A Visit to Η Village | Kiyoka Nozue, Dean of the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care
2023.12.05
The SFC EXPO was held on November 25 and 26. It was a great success, with many people attending the various events. The program was diverse, featuring research presentations at ORF, an open campus, and special exhibitions. It was a wonderful exposition where I could feel the energy of everyone involved in the planning and operation, with opportunities for interaction with high school students and local community members. Congratulations on a job well done.
On November 26, the second day of the SFC EXPO, I had the opportunity to visit Η Village . The resident students kindly gave me a tour. Η Village is Keio University's only on-campus student dormitory, which opened this year, and students from the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care also live there. With kind and warm dorm parents in residence, meals provided, a new and clean building, and faculty and staff supporting its operation, it is a safe environment... I can't help but see it from a parent's perspective, but the environment is second to none. Students can learn day by day while enjoying the fun of living and gathering with their peers and feeling the comfort of being together. On the other hand, since students from various parts of Japan and abroad live together, there will of course be times when relationships become strained or stressful due to differences in culture, customs, language, values, and ways of thinking. And I believe that these experiences of conflict are what become the source of the strength to be active globally. It is a place to train the power of assertion—that is, to act based on the spirit of mutual understanding and mutual respect. This involves frankly communicating one's own feelings and thoughts and listening to the other person's feelings and thoughts, based on the premise that the other person is a different individual, and working toward a mutually agreeable solution. I hope that one day I will have the chance to ask alumni of the dormitory about their experiences living and eating together and the skills they acquired.
Thank you to everyone who showed me around Η Village.