Message from the President

• 

  Sadao Takeuchi

• University Education Focused on our Digital Society: Inheritance and Evolution

  The state of affairs surrounding the university is undergoing significant changes. Regarding job hunting and employment, mass hiring will continue for the time being. However, contrary to the mentality that one is a lifelong employee at a single company, there is an anticipated shift towards a job-based market that relies on one's own personal skill development. To accomplish this, it is crucial to possess a mindset for self-improvement and a proactive attitude towards new challenges. To foster this awareness, there is a great challenge as to what kind of education would be the best fit.

  In considering what educational methods would best fit our students, there has been remarkable progress in technological innovation. The explosive rise in generative AI and large language models like ChatGPT, and its potential integration with application soft wares means that in the future, students will likely be able to produce writings comparable to seasoned professionals. Having said this, AI's answers and the information contained within them are not only shared all over the world, but none of the answers or ideas are "original." This university's mission is, in part, to foster talented individuals who can offer ingenuity and originality, whose out-of-the-box thinking and research results become the basis of AI's answers. In other words, this university aims to send professionals into the workforce equipped with 'implicit knowledge,' which is not learned from books, but learned from applying conceptual knowledge to real-world situations. In the field of engineering, it involves gaining expertise through hands-on experience, designing, and fabricating by physically interacting with tangible objects.

  Since its inception, the university has emphasized contact with actual objects under the slogan "from figurative to abstract." The curriculum is based on "practical engineering learning," a reorganization of the spirit of our slogan, in which students learn theory in parallel with hands-on learning. This is achieved through experiments, practical training, and drafting. With the universities research facilities and educational know-how accumulated over the 50 years since the university's opening, students who study at the university graduate with a wealth of implicit knowledge based on engineering expertise. Our catchphrases for the past few years have been "Nurturing students who can continue to learn throughout their lives" and "Becoming a university of choice for its ability to help students grow." We believe that the educational system established by our predecessors is worthy of inheritance.

  On the other hand, there are numerous challenges with a declining birthrate, as well as global political, climate, and economic uncertainty. It is said that, "Survival is not for the strong, but for those who are adaptable to change." For our university, it is essential to evolve into a flexible educational system that meets the needs of prospective students and prepares students to meet the needs of companies. Healthy evolution requires information disclosure as a premise for opinions and discussions, a forum for open and honest opinions, and delegation of authority to take responsibility for implementation. We are committed to steering in that direction with all our efforts.

  The future development of Nippon Institute of Technology requires even more cooperation from faculty and staff than before. This university has been pioneering "collaboration between faculty and staff" and has built a system where staff from the Learning Support Center and teachers work together to support students from enrollment to graduation. This initiative has been highly rated in external assessments and has consistently ranked as one of the top "universities dedicated to job placement success."

  Nippon Institute of Technology will continue its evolution towards becoming "a university that is chosen for its ability to nurture student growth."