Notes from the President's Office No. 9: Beginning In-Person Exchanges with Global Research and Educational Institutions

2022/06/27

Kohei Itoh

While the crisis in Ukraine continues, the world has rapidly begun to move toward a post-COVID era, accelerating the exchange of information among like-minded nations such as the United States, Europe, Australia, India, and the ASEAN countries. As President, this timing has also marked the swift resumption of in-person exchanges with the world. I have already completed business trips to the UK and the Netherlands in mid-May and to France in early June, and I will be traveling to Singapore in early July. There have been many insights gained precisely because these were exchanges in my capacity as President. In this edition of Notes from the President's Office, I will introduce the outcomes and my impressions from the two overseas trips, as well as the purpose of the remaining one.

1. Report on Business Trip to the Netherlands and the UK (Mid-May)

My first overseas business trip as President was to the Netherlands (Leiden) and the UK (London), which unexpectedly overlapped with part of Yukichi Fukuzawa's 1862 visit to Europe. I felt a sense of some mysterious connection. For Yukichi Fukuzawa, who began as a scholar of Dutch studies, I imagine that his visit to Leiden University, the oldest in the Netherlands, was particularly impressive in shaping his thoughts on what a higher education institution should be (as introduced by Teruyoshi Osawa, a teacher at the Chutobu Junior High School, in Mita-hyoron (official monthly journal published by Keio University Press) ). In the UK, at King’s College London, we were able to deepen our discussions on exchange in a building adjacent to Somerset House, which Yukichi Fukuzawa had visited.

First, let me begin with Leiden. From 2009 to 2010, the "Research University 11" (RU11) , a consortium of 11 of Japan's research universities, was established. Since 2016, Keio University has been responsible for its international affairs. RU11 is a key member of the Global Council of Research-Intensive Universities Networks (GCRIUN) and collaborates with similar alliances of research universities around the world. Alliances of the world's research universities have contributed to solving various societal issues, such as conducting the basic research that led to the development of COVID-19 vaccines. However, with today's emerging challenges like the Ukraine crisis, global environmental problems, and questions about the nature of capitalism and democracy, GCRIUN decided to issue a joint statement. This statement redefines the significance of research universities in a global society and affirms their commitment to responsibly engage in solving global-scale problems by fully fulfilling their roles in the future. To this end, Keio University's Vice-President for Research, Masayuki Amagai, participated in drafting the transnational joint statement as a representative of RU11, completing the statement known as the Leiden Principles . The signing ceremony for this was held at Leiden University in the Netherlands, coinciding with the 20th Anniversary General Assembly of the League of European Research Universities (LERU), and I participated as the representative of RU11. The objectives of the Leiden Principles are as described in the news on the Keio University website. The signatories include a total of 161 research universities from around the world, including RU11, the AAU (USA), the Go8 (Australia), the U15 Canada, the U15 Germany, the Russell Group (UK), and LERU (Europe). The purpose of the symposium was to widely publicize this statement to Members of the European Parliament, executives of European research organizations, and the media. It was also an opportunity for the presidents, vice-presidents, and staff of the top research universities gathered there to pledge to implement the statement's content and to pave the way for research universities from various countries to share similar values. At the same time, a grand ceremony was held to celebrate the 20th anniversary of LERU, which was instrumental in launching GCRIUN. I also took the stage and, during the commemorative party and lunch/coffee breaks, deepened exchanges with many Members of the European Parliament, the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science, the presidents (in Europe, a university president is called a Rector), vice-presidents, and international staff of top-level research universities, as well as the Mayor and staff of Leiden. (Please watch the two-minute video summarizing these interactions!). The symposium was also featured in an article in Research Europe magazine. In this article, in addition to the main text, my comments are prominently quoted in a callout box at the bottom.

The top three things I felt during my stay in Leiden are as follows.

i) On the significance of universities

In Japan, there is often a sense of stagnation regarding various issues such as the economy, science and technology, education, and security, partly due to the effects of the "lost 30 years," the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Ukraine crisis. Universities, in particular, are often criticized for lagging behind the rest of the world in areas such as research capabilities, global talent development, and entrepreneurship education, and Keio University is also striving to strengthen its research and education systems.

While the presidents, vice-presidents, and accompanying staff of the top European universities I interacted with share a similar sense of crisis, at Leiden University, for example, which will celebrate its 450th anniversary in three years, I could viscerally feel their pride in how their research and education have supported the development of the Netherlands. I also sensed the trust and respect that Dutch and European parliamentarians, the European Research Council (ERC), and citizens have for the university. All the other European university presidents held the same stance. In essence, there is a sense of security that citizens highly value the existence of universities, respect their autonomy based on high standards for education and academic freedom, and that national and local governments secure the necessary budgets for them. For research fields of urgent national or EU interest, such as medicine and technology, a clear path has been established. In addition to individual universities offering opinions on institutional design, organizations like LERU collectively explain and persuade politicians and bureaucrats.

As Keio University, while taking pride in our contributions to the development of our country and the world to date, we have renewed our commitment to improving our education and research systems so that the dignity of young people is preserved and a peaceful, happy society can continue and develop. What is important is independence and self-respect. Without being swayed by the carrot dangled in front of us, we want to contribute to the continuous development of global society on a scale of hundreds of years.

ii) On the independence and pursuit of learning

I was told that European universities have several faculty members who require constant security. The pursuit of learning based on a sense of justice can lead to boldly dissecting the dark sides of modern society, and the greater the ripple effect, the greater the danger to the faculty member. It is, quite literally, a life-risking pursuit of learning. We pledged that the entire global university community, including Keio University, will work together to ensure the safety of faculty members who carry the torch of academic advancement with such resolve.

iii) On diversity

In discussions of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity, the conversation tends to shift toward diversification based on classifications such as gender, race, and origin. In Leiden, however, in addition to diversification based on classification, they also promote the acceptance of diverse opinions and encourage expression and debate, even in gatherings centered around Dutch people. In Japan, we have concepts like "reading the air" and "peer pressure," and we faculty members also have a tendency to favor so-called "honor students." In Leiden, however, it was impressive to see the slogan "messy stuff wins" and the emphasis on independence and self-respect through phrases like "let go of control, build on trust," "allow spontaneous, original ideas to win from fixed formats – every step along the way !", "don’t let the rational get in the way of the intuitive," and "foster and stimulate 'real' bottom-up ownership." I was reminded that the foundation of robust debate is to accept heresy and to take pride in one's own advanced heterodoxy. A society of symbiosis is not a society of conformity, a world of "reading the air." The city of Leiden has also been selected as a European City of Science , and science events based on citizens' curiosity and ideas are held daily throughout the city. I truly felt the wonder of having universities at the center of it all, as it is the curiosity, intellect, and action of citizens that will save the world.

The visit to the UK was effectively two days, during which I visited Downing College at the University of Cambridge, King’s College London, the Embassy of Japan in the UK, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science London Office, and the British Olympic and Paralympic Committees. I also had the opportunity to dine with members of the London Mita-kai. As described by Motoaki Kato, former Head of the Yochisha Elementary School, in Mita-hyoron (official monthly journal published by Keio University Press) , this is how Yukichi Fukuzawa visited King's College.

2. Report on Business Trip to France (Mid-June)

In 2019, the G7 Summit of developed nations was held in France, and at the call of the host country's President Macron, the U7+ Alliance of World Universities (University7+), a coalition of top universities centered on the G7 countries, was formed. It was a groundbreaking call from President Macron to reflect the opinions of the academic world in the G7 Summit. The in-person holding of this year's G7 Leaders' Summit was long undecided due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine crisis, but it was eventually decided to be held at Schloss Elmau, Germany, at the end of June. Therefore, a U7+ Presidential Summit was hastily arranged to be held in person with whoever could attend, taking place on the Côte d'Azur in France (Nice and Cannes). Over 50 universities from around the world are members of the U7+, but about 15 presidents, including myself, gathered on-site, while others participated online. As you know, next year's (2023) G7 Summit will be held in Hiroshima. Therefore, next year's U7+ Presidential Summit will also be held in Japan, and I am pleased to announce that Keio University has been approved as the host institution. Presidents, vice-presidents, and staff from all over the world will gather at Mita! Because the decision to hold the meeting was made at short notice, the number of participants was small, but this is the group photo we took on the red steps. The U7+ meeting was held at the same venue as the Cannes Film Festival, and we took a commemorative photo lined up on the red carpet staircase that the stars ascend. The other photo is from the venue in Nice. Just one step outside! And so I'll also show a photo of the blue coast of Nice.

The U7+ website posts its recommendations submitted to the G7 Summit, a statement of commitment to addressing climate change as universities, and a statement on the war in Ukraine , among other things. Keio University has been actively involved in the creation of these recommendations and statements. From Keio University, Vice-President for International Collaboration, Motohiro Tsuchiya, and staff from the Global Engagement Office have been involved in the preparatory work, holding numerous Zoom meetings with the U7+ Alliance secretariat and representatives from member universities on the Presidential Summit preparatory committee. The fact that Keio University has been proactively involved in all these statements means that the U7+ statements are also Keio University's statements. A great deal of collaborative work will continue in preparation for next year's U7+ Presidential Summit at Mita, and I believe this will form the foundation for transnational academic exchange and student mobility, and I am committed to moving forward with this belief.

3. Purpose of Business Trip to Singapore (Early July)

The purpose of my business trip to Singapore is to attend the Annual Presidents' Meeting of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU). Sixty research universities are members , and the theme of this year's Annual Presidents' Meeting is “Reconnecting in a Sustainable World.” Various presidents will give presentations from their universities' perspectives on topics such as “Responses to Crisis in a Diverse Region,” “Sustainability and Climate Change,” “Preventing the Next Pandemic,” and “Reconnecting: The New Urgency for Collaboration.” In addition to giving a lecture on transnational university collaboration, I have been entrusted with presenting the summary of the conference on the final day.

I will strive to enable as many students as possible from Keio University to venture out into the world, and to attract as many scholars and students as possible from around the world to take an interest in Keio University.