[Feature: 30 Years of SFC] SFC at 30: Aiming to Lead a New Civilization

2020/10/05

Image: Taken by drone in 2019 (Courtesy of Keiji Takeda Laboratory)

In 2019, two events occurred at Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) that signaled the arrival of a new era. First, the deans of the Faculty of Policy Management and the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies—two faculties established at the campus's founding—both transitioned from leaders in their 60s to those in their 40s. Second, Professor Jun Murai, who has had a decisive influence on the campus's image as the father of the internet in Japan since its inception, stepped down from the campus leadership (Dean of the Graduate School of Media and Governance) due to reaching retirement age (he currently remains at Keio University as a professor and serves as co-director of the Cyber Civilization Research Center). As the campus marks its 30th anniversary, this is a good opportunity to reflect on the past and envision the future. SFC has continued to be a symbol of university reform not just for Keio University, but for Japan as a whole. By looking back at what has been achieved and what remains to be done, we must consider the new mission we should fulfill from here on.

It is said that the basic concept for SFC was first publicly discussed by President Tadao Ishikawa in 1983 at the Keio University 125th Anniversary Ceremony. While there was no explicit statement about opening a new campus, the basic concepts that persist today were certainly discussed. His address was published in the "Mita-hyoron (official monthly journal published by Keio University Press) Special Issue: 125th Anniversary Commemorative Publication," so I would like to extract some points from it.

First, as a basic awareness of the issues, he stated that "industrialization is posing various major problems around us," and announced the arrival of an era where "complex, fluid, and uncertain times are times when new phenomena that we have not experienced in the past occur one after another." To respond to this, he stated that "the nature of academic disciplines must change in various ways," and that "research in areas we did not previously target" and "research and education in the areas of negotiation between academic fields are also important." Regarding education, he said, "The focus of education must shift to the ability to analyze, reason, judge, and construct things with one's own head in response to new phenomena," and that "the existing university research and education systems are by no means sufficient." This was followed by a call for international exchange. He concluded by saying that "scholarship is something shared by the world" and that "Keio University must develop into a school that can withstand international evaluation." These points have lost none of their freshness even today, nearly 40 years later.

As an embodiment of President Ishikawa's vision, the most important philosophy SFC has championed is an interdisciplinary approach centered on the problem areas to be solved rather than academic disciplines, with "problem discovery and problem solving" as the keywords. Moving beyond a mere catchphrase, the faculty organization is also built around research subjects regardless of academic field, based on the premise of fluidity called "projects." This means that as problems change with the times, the organization also changes. On a more practical level, even in the hiring of new faculty, the idea of "replacing a predecessor" is discarded; instead, the campus leadership looks for and appoints those who seem likely to contribute most to the problem-solving required for the next era. The hiring criteria also include the ability to produce outputs in collaboration with researchers from diverse fields. The philosophy that diversity is strength is thoroughly implemented.

I should also add that the reason such personnel management is possible is the "Steering Committee" system, which is delegated much of the faculty decision-making, including personnel matters, immediately after a dean election is completed. While there is much criticism these days of systems where presidents and deans are chosen by election, SFC has shown that sharp, effective management can coexist with management that respects the autonomy of researchers.

We have also developed methodologies for bringing together diverse knowledge. To prevent an interdisciplinary team from becoming a disorganized mob, a certain amount of know-how is required. At SFC, we have worked hard to create a state where researchers from different fields can "speak the same language" by sharing a common linguistic system across all fields, such as natural language, programming language, system design language (including institutions), and data science language (including statistics). While there is still room for improvement, I know of no other university in the world where interdisciplinary research happens as naturally as it does at SFC.

The Admissions Office (AO) entrance examination, a symbol of the entrance exam reforms started by SFC, has also become firmly established. Since it is not an exam centered on general subjects, there was initially some ridicule based on various misunderstandings. However, by continuing to operate without forgetting the original aspiration of "welcoming diverse students through multifaceted evaluation criteria," its essence has come to be understood. It is now being recognized as the basic path for university reform throughout Japan. From a front-line perspective, by accepting diverse students through AO, even students who enter through general exams are stimulated to break out of their molds and excel with unconventional ideas.

In terms of accepting diverse students, the GIGA (Global Information and Governance Academic Program), which started in 2011 and allows students to complete their studies from entrance to graduation through classes in English, is also growing steadily. In September 2019, it became a program with 79 enrollees. Including international students in other programs, it has become an international campus with students from 30 countries. Note that the title of the GIGA program itself is oriented toward problem-solving through the integration of arts and sciences and governance. The interdisciplinary organization of universities starting from problem discovery and problem solving has become an important evaluation point internationally and in university rankings in recent years. For example, the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) were a central theme at SFC even before the term was coined. Keio University entered the world's top 100 universities in that category (THE Impact Rankings) in 2019, and I am proud that the evaluation of SFC's activities was a major factor.

The stance of being involved not just in problem discovery but also in problem solving has also become established as a characteristic of SFC. This is a stance of collaborating with industry and government agencies to be involved in the work of embedding research results concretely into society. If we understand "discovery" as elucidating principles, "invention" as developing new technologies, and "innovation" as the creation of a mechanism that incorporates discoveries into concrete social systems to continuously generate value, then SFC commits itself to the point of causing innovation, rather than stopping at mere discovery or invention.

One form of innovation is the creation of ventures. It is no exaggeration to say that there are few ventures active in Japan today where SFC graduates are not seen; we have produced many entrepreneurs. While those who start up while still students are prominent, that is not all. In fact, looking only at career paths at graduation, the majority are not that different from other faculties at Keio University. If there is a difference, it is that many people throw themselves into ventures after gaining experience for a while after graduation. In the early days, the fact that many people changed jobs was often spoken of as if it were something bad, but recently the world has changed. During this time, a culture has taken root at SFC where students look at their seniors and consider causing innovation not as something special, but as a natural thing to do. In the uncertain and fluctuating world predicted by President Ishikawa, I am often surprised by the toughness of SFC graduates who can build their own careers while adapting to the changes of the times.

A major factor that served as the foundation for producing many entrepreneurs is likely SFC's role as a major hub for the internet. It can be said that it was the internet that accelerated the evolution of the world pointed out by President Ishikawa, such as the progress of globalization, the interdependence of problems, and the resulting expansion of uncertainty. Furthermore, it was the internet that gave birth to many "new research methods" for problem solving, and the value of being able to demonstrate leadership in that field was immense. The new leaders currently managing the campus are from a generation that has experienced the cutting edge of internet evolution, and for better or worse, they understand the meaning of informatization firsthand. They will surely steer the ship in a way that responds firmly to the digital society, which is accelerating its speed of evolution even further.

I have listed the achievements of SFC above, but here I would like to return to President Ishikawa's warning that "it is not enough to simply praise past history and glory." There are many things we could not do despite our plans, and many new issues are emerging.

If we speak of specifics, various issues remain, but the greatest seems to be that we have not been able to draw a clear vision of the post-industrial society that President Ishikawa spoke of. With the progress of informatization, we are now at a stage where the industrial society that supported the modern civilization introduced to the East by Yukichi Fukuzawa is undergoing a major transformation. It is a shift from a society that produces material goods and generates value through exchange mediated by money, governed by institutions such as property rights and markets, to a society that distributes value generated by the accumulation (sharing) of data utilizing technologies such as AI, cloud, and IoT, based on the degree of contribution to society. While such a rough outline is visible, the specific mechanism for governing that society is not. For example, regarding the management of data, there is a conflict of ideas that could be called a clash of civilizations between the Eastern idea that data belongs to society and the Western idea that it belongs strictly to the individual, and the discussion is not engaging at all.

In the near future, humanity will transcend conflict and welcome the dawn of a "cyber civilization" suited to the new era. Welcoming a new civilization and making it something good can be called the world-historical mission of Keio University. The time has come for Keio University to compile a new "An Outline of a Theory of Civilization." As a country that deeply understands Western civilization in the East and has achieved prosperity under democracy, there are great expectations from the world for Japan to play a bridging role. SFC should be in the best position to realize that mission. As a member of the Fukuzawa Juku, I want to lead Japan and the world into the next era.