Sophia Magazine vol.1 / SUMMER 2015

8/32

8 The Faculty of Liberal Arts (FLA) at Sophia University is both a pioneer and leader in liberal arts education in Japan. Established in 1949, the FLA is exceptional within Japan as an English language program founded to incorporate the practices and philosophies of the world’s top liberal arts institutions. Since its founding, the FLA has grown into an internationally renowned program that provides students an outstanding education from professors who are leaders in their elds. In this article, I am proud to highlight some of the features that make the FLA such an interesting place to learn and grow. Due to globalization and advances in technology, our world is changing at an unprecedented pace. Some national gov-ernments and educational institutions are now placing less emphasis on the liberal arts in order to focus on areas that provide more immediate and practical responses to these changes, such as science, technology, and industry. However, I believe that it is precisely because of our rapidly chang-A Liberal ArtsEducation in Japanwith Global PossibilitiesMICHIO HAYASHIDean, Faculty of Liberal Arts,Sophia UniversityFACULTY OF LIBERAL ARTS HISTORYThe founding of the International Division1949The International Division became the Department of Japanese Language and Studies1975The Department of Japanese Language and Studies became the Department of Comparative Culture1977The Department gained independent status as the Faculty of Comparative Culture1987The Faculty received a “Good Practice” award from the Min-istry of Education2003The Faculty of Comparative Culture became the Faculty of Liberal Arts2006Approach