Best Practices: University of Tsukuba and the Campus-in-Campus Initiative
The University of Tsukuba has doubled the number of inbound and outbound students over the last five years by re-organizing its international partnerships and developing the innovative Campus-in-Campus (CiC) initiative in which Tsukuba and its major international partners are developing virtual campuses that share courses, research facilities, faculty, and staff. Student mobility occurs within a context of continual, on-going international collaboration and global learning.
Tsukuba has developed such partnerships in a range of nations, including the United States. Its U.S. partner is the University of California at Irvine. This page begins with a description of Tsukuba’s overall international partnership strategy. This is followed by two items concerning the Tsukuba-UCI partnership: one giving a general outline of the partnership and the other being a notice of one of the many specific opportunities it has opened for collaboration between students at the two universities. Also included is Tsukuba’s commitment to the U.S. Generation Study Abroad initiative.
University of Tsukuba Statement on International Partnerships
University of Tsukuba Profile
The University of Tsukuba was founded based on three basic principles: 1) spearheading higher education reform; 2) being open to society and the world at large, 3) promoting transdisciplinary education and research. Based on these principles, we have established our mission as “Creating knowledge and the development of global leaders aimed at resolving global issues,” and have been actively developing partnerships with international institutions of higher education.
As a result, we have more than doubled the number of both inbound and outbound students over the last five years, and have partnerships with 298 institutions of higher education in 59 countries. In order to strategically manage this large number of partnerships at each organizational level, we have categorized our partnerships into the following categories.
- University-wide partnership which allows for education and research exchange in all faculties and schools. There are two subcategories of this type of partnership.
- Top-down, university-wide partnerships which are formed based on strategic decisions of the university administration (currently numbering 34).
- Bottom-up, university-wide partnerships which are formed when two or more faculties or schools enter into a partnership with an international partner.
- Individual-faculty and/or school-based partnerships which allow for exchange between individual faculties and/or schools and their international partners.
In order to provide students, faculty members and administrative staff the opportunity to explore their full potential, we are significantly enhancing international mobility by breaking all barriers that stand between nations and institutions. The scheme for this ambitious goal is what we call the “Campus-in-Campus” (CiC) initiative in which we share all our resources with our major international partners through the mutual establishment of virtual campuses. Through the CiC initiative we will share classes and teaching staff using a “Course Jukebox System,” develop joint/double degree and certificate programs, and share research laboratories and educational units through joint appointments of researchers and staff. These schemes will allow us to more effectively and efficiently create knowledge and develop the next-generation of global leaders toward a brighter future.
http://www.tsukuba.ac.jp/english/
http://www.tsukuba.ac.jp/english/global/
University of Tsukuba’s Commitment to Generation Study Abroad
The University of Tsukuba is pleased to participate in the Institute of International Education’s Generation Study Abroad Initiative.
As a commitment partner, the university is actively undertaking efforts to increase the number of US exchange students studying at our university by improving and expanding our student exchange programs. By providing a wider variety of programs taught in English in the fields of international studies, social sciences, humanities, natural sciences, engineering and sports sciences, we are working to foster increased understanding and building friendships among US and Japanese students. We also aim to provide career assistance and promote programs related to the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. Furthermore, the university is also actively expanding student support services aimed at meeting students’ diverse needs, including the provision of tutors and e-learning content for Japanese language study.
University of Tsukuba and the University of California, Irvine
The Regents of the University of California on behalf of the University of California, Irvine (UCI) entered into an agreement with the University of Tsukuba in April 2013 to establish an educational exchange program as a continuing effort to improve education and research. The purposes of the cooperation between the two universities are to promote reciprocal interests in teaching and research activities, as well as to enhance understanding of their economic, cultural and social environments. For general information of meetings, programs, travel and funding opportunities, visit the UCI-Tsukuba Liaison Website. Interested people can sign up for UCI-Tsukuba Communications here, an interaction space, message board, timeline and resource center for partnership activities between UCI and the University of Tsukuba.
Initiative for Biomedical Research (USIBR) outreach program, is conducting a week-long workshop on July 20-24, 2015 at UCI’s Laboratory for Fluorescence Dynamics (LFD). Participants will attend lectures and have hands-on practical experience. Students will work in small groups on a research project to complete during the program. On the final day each group will present their research project summarizing their results and findings. Students will need to submit an application by May 27, 2015. Free registration and participation for selected students. More information is available on their program page.
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