Graduate School GP (Ver.20071211)
In an age when the essence of society is changing dramatically due to factors such as declining birth rates and aging populations, shift towards an information-based society, and globalization, expectations towards graduate schools are also changing compared to the past. There is extremely high recognition of the importance of existing as both a base for performing specific research on an advanced level (advanced research base) and as a base for the development of researchers and practitioners who will carry the next generation (educational base). Graduate schools are the focus of demand to transform into high quality educational organizations possessing a variety of ingenuous programs.
In the 2005 academic year, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology responded to the needs described above by enacting the Initiative for Attractive Graduate School Education. Furthermore, in the 2007 academic year, the Ministry started the Program to Support Educational Reform at Graduate Schools (total budget for 2007 academic year: 3.5 billion yen, new only) as an extension of the initiative.
Graduate School GP refers to an initiative of a graduate school that has been recognized as particularly important based upon the Program to Support Educational Reform at Graduate Schools. Such initiatives are selected on a nation-wide level from amongst all graduate schools making efforts at educational reform. The common name of Graduate School GP is derived by taking the first letters of the words "Good Practice". In the 2007 academic year, a total of 126 initiatives were selected from 61 universities.
When the initiative of a graduate school is selected for Graduate School GP, the graduate school can receive financial support from the Ministry for a 3 year period. During this period, an investigation is made into the potential for practical application of creative and effective educational reform activities. The initiative is established into the educational system of the graduate school itself, while at the same time being released and publicized in order to contribute to the educational systems of other graduate schools. To summarize, Graduate School GP is both a test program for creative initiatives and a model for the future of graduate school education.
Updated: 2008/10/21 (Tue) 15:49