experience with information from one’s own experiences and knowledge from literature and other sources gives students new insights, improves their analytical skills, and broadens their perspectives.
SAE study-abroad and training programs
These study-abroad and training programs are provided by the Center for University International Programs. They include study-abroad programs ranging in length from roughly four months to one year and short-term training programs of roughly three to five weeks at overseas universities that have partnered with Tamagawa University.
Internships
Internships provide work experience at partner companies off campus, during summer break, and at other times. Ranging from two to three weeks in length, the nature of the work experience, schedules, and working hours vary by company. The preferred industries of individual students are surveyed before internships begin. Internship destinations are assigned on that basis. During their internships, students keep daily records of their work and their impressions. Through this experience, students gain a true feel for the work world while they are still students.
Fieldwork
Off-campus fieldwork includes a broad range of hands-on activities, including short-term programs during the spring and summer breaks and long-term programs of several months or more. These programs, ideally suited to the College of Arts and Sciences, can be divided into three major categories:
International exchange programs
Creative community projects
A Message from the DeanWelcome to the College of Arts and Sciences
Some of you may not have heard the term “liberal arts” before. It refers to an educational program rooted in the seven liberal arts first proposed in ancient Greece: grammar, rhetoric, logic, geometry, arithmetic, music, and astronomy. People in those times regarded learning not in terms of specialization, but as an attempt to deepen their understanding and knowledge of a wide variety of things around them--language, the stars, music, mathematics, and so on?thereby freeing humanity of its constraints and preconceptions.
The function of most universities today is to cultivate experts by providing curricula that can be divided into specialized fields, such as law and economics that are not covered by high school education. But the knowledge and skills we need to live better lives amid the diversity of today’s society span a broad range. In many cases, restricting ourselves to a single specialized subject may prove insufficient to attain solutions.
In place of a narrow focus on a single area of specialization, therefore, the College of Arts and Sciences uses a broad-based curriculum to teach students how to look at a single subject from various perspectives. This provides students with more time to decide on the focus of their university learning. For example, in the case of psychology, you may find it highly beneficial to learn a little about it first, before diving into it as a specialized subject. At the same time, other skills such as conversational English, effective Japanese communication, and computer work are taught as required subjects, as these skills are essential in today’s society.
Kuniyoshi Obara, Tamagawa’s founder, advocated a zenjin (meaning “whole-person”) approach to education -- one intended to build character through learning while at the same time mastering knowledge and skills. By educating students to see things clearly from multiple perspectives rather than focusing on a single specialization, the College of Arts and Sciences is confident that it is staying true to our founder’s ideals.
Today, what is required of members of society is to possess broad-ranging perspectives, a deep sense of humanity, and effective communication skills. Our goal, as members of the faculty, is to learn alongside our students to help bring this about.
I look forward to meeting each of you in person on campus in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Prof. Masahiko Watanabe