YAMAGATAYAMAGATA UNIVERSITYUNIVERSITY INFORMATION BULLETIN OF THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION YAMAGATA UNIVERSITY CONTENTS 1 WELCOME TO YAMAGATA UNIVERSITY 2 TOPICS 3 4 GENERAL EDUCATION FACULTY OF LITERATURE 5 6 AND SOCIAL SCIENCES 7 8 FACULTY OF EDUCATION, ART AND SCIENCE 9 10 FACULTY OF SCIENCE 11 12 FACULTY OF MEDICINE 13 14 FACULTY OF ENGINEERING 15 16 FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE 17 18 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 19 UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL 20 GRADUATE SCHOOLS COMMON FACILITIES FOR EDUCATION 21 22 AND RESEARCH 23 24 INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE PROGRAMS 25 26 CAMPUS LIFE 27 28 CAMPUS MAPS / TRANSPORTATION 29 30 YAMAGATA PREFECTURE WELCOME TO YAMAGATA UNIVERSITY 1 WELCOM E TO YAM AGATA UNIVERSITY MOVING TOWARDS A NEW YAMAGATA UNIVERSITY THAT STRENGTHENS ITS POSITION INTERNATIONALLY WHILE STILL INVOLVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITY Yamagata University consists of six faculties and was founded in 1949, during the post-war Japanese educational system reforms, through the amalgamation of five older colleges. The university has been incorporated and reborn as the National University Corporation Yamagata University in the April 2004 national university SENDO Fujiro legislative reform. We have since been as actively involved in academic activities as President ever and have succeeded in obtaining several Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) grants, including one from the 21st century COE Program, and four from the Good Practice Program. In addition, we have been further strengthening our ties with the local community. Responding to strong demand from the northern Mogami region of the prefecture, where there are no higher education institutions, we have set up the whole region as a university campus and named it the Yamagata University Area Campus Mogami. As universities are now facing severe financial difficulties, efficient university management is unattainable unless all our operations are reviewed thoroughly and sufficient public and private funds are raised. As President of the university, I would like to see steps taken towards a university that is strengthening its position internationally while still involving the local community and would very much appreciate your support as we aim to achieve our goal. INFORMATION BULLETIN OF THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION YAMAGATA UNIVERSITY TOPICS 2 TOPICS Exchange Agreements With Foreign Universities Actively Concluded In recent years, Yamagata University is vigorously concluding exchange agreements with foreign universities. In August 2004 the first such agreement was concluded with Jilin University, and by October 2006, in only two years and two months later, we signed exchange agreements with as many as ten universities. Of these ten universities, we had already undertaken exchanges actively at the The Agreement with SUNY faculty level with nine of them: Jilin University, University of Texas, University of Talca, Buryat State University, Harbin Medical University, Hebei Medical University, Inje University, North China Coal Mining Medical College and University of Latvia. As a result, these faculty-wide exchange agreements developed into institutional agreements with even broader areas of collaboration. In September 2005 we signed an exchange agreement with SUNY (The State University of New York), without any previous faculty level agreement. Following this landmark agreement, YU-SUNY Project aiming to develop student exchanges both in the classroom and on-line, was launched. Through the application of e- learning technologies, in the future we plan to install a revolutionary new system The Agreement with Inje University that will allow students in both countries to remotely attend lectures at their home university. Yamagata University will continue to develop partnership relations with our partner institutions, and seek new partnership overseas in an effort to bring an international flavor to our university. Foreign Students Participate in Community Events Yamagata University actively supports the participation of foreign students in community events. In 2006 students participated in a number of events, including a human shogi chess match and a palanquin relay race. The Human Shogi Chess Match is an event held in the city of Tendo which features people playing the role of the game pieces in a traditional game of Shogi, which is similar to chess. College students dressed in armor were active participants. When asked to give his impression, Zomahoun J.C. Souroulere a student from Benin who was responsible for playing the most important role of The Human Shogi Chess Match in the city of Tendo the King said, “I had never participated before, and I really enjoyed the whole day. It felt great to be the King.” In the Palanquin Relay Race participants in eye-catching costumes raced against time while carrying a palanquin. The foreign students received a lot of assistance from many different people, from the making of the palanquin to the designing of the costumes, and they posted a surprisingly good time, earning them the fifth place in the race. In these ways the foreign students studying at Yamagata University not only learn about Japanese culture through academic study, but also fullly enjoy with a The Palanquin Relay Race in the city of Kaminoyama variety of activities held in the local community. The Museum of Yamagata University Properties Funazoko-Makura (Ship Bottom Pillow) Size: height 11.3 cm, width 21.6 cm, depth 9.8 cm Wooden, Japanese Lacquer (Edo Period) The bottom part of the pillow shown in the photograph is curved like the bottom of a ship, and is appropriately called a Funazoko-makura (Ship Bottom Pillow). The stand is all that now remains, but usually a cloth bag filled with buckwheat chaff, rice chaff or small beans would be placed on top of the stand. During the Edo Period (1603-1867) various types of pillows were made so they could fit the height or shape of the user’s hair in order to protect a man’s topknot or a woman’s coiffure, and since the real purpose was to keep the same hairstyle, during her sleep, a person’s neck instead of her head would be placed directly on the pillow. INFORMATION BULLETIN OF THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION YAMAGATA UNIVERSITY GENERAL EDUCATION 3 GENERAL EDUCATION GENERAL EDUCATION The purpose of general education, required of all students regardless of their majors, is to provide them with a broad academic experience and equip them with the basic education necessary for further studies at the university. We live in an age when different academic fields are SHIBATA Hiroo Vice-President collaborating and merging, meaning that, in addition to technical knowledge, an interdisciplinary perspective coupled with flexible thinking and a broad perspective are essential for students. General education plays an important role in this respect, as well as in deepening students’ humanity. In the general education program, there are about 320 courses within six disciplinary areas available in the first semester, and about 300 courses in the second semester. In principle, students are free to select and register for whichever courses they wish. INFORMATION BULLETIN OF THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION YAMAGATA UNIVERSITY GENERAL EDUCATION 4 GENERAL EDUCATION Turning now to some examples of the general education conducted at Yamagata University, we find that in interdisciplinary fields some courses are conducted in rotation by several lecturers who teach on the same topic but from a different viewpoint. Other courses are given by a single instructor and focus on new interdisciplinary academic topics. Some of the courses in each field are small class-size seminars that aim to provide basic academic skills such as composition, presentation, and reference skills through student participation, i.e. via discussion, scientific experiment, field work, etc. Yamagata University has four campuses: Kojirakawa, Iida, Yonezawa, and Tsuruoka. General education is intensively provided for the first-year students at Kojirakawa Campus, where students from every faculty gather and stay for one year, thus giving them an excellent opportunity to make new acquaintances and broaden their knowledge. INFORMATION BULLETIN OF THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION YAMAGATA UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF LITERATURE AND SOCIAL SCIENCES 5 FACULTY OF LITERATURE AND SOCIAL SCIENCES Faculty of Literature and Social Sciences The Faculty of Literature and Social Sciences has two departments: the Department of Human Sciences and AKOJIMA Isao Cultural Studies, and the Department of Law, Economics Dean and Public Policy. The Department of Human Sciences and Cultural Studies consists of two educational courses: Integrated Humanities and Cultural Ecology, each with its own distinct area of research. Students start choosing programs either of these courses at their second year. Teaching staffs for each course possess broad knowledge in their respective fields of research. The Department of Law, Economics and Public Policy encourages students to improve their comprehensive understanding of law, economics and public policy. Besides conventional academic areas, innovative research fields are conducted in this department. The Faculty has excellent teaching and research staff in the field of humanities and social sciences and students benefit from a wide range of intensive academic courses and from studying in friendly, welcoming environment. Our graduates pursue diverse careers in government, education, finance, information technology and many other fields. INFORMATION BULLETIN OF THE