under a comprehensive cooperation agreement with JICA. However, the Honduras project marks the first time the univer-sity is participating in a JICA higher education project.KRC’s Toshiko Hattori, who serves as a liaison with UNAH and conducts field research at the firm’s Honduras office, explains why KRC partnered with Sophia:“Sophia has an important relationship with Central and South America and an extensive record of research accomplishments. Furthermore, in 2021, the university established the Master’s Program in International Cooperation Studies as part of its Graduate School of Global Studies. This practical application pro-gram is directed to those focused on careers at international or-ganizations and other cooperation agencies. We expect Sophia’s experience will directly contribute to the UNAH project.”“Preliminary surveys and student interviews have revealed a shortage of international cooperation experts in Honduras,” Hattori observed. “Furthermore, many of MCIGPD’s faculty are foreign nationals and students mainly learn from case studies set in other countries. Our goal is to establish a practical curriculum that has a theoretical foundation that reflects the Honduran real-ity and can be incorporated into Honduran public policy.”“Whereas Sophia’s International Cooperation Studies program aims to develop expertise in providing international support, MCIGPD/UNAH needs to cultivate expertise in the receiving end of such support,” Ueki noted. Another key curriculum restructuring objective is to teach stu-dents completing the program how to write a thesis.Reconstructed curriculum tailored to local needsThe project was launched in February 2021 and is expected to conclude in February 2025. Three outcomes are expected: (1) Revision of the MCIGPD curriculum; (2) MCIGPD/UNAH program enhancement; and (3) improvement in educational and research standards through exchange programs between MCIGPD/UNAH, Japanese universities, and other organizations. “When students in Japan enter graduate school, they are as-signed an advisor who guides them throughout their coursework and in writing a Master’s thesis,” Ueki explains. “MCIGPD’s cur-riculum, however, requires students to start their master’s the-sis only after completing two years of coursework. Working stu-dents, who account for a large percentage of the program’s students, have found it difficult to dedicate time and energy to writing. To address this issue, we created a curriculum that re-quires students to submit a research plan prior to engaging in coursework. The curriculum now includes thesis-writing guidance and grants credits to students for writing their thesis. If they don’t write a thesis, they won’t receive credit, and will not get a di-ploma. This is a significant change.”The restructured curriculum has been approved within the uni-versity and is currently waiting for approval from the higher edu-cation advisory board of Honduras. In August 2023, all members of the academic group went to UNAH to provide five days of thesis-writing guidance. During this period, students presented their research plans and received feedback from the academic group to improve their presentations.Professor Marta Aracely Mazier Casaña, who teaches at the UNAH Department of Social Work of the Faculty of Social Sciences, said, “This project is having a significant impact. The curriculum revision in particular has provided a clear understand-ing of the kind of international collaboration our country needs to incorporate.”Professor Edwin Roldan Medina Lopez, who teaches at the UNAH Department of Foreign Languages, touched on the inad-equacies of UNAH’s advisor framework. “This visit to Sophia has given us the opportunity to learn about Sophia’s faculty advisor structure,” he said. “I would like to adopt this structure in order to better advise our students.” Project expectations and impactDuring their three-day visit to Sophia in October, four MCIGPD/UNAH faculty members commented on the meaningful changes facilitated by the project.23Toshiko HattoriConsultant, KRCYasuhiroUekiProfessor, Master’s Program in International Cooperation Studies, Graduate School of Global Studies
元のページ ../index.html#23