“Global adaptability requires universality, which is cultivated by the creative ‘demonstrable education.’ The concept of this project arose from the recognition that a specific program was needed to achieve such an education.” Companies sharing this sense of urgency about the human resources required to face the future agreed, leading to the birth of this unique, pioneering program.Continues the president, “Participants in this program will be able to refresh their view of Japanese culture by taking on the multifaceted and creative perspectives of the program, as the special characteristics of the Japanese culture bring a wealth of different perspectives to global society and can be a source of beneficial and practical ideas.”Through the program, the contributions of Japanese people and Japanese companies to the international community can be expected to increase both in quality and quantity.Initially, this program will only be offered in Japanese, with the content geared mainly to Japanese businesses. However, the overall program concept and scheme are globally applicable.“Once we have polished the course for a few years, we hope to roll out the program globally, by developing a program based on fieldwork in cities around the world, for example, and building collaboration with universities and companies overseas via the Internet,” enthuses Terumichi.The University has already revealed the three elements that will make up the program in its first year. One is “Professional Studies Seminars,” based on six different topics from “Humanity, ethics, and philosophy” to “A view of the world as seen from history and religion” and “Society through the prism of science.” Some 30 seminars will be given over the year by Sophia professors.Terumichi notes that while the seminars will provide knowl-edge and theory of deep interest on current issues, there would not be any point if it ended there.“The key goal of each seminar and of the program overall is that the knowledge gained can offer, for example, a new per-spective on another global challenge and foster creativity that can result in a new approach to a problem that professionals face in their lives. This sets them apart from ordinary public lectures. It will be demanding for the professors involved, but I know that they can rise to the challenge.”The second element is “Specialist training courses.” Six of these are planned over the year, on topics such as ESG in-vestment and negotiation. Explains Terumichi, “This course does not aim simply to teach management skills required today, like existing MBA courses for example. The point is to cultivate the creativity to get ahead of the changes that will inevitably come to the way companies do business.”The third element is “Special talks.” These lectures by experts and prominent exponents of each field will promote broader horizons.The onward march of globalization has been inversely pro-portional to the international presence of Japan in every field. Recently, the inculcation of human resources with global adaptability has been set as a goal by the Japanese govern-ment. Universities and companies have all put their energies into achieving this, but unfortunately the results have been limited. It cannot be denied that the special characteristics of the Japanese language and culture, and the isolation of the archi-pelago, have hindered those Japanese working internation-ally. However, Terumichi indicates that too much emphasis has been placed on overcoming this disadvantage by trying to improve linguistic skills among Japan’s globally active workforce. PON Global* was held at Sophia as a ‘Professional Studies’ launch seminar*the world-leading three-day negotiation training program offered by the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law SchoolA Pioneering Initiative for a Slow-Starting Japan19Approach
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