The Philosophy and Policy of Shizuoka University of Welfare

A University for “the 21 Century—the Age of Welfare” Facing the graying age, the country as well as local communities are now taking various measures in Japan. Shizuoka University of Welfare is an institution established on the basis of the philosophy of welfare to meet the needs of the new age. The University offers such studies as psychology of children, the elderly and the physically challenged, concepts of social work suitable for normalization, skills in guaranteed information in order to contribute to the age of welfare.

A University for Shizuoka Prefecture, a “Prefecture with an Emphasis on Welfare” Shizuoka prefecture is equipped with rich conditions appropriate to the future of Japan’s welfare, such as a warm climate and easy access to the central parts of Japan, Tokyo and Nagoya. This institution endeavors to provide good assets to the society by doing researches in specialized fields and educating students to help contribute to building a welfare society. Our location in plenty of nature, not a concrete jungle in a big city, is best at studying welfare.

A University Open to the Local Communities The university intends to become a hub to vitalize the local area by cooperating with and keeping good network with the local communities, business and municipal government. For this purpose, we are hoping to build a welfare facility with wide-ranged functions on campus which can be used not only as a center of studies and education but as a spot for interactions of young and old in the area.

A Small University with Considerable Merits Multi-purpose mass education given by large universities is not fit to the study of welfare. The education of welfare must be given sensitively as it deals with human heart. The University is a small-sized institution and thus can offer personal attention to individual students and give a small number of students a good education in true meaning. By using the merit of its being small-sized, the University supports students in gaining various kinds of qualifications and educates them to be practical assets to work places in the local area.

The Support System for Physically Challenged Students Shizuoka University of Welfare has a support system to assist any student keen to study, whether or not the student has disabilities, based on the policy that anyone is guaranteed the right to receive education. All the faculty members are determined to make every effort to offer an environment comfortable for challenged students as well as normal students by not giving disadvantages to them. Following the policy, we have a committee on assisting challenged students. The Challenged Student Support Committee, composed of faculty members from all the departments and office members of the student office, takes a role of making programs to support students at the University. The Committee is trying to meet the needs of the student in matters from the entrance examination to his or her student life on campus in general. In order to realize a so-called barrier-free designed environment, we consider it necessary not only to accommodate with facilities and equipments by bridging the gaps of steps and installing Braille printers, but also to encourage individual instructors to devise teaching plans and students to have more awareness. It is also considered necessary to give personal attention reasonable to the individual student as well as to render services to all the students. The Committee makes a support grogram suitable for the student by cooperating with related departments and offices. The program of a challenged student starts with consultations before his or her entrance to the University. Depending on the disability, reasonable accommodation needed for the entrance examination and enrollment is give to the student. Once the program is arranged and the challenged student is accepted to the school after passing the entrance examination, the Committee, collaborating with the student office, starts giving specific support in his or her studies and school life. In studies, we guarantee reasonable accommodation in such aspects as giving adequate information in class, choosing appropriate supplementary teaching materials such as video tapes and accommodating ways to operate mid-term and final examinations. We also provide reasonable accommodation for fulfilling campus life by advising on housing or commuting for instance. We coordinate volunteers with communities on and off campus when human support is needed. We regard this system as our important attitude leading to create a welfare society in the area as well as a reasonable measure that an educational institution should take.