Make the Most of Campus | Tomohiro Ichinose, Dean, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies
March 26, 2024
Spring is a season of farewells and new encounters. At yesterday's faculty graduation ceremony, 338 students from the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies graduated. We will welcome new students at the entrance ceremony on April 1. While both the graduation and entrance ceremonies are held at the Hiyoshi Campus, our Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) is also steadily preparing to welcome new students.
Keio University has six main campuses. Our SFC, located in Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture, can be described as the most suburban of all the campuses. As dean, I often have opportunities to hold information sessions for high school students and speak with teachers from high schools, including Keio University's affiliated schools. A keyword that always comes up is "far." On social media, I often see comments like, "If only it weren't so far..." and many of the complaints from students are about the inconvenience of access. However, SFC has several unique features that other campuses do not.
First, SFC is the second largest of the six campuses, with an area of about 34 hectares. Unfortunately, it is not as large as the Hiyoshi Campus, but in terms of area per student, SFC is likely the largest. About half of the campus is green space, part of which is covered with lawns. Many visitors are impressed by the abundance of greenery and the beauty of the campus. On sunny days, many students eat lunch on the lawn, and some classes are even held outdoors. The spaciousness of this campus is a great strength for both education and research. For example, of the six campuses, SFC is the only one where drones can be flown freely. Regarding drone flights, rules are being established to regulate them due to various concerns, not just on campus. On the other hand, they hold great potential, and their use for educational and research purposes is anticipated.
As an initiative unique to SFC that leverages its spaciousness, the Student Built Campus (SBC) should be mentioned. SBC is a project in an area now called Beta Village, where students, faculty, staff, and even alumni participate in building the campus, deciding how to use it, and even considering its eventual deconstruction. This kind of activity would be difficult to undertake not only at other Keio campuses but at any university campus. And, as has been frequently introduced in the Okashira Diary, the Sustainable Campus Program started in fiscal year 2023, and projects involving the surrounding community have begun.
But I can hear people saying, "It's still far." However, in February 2023, the Η (Eta) Village student dormitory opened on the campus grounds. This is the first on-campus student dormitory at Keio University. The dormitory is divided into several units, and each unit is guaranteed to have international students, so cross-cultural communication can be expected. Since it's on the grounds, it's probably a one-minute walk to the classrooms. Now that there is a place to live, I hope you will make the most of the campus during your university life.