Keio SKC Project: A Turning Point in Learning and Research

The Keio SKC Project! Have you heard of it? It has received grants from the Juku three times as an open-call program of the 150th Anniversary Post-graduate Future Leader Fund. SKC (Super Knowledge Campus) refers to a campus where "knowledge beyond knowledge" is developed—distinct from the knowledge and information typically circulated on university campuses—by cultivating one's own body and emotions, communication such as negotiation and requests, and working with others while imagining them.

Specifically, there are diverse projects (regional cooperation, social contribution, international experience, artistic expression) based on the free ideas of Keio students. Let me introduce a few.

《Komoro Film Festival》 In cooperation with the administration, shopping associations, residents, and the Mita-kai of Komoro City, Nagano Prefecture, Keio students have been running a film festival since the year before last. They invite universities in the Kanto area to produce films set in Komoro City featuring its citizens, and the submitted films are awarded based on citizen votes. There is also 《Komoro Study Abroad》, where international students coming to Keio can experience the lives of the people in Komoro.

《A-Brut》 This project manufactures T-shirts printed with art by people with disabilities, sells them online, and donates the profits. Keio students handle the entire process, from negotiating with the individuals with disabilities to manufacturing, sales, and advertising.

《Inheritance and Expression of Memory》 Students visit war sites and disaster-stricken areas (such as Germany, South Korea, Fukushima, Okinawa, and Nagasaki). While archiving the scenes and testimonies found there, Keio students convey their own thoughts and emotions through expressions such as video, performance, and theater.

Self-Education, Self-Empowerment, Self-Respect: "Learn by oneself, improve oneself, and know one's own value." This connects to the Juku's creeds of independence and self-respect, "learning while teaching, teaching while learning," and Jiga-sakko (creating one's own path). By realizing their own ideas while learning with others, students ultimately increase their self-confidence and deepen their respect for the others they acted with.

Witnessing the proactive actions of Keio students, I have seen a Copernican revolution in learning that goes beyond even today's active learning. It is also a turning point in research. In fact, not only do the Keio students participating in the program report at relevant academic conferences, but I am witnessing the birth of a new style (Art-Based Research) that places the purpose and mission of scholarship and research in dialogue and imagination rather than truth, and in reality and empathy rather than facts.