Experienced Hire: From Keio University to the World, Involved in Sending Keio Students Abroad

From early childhood until entering university, Momoka Nakajima attended an international school in France and returned to Japan upon entering the Faculty of Law at Keio University. After graduation, she joined a PR company and gained a variety of experience. While working, she became interested in PR for universities and education, which led her to change jobs. We spoke with Ms. Nakajima, who is now vibrantly working at her alma mater, Keio University, making full use of her experience. We asked her how her past experiences are being utilized in a university setting and about the joys of working at a university.

Due to my parents' work, I lived in the Netherlands from age five and in France from age seven. In France, I attended an international school. The good thing about attending was not only that I was able to learn languages, but also that by spending time from a young age in the same space with people from various countries with different skin colors, nationalities, and social classes, I was able to shed my preconceptions. This allowed me to talk to people on a very level playing field and to take on various challenges.

When deciding on which university to attend, I considered various options: whether to go to a university in Japan, a university abroad, or to remain in France. Around that time, because I am Japanese, I was often asked questions about Japan by various people. In that context, I realized that despite being Japanese, I had a complex about "not knowing much about Japan" because I had lived abroad since childhood. This motivated me to return to Japan and receive a Japanese education. I used my International Baccalaureate diploma, which I obtained in high school, to apply to the Faculty of Law at Keio University, and upon acceptance, I returned to Japan.

After graduating from university, I joined a PR company that had many foreign-affiliated clients. Although it was a job in a field completely different from law, the catalyst was taking a course at the university sponsored by that PR company and becoming very interested in the work. My duties at the PR company involved being entrusted with public relations for client companies, planning and executing press events, making sales calls to TV stations and magazine editorial departments, and handling overseas PR and media inquiries.

Creating newsworthy stories and disseminating them to the media was a daily race against time. There were many difficult tasks, and I struggled quite a bit. However, being entrusted with various clients and large-scale, responsible tasks from my first year at the company taught me not to give up no matter what, the joy of accomplishing something, and how to persevere with my work, which really strengthened me.

While working in PR, I began to think that I wanted to be more deeply involved in things that interested me and handle their public relations. So, I decided to change jobs, thinking that if I was going to do it, I should look for an in-house position rather than working at an agency. Since my main interest was "universities," I searched for job openings. At that time, my alma mater was not hiring, so I applied to other schools and was hired by a women's university. Compared to Keio, the university was smaller, so although I belonged to the International Center, I also handled a wide range of duties, including public relations, student career placement interviews, and matters related to entrance exams. Conversely, because it was a small university, I was able to learn about the overall structure and administration of a university. Also, compared to a mammoth university, the number of students was small, so the distance between me and the students was close, and I learned a lot about how to interact with students and about education. After working at that women's university for two years, I was able to land my current position at my long-desired alma mater, Keio University.

In my current position, I belong to the International Exchange Services Group in the Mita Office of Student Services. The Office of Student Services is a large organization with about 100 members, providing services related to academic affairs and general student life for all enrolled students, regardless of whether they are Japanese or international students. The International Exchange Services Group of the Office of Student Services is responsible for various international exchange duties, including managing university-wide exchange programs, short-term programs, events, and courses offered by the International Center. As the person in charge of outbound exchange students, I support students from the on-campus selection process through to the pre-departure, during, and post-study abroad periods. I am also in charge of internal public relations tasks, such as planning and running events like study abroad fairs, creating brochures, and managing our website and social media. When you hear "university staff," you might imagine a plain and relaxed job, but the month after I joined, I was on an overseas business trip meeting with representatives from partner universities, giving presentations in front of hundreds of students, and chaperoning students on overseas training programs. There are many exciting tasks, and I am tackling new things every day. Of course, there is a lot of detailed work, but the desire to work for my alma mater and to enrich student life keeps me highly motivated in carrying out each of my duties.

I believe studying abroad is a privilege for students. By studying abroad, you get a chance to see the good things about Japan from the outside, and you also come to see both the good and bad aspects of your own environment. When you go abroad, you realize there are very few countries as convenient and safe as Japan, and few countries with as many kind people as the Japanese, so you really face hardships. But through those hardships and difficult experiences, as you ask for help, negotiate, and solve problems, both your mental fortitude and problem-solving skills improve. I really hope that students have such an experience before they enter the workforce.

I believe that all of my experiences—living abroad, my student life at Keio, my work experience after joining the workforce, including both the things I loved and the things I struggled with—are now useful in my job at Keio University. It's been almost a year since I changed jobs, but in my current workplace, my supervisors listen carefully even to my suggestions and give me opportunities to start new things. For example, when I suggested incorporating videos for study abroad promotion because students today are not keen on reading, my idea was adopted, and we were also able to start using social media. There are many things I understand precisely because I worked at a PR company. I love my alma mater, so I find my work very rewarding and enjoyable. When I meet professors on campus who helped me during my student days, it feels like I've gone back to being a student, which makes me very happy.

What I want to do in the future is to make Keio University a university that people recognize when they hear the name abroad. The reality is that Japanese universities are almost unknown overseas. I felt frustrated when I told my friends living abroad, "I graduated from Keio," and no one knew what it was. Therefore, with the goal of making "Keio University" an educational institution that everyone abroad knows, I want to continue taking on new challenges every day.