Good Practice in "Problem Finding and Problem Solving" | Hideyuki Tokuda (Dean, Graduate School of Media and Governance)
2004.05.21
Every May, the review committee for the Taikichiro Mori Memorial Research Grants meets. Unlike other graduate schools, this is a system where students in the master's and Ph.D. programs can apply for the Graduate Student Research Development Grant and grants for presenting at international conferences. This year, we received a record number of applications, which suggests that this system has become well established. While the review process is demanding, the large number of applications is a welcome challenge. The practice of writing proper research proposals and creating their own budgets, starting from their master's studies, is truly one of the excellent mechanisms supporting SFC's philosophy of "problem finding and problem solving" as a good practice.
This time, 28 applications from the Doctoral Programs and 131 from the master's programs were selected. Ideally, similar to the peer review results for papers at academic conferences, I would like to provide those who were not selected with a memo pointing out shortcomings or poorly expressed points in their research proposals. However, with over 170 applications from master's students, the volume far exceeds the processing capacity of the review committee members. I would be very grateful if their main and sub-advisors could provide them with comments.
Another unique feature is that the final reports are published on the web. Reports from 1997 onward have been archived. In addition to conventional text-based reports, perhaps the web versions could be made a little more unique.
Yesterday, the 18th, the hearing for the mid-term progress review of the actual 21st Century COE Program, which I mentioned last time, was held. It consisted of a 10-minute presentation and a 15-minute Q&A session. The questions from the review committee members were generally favorable, but I was taken aback by the question, "What percentage of your center's project is contributed by the COE budget?" In reality, while the budget for RAs and the like relies 100% on the COE budget, much of the research equipment for some projects is not covered. Nevertheless, the contribution of the COE is not just financial support; it has also created a mechanism to further solidify research collaboration at SFC more than ever before.
(Posted: 2004/05/21)