Open Campus

2017/07/07

The season has arrived when advertisements for open campuses, a staple summer university event, begin to appear on hanging train ads. Such events began about 30 years ago, and it is said that in 1988, Ritsumeikan University held the first event to use the name "open campus." The first such event at Keio University was held in 1992 (Heisei 4).

In those days, events where university campuses were opened in the summer for prospective students were not yet common, but SFC had already held several information sessions on campus in 1990, right after its establishment. The idea was to turn this into an event for all faculties, allowing prospective students to learn about Keio University while also seeing the campus. Young staff members from the Academic Affairs Office and the Office of Communications and Public Relations took the lead, visiting other universities for observation. After two years, the plan was finally approved in the spring of 1992. Determined that failure would mean no event the following year, they planned an event for the first year that could be run by staff alone. On August 28, it was held under the name "University Information Session," using the entire old South School Building on the Mita Campus. Tours of the library and the Enzetsukan (Public Speaking Hall) were also organized. The event attracted over 1,100 visitors, which was an outstanding record for an inaugural event at that time.

Building on the success of the first year, they asked faculty members to give presentations for each faculty the following year. However, on the day of the event, Typhoon No. 11 made a direct hit on the Kanto region. Despite the adverse conditions, with violent storms stopping public transportation by the afternoon, more than 900 participants continued to arrive. Upon learning of this, President Torii (at the time) rushed to the venue and personally spoke with the drenched prospective students.

In the third year, the event was eagerly held at Hiyoshi Campus as well. On the same day, an information session for the Faculty of Science and Technology was held at Yagami Campus, and the summer event for prospective students continued to expand. Initially held under the name "University Information Session," the event was renamed "Open Campus" in 1998 when, with the cooperation of the faculties, mock lectures were included for the first time.

In the late 1990s, open campuses became commonplace, and high schools began to actively encourage their students to attend, causing the number of visitors to grow steadily. In 2000, the total number of visitors across the four campuses exceeded 10,000 for the first time. By around 2008, both the Mita and Hiyoshi campuses were seeing over 10,000 visitors in a single day, making it difficult to even move through the buildings. As a result, a pre-registration system was reluctantly introduced in 2010 to limit the number of participants, a practice that continues to this day.

In addition to the all-faculty open campus, various other events have been planned and implemented. A particularly unique event, which started in 2012, is a university information session exclusively for students from outside the Tokyo metropolitan area. This session has been well-received for its focus on providing information about scholarships and student dormitories, introducing life in Tokyo, and offering consultations.

(The Editors)