TUFS Top Global University Project
TUFS CONNECTS resources worldwide ! — From the world to Japan and Japan to the world
TUFS was selected as the ‘Top Global University’ by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; MEXT (Funding Type B: Toward Globalization) in 2014. With this designation, TUFS receives funding to serve as a key network university that connects worldwide resources under the slogan, “From the world to Japan and from Japan to the world”.
Outline
TUFS CONNECTS resources worldwide !
This project titled ‘TUFS CONNECTS resources worldwide’ is designed with an aim of contributing to the policy of ‘globalisation of Japanese universities’ and its implementation which is needed in today’s increasingly global and diverse world.
With our expertise in theoretical and applied learning in a diverse number of languages which includes Japanese language, TUFS sees itself in a ‘key position’ in Japanese academia. As such, we believe that we have the right sets of expertise and capabilities which will contribute to increasing ‘globalisation of Japanese universities’.
In order to contribute to globalisation of Japanese universities, TUFS will exclusively focus on these three areas:
- Multi-lingual Global Human Resources
- Enhancement of Japanese Language and Culture Outreach
- Consulting services for fellow Universities on how to globalise
We define ‘Multi-lingual Global Human Resources’ as those capable of fully participating and delivering results in today’s global world. We envision these human resources as being competent in a highly diverse range of languages which is not limited to competency in English language.
Our teaching curriculum is designed with an aim of equipping our learners with theoretical and applied knowledge in a number of diverse languages and we believe that these skills will empower them in their global careers. We believe that theoretical understanding of today’s diverse world and how it runs as well as practical ‘real-world experience’ is indispensable in training global human resources.
We also see the need for ‘enhancement of Japanese language and culture outreach’ in order to elevate Japan’s global presence. With this in mind, we run ‘Japanese Language, Culture and Society’ studies both for Japanese students and for international students who study here in Japan, with a global career in mind. Moreover, we run ’Global Japan Office’ centers in cooperation with our overseas partners and we use this office for promoting Japan and Japanese language studies. We believe that training of the overseas Japanese language educators also contributes to ‘enhancement of Japanese language and culture outreach’.
We see the need for a complete overhaul of Japanese university practices if we were to succeed in globalising the academia. In order to improve this current situation, we will use our established international presence and share our ’Global Japan Office’ with other universities thus effectively creating ‘shared usage centers’. Moreover, we will provide consulting services on how to globalize to other universities based on our expertise. We believe that through this initiative of ‘shared usage centers’ and consulting, Japan will see an increase in the number of international students in future. The process of bringing in international students to Japan will also run smoother and therefore contribute to ‘internalisation of Japanese universities’.
In sum, we strongly believe that realisation of this project will benefit us on two fronts. It will assist TUFS in delivering its aim of ‘research and education in a number of diverse languages and respective cultures and societies’ as well as policy makers in contributing to enhancement of ‘internalisation of Japanese universities’.
Numerical Targets of TUFS Top Global University Project
Targets set by TUFS are marked with ‘☆’.
Diversity for internationalization
Unit ：the number of people (ratio)
| Category | Results | Objectives | ||||||
| 2013.5.1 | 2019.5.1 | 2023.5.1 | AY2023 | |||||
| Foreign faculty members | 197 | (80.7) | 188 | (75.2) | 187 | (77.3) | 239 | (94.0) |
| Foreign administrative staff members | 12 | (9.0) | 17 | (12.6) | 13 | (9.4) | 22 | (15.7) |
| International students (as of May 1) | 558 | (12.2) | 827 | (17.3) | 696 | (15.5) | 809 | (17.3) |
| International students (combined for the entire year) | 698 | (15.3) | 1,152 | (24.4) | 846 | (19.5) | 1,216 | (26.0) |
Total students exchange for internationalization (combined for the entire year)
Unit ：the number of people (ratio)
| Category | Results | Objectives | ||||||
| AY2013 | AY2018 | AY2022 | AY2023 | |||||
| Undergraduate students with studying abroad experience | 119 | (3.2) | 948 | (25.7) | 733 | (21.1) | 1,460 | (41.7) |
| Graduate students with studying abroad experience | 0 | (0.0) | 24 | (8.6) | 8 | (2.9) | 26 | (7.7) |
| Graduate students who have conducted research abroad for 3 months and more with support from faculty members | 32 | (10.3) | 30 | (10.8) | 35 | (12.7) | 52 | (15.4) |
| Outgoing TUFS students to overseas partner institutions | 310 | (6.8) | 1,093 | (23.1) | 1,065 | (24.6) | 1,672 | (35.7) |
| Incoming exchange students from overseas partner institutions | 196 | (4.3) | 506 | (10.7) | 350 | (8.1) | 595 | (12.7) |
TUFS’s global presence in studying abroad ☆
Unit ：the number of people (ratio)
| Category | Results | Objectives | ||||||
| AY2013 | AY2018 | AY2022 | AY2023 | |||||
| TUFS’s global presence in studying abroad | 447 |
|
1,656 |
|
1,478 |
|
1,740 |
|
| North America | 44 | (9.8) | 200 | (12) | 237 | (16.0) | 147 | (8.4) |
| Europe | 183 | (40.9) | 526 | (31.7) | 566 | (38.3) | 462 | (26.5) |
| Russia/Central Asia | 66 | (14.7) | 114 | (6.8) | 69 | (4.7) | 178 | (10.2) |
| Africa | 1 | (0.2) | 56 | (3.3) | 34 | (2.3) | 50 | (2.8) |
| Middle and near East | 20 | (4.4) | 72 | (4.3) | 87 | (5.9) | 145 | (8.3) |
| Southeast Asia | 45 | (10.0) | 276 | (16.6) | 195 | (13.2) | 205 | (11.7) |
| South Asia | 1 | (0.2) | 56 | (3.3) | 56 | (3.8) | 113 | (6.4) |
| East Asia | 69 | (15.4) | 222 | (13.4) | 125 | (8.5) | 256 | (14.7) |
| Central and South America | 11 | (2.4) | 81 | (4.8) | 44 | (3.0) | 134 | (7.7) |
| Oceania | 7 | (1.5) | 53 | (3.2) | 65 | (4.4) | 50 | (2.8) |
Language skills for internationalization
Unit ：the number of people (ratio)
| Category | Results | Objectives | ||||||
| AY2013 | AY2018 | AY2022 | AY2023 | |||||
| Classes conducted in foreign languages | 144 | (6.0) | 402 | (17.6) | 450 | (19.4) | 252 | (11.3) |
| Classes conducted in English | 104 | (4.4) | 216 | (9.4) | 261 | (11.3) | 218 | (9.8) |
| International courses conducted in foreign language only （As of May 1） | 1 | (5.6) | 3 | (17.6) | 9 | (21.1) | 7 | (30.4) |
| ☆Students who meet the standard of the English proficiency (TOEIC:800) | 1,077 | (23.6) | 1,935 | (40.9) | 2,492 | (57.5) | 3,907 | (83.6) |
| ☆Students who passed the challenging goal [TOEIC:900 / CEFR-J/C1 (except Japanese and English) / CEFR-J/B2 (3 foreign languages including English] (%) | 0% | 28% | 33.4% | 60% | ||||
| ☆Joint Education Programs (Number of programs) | 3（実数） | 36（実数） | 66（実数） | 50（実数） | ||||
Liberalization for internationalization ☆
| Category | Performance | Objectives | ||||||
| AY2013 | AY2018 | AY2022 | AY2023 | |||||
| ☆Global Japan Offices | 0（実数） | 17（実数） | 21（実数） | 38（実数） | ||||
Annual Plan and Progress Reports
- FY2023 Annual Plan
- FY2022 Annual Plan FY2022 progress
- FY2021 Annual Plan FY2021 progress
- FY2020 Annual Plan FY2020 progress
- FY2019 Annual Plan FY2019 progress
- FY2018 Annual Plan FY2018 progress
- FY2017 Annual Plan FY2017 progress
- FY2016 Annual Plan FY2016 progress
- FY2015 Annual Plan FY2015 progress
- FY2014 Annual Plan FY2014 progress
Study Abroad (Dispatch & Intake)
In the academic year 2013, we have had 698 international students (which accounts for 15.3% of the total number of students) study with us at TUFS. Moreover, 447 students (or 11.2% of the total number of our students) have had an experience of studying abroad in order to obtain credits toward their degree. TUFS strongly believes that these numbers will greatly increase in future and in order to facilitate this change we will increase the number of our overseas educational institutions partners and run ‘Joint Education Program’.
■ ’Study Abroad 200%’ Opportunities
‘Study Abroad 200%’ stands for our new program under which students are able to study abroad on two occasions whilst working toward their degrees. For example, a student may chooses to study abroad in Asia or Africa once and then to go to North America.
■ With a new, 4-semester system, study abroad in your Summer Break!
TUFS will switch to a new 4-semester system starting from fiscal year 2015. This new system will give an opportunity to our students to study abroad in a short-term overseas study courses as well as ‘Joint Education Program’ during the summer or winter semesters.
■ Double the Intake of International Students
In 2013, we have had 138 undergraduate students, 216 postgraduate students, 168 exchange students, 52 short-term stay international students, 22 Japanese studies (government-funded) students, and 102 research students, a total of 698 students study with us at TUFS. Our aim is to double the intake of international students within the next 10 years through the increase in partnership agreements with overseas educational institutions, through an increase in the number of students studying abroad during summer and winter period (short-term basis) and through an increase in the number of formal graduate students studying in the Global Japanese language stream.
Enhanced Language Capabilities
TUFS will aim to foster capabilities that are centred on speaking foreign languages.
①Establishing Multi-lingual Curriculum
TUFS will increase the number of general subjects delivered predominately in the English language (excluding language learning subjects). Therefore, our new curriculum will enable students to study subjects delivered in the English language only and to graduate from the English-only program accordingly.
②Enhance Competencies in Foreign Language Studies through a Set Evaluation Criteria and Measurement Tools
First-stage Aim: To obtain a Minimum Qualification which is TOEIC 800
Second-stage Aim: To challenge yourselves and to work towards obtaining 1 out of the 3 Qualifications!
For more details;
Global Japan Office
TUFS will establish ‘Global Japan Office’ at key overseas partner institutions and the office will provide consulting services with a special focus on ‘Japanese-language education and Japanese Studies’ area.
Global Japan Office will have the following functions
- A place where we will run Japanese-language and Japanese studies classes and seminars to be delivered by a specialised lecturer who will visit the Office from TUFS Japan
- A place where we will coordinate the Joint Education Program to be run by TUFS and our overseas partner institutions
- A place where we will arrange internships for TUFS undergraduate and postgraduate students with a focus on Japanese-language education
- A place where we will arrange volunteering activities to be undertaken by TUFS undergraduate and postgraduate students
- A place where we will provide consulting services for Japanese students studying at external educational institutions
- A place where we will provide consultations for local students interested in studying abroad in Japan
For more details;
Joint Education Program
We will develop programs across a variety of fields with overseas partner universities and organize Joint Educational Programs, including faculty exchange. Specifically, the program will include intensive summer seminars at TUFS, coursework at partner universities abroad, and study tours in which both TUFS students and students from partner universities abroad will participate.
Please refer to the following URL for the Joint Education Program's performance status and reports.
Japan Forum for Internationalization of Universities
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies is operating this website "Nijiiro" through a grant from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Since selected as one of the Top Global University (SGU) by MEXT in 2014, TUFS has striving to strengthen its global presence under the slogan, “From the World to Japan and from Japan to the World”. And in September 2021, TUFS was selected by MEXT as “the Japan Forum for Internationalization of Universities (JFIU)”. TUFS is now working on the “Collaborative project between university overseas bases and offices through the provision of online Japanese language education”. In this project TUFS will cooperate with various universities in Japan and horizontally expand our business achievements to other universities and share information with each other among universities.
This project will expand horizontally to overseas bases and offices of each university, share entrances to online Japanese language education, and encourage foreign study in Japan.
- Form an information network by rolling out overseas bases and offices of each university
- Provide information on online Japanese language study through the information network to undergraduate and graduate students interested in Japan who come to overseas offices.
- Support for online Japanese language learning at overseas bases and offices
?To deepen students' interest in Japan and lead them to study at Japanese universities
In 2022, we opened a website "Nijiiro" to support international students in studying Japanese language and studying in Japan, and to create an information network among universities.
This website provides useful information for students who want to study in Japan or are currently studying in Japan, focusing on two topics: "Overseas Student Support Offices" and "Online Japanese Language Learning".
The main objectives are to disseminate information on university's overseas offices that provide support to foreign students who are interested in Japan, and to provide information on online Japanese language learning materials that students can use in their own countries.
For more information on the "Japan Forum for Internationalization of Universities" project, please visit the following URL.
Contact
International Affairs Office
3-11-1 Asahi-cho, Fuchu-shi, Tokyo 183-8534, JAPAN
Email: kokusai-kyoten[at]tufs.ac.jp (Please change [at] to @)