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MEIKAI HOME >> ENGLISH >> PROSPECTUS >> Chairperson, President
Chairperson
Susumu MIYATA
President
Toshikazu YASUI
Since its foundation as a dental college in 1970, Meikai University has adopted the mission of “Fostering graduates of talent and ability, who are well educated, creative, rational and capable of being active in the international community.” We have sought to achieve that goal from the three angles of education, research and regional contribution. We have introduced various programs to ensure that Japan remains a viable player in the world by viewing cosmopolitanism from a future orientation, in other words, by envisioning the international society of the future.
In the area of education, Meikai University has placed emphasis on broadening students' international perspectives and fostering their international awareness through student exchange with our international exchange schools. Every year, our university accepts more than 600 foreign students from countries and regions throughout the world. In the area of lifelong education, our international dentistry professional development program with the University of California and other institutes is now attracting attention in Asian countries as an Asian center for dentistry. Education at our university aims to inspire students and professionals with dreams and equip them with the professional skills and character to realize them. It is our students' task to enhance their sensibilities and international awareness during their years at our institution.
Turning to research, Meikai is the only university in Japan that engages in research on applied linguistics and real estate science. We have focused our energy on international research by receiving researchers from Peking University and the Fourth Military Medical University of China and the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico, all of which are our international exchange schools.
In the area of local contribution, Meikai strives to be a university that is rooted in and open to the local community. We have established an adult education system (open college), made our libraries available for use by local residents, and created a system for registering local medical practitioners with an eye to making the Meikai University Hospital an "open hospital." Moreover, we receive trainee dentists at our highly esteemed Post-Doctoral Institute of Clinical Dentistry.
Meikai University aims to make a unique contribution to Japan and the world by doing the following:
Offering Education That Develops the Whole Person
Education is a means, not a goal. It is crucial that people have dreams and endeavor to realize them using their education. To do that requires vision to create dreams, persistence to realize them, and character to be able to identify and solve problems in one's own life. Meikai University should be evaluated based on the performance of its graduates in society.
Aiming to Be a Center for the Creation of International Culture
International awareness is not developed simply by visiting or residing in foreign countries. Meikai University seeks to create international culture. Culture is created through people's activities, and international culture must similarly be seen as something that is developed amid globalization with interpersonal exchange as the core element. Such culture requires exchange backed by practical learning and is fostered by cultural awareness developed from one's university years. This is true not only of culture, but of education and research as well.
Serving as an Institute Oriented toward International Research
Japan's universities may be divided into two categories: education and research or, in other words, practice and theory. Meikai University, however, has the capacity to develop both education and research in parallel in the international society of the future. This requires graduate school reform. Society is making many urgent demands on universities, asking them to provide professional development programs that offer lifelong education to people in the working world and to differentiate between training for high-level specialized medical practitioners and training for those engaged in basic research. We must never lose sight of Meikai University's core orientation toward international research.
Supporting Lifelong Learning
Society changes at a remarkable rate today, and the amount and quality of learning that can happen in the four or six years that a person spends at a university is limited. Meikai University's curriculum is designed to develop character, but that is not something that ends at the conclusion of the undergraduate years. Our university puts emphasis on post-graduate support. For example, our Continuing Dental Education Program at the School of Dentistry is the most comprehensive in content of any such program in Japan and is impressive in terms of quality as well. The expression "from the cradle to the grave" used to be used to describe social welfare systems, but the era has dawned where university education support is lifelong.
Meikai University considers it its mission to contribute to Japanese society and, further, to the world in these ways. Our university will help people realize their dreams in the 21st century. Join us in taking on the challenges of the future!
Toshikazu Yasui
President
