Japanese research tackles global challenges

Dr. Susumu Satomi, President of Tohoku University and the Japan Association of National Universities (JANU), discusses how Tohoku University is leading the internationalization of the education sector by focusing on solving some of Japan’s and indeed the world’s most pressing issues, such as disaster preparedness, with a decidedly Japanese twist.
How important is the transformation of the education sector to Japan’s overhaul of its economy, and can Abenomics succeed without a more global Japanese educational sector?
Well, we are constantly thinking about the role of the university. We see it as our role to educate people and bring out their full potential. Looking back over Japan’s history, it seems to me that we have always followed Europe and the US, where the role of the university was to educate people so that they could properly function and do their jobs within a framework.
But the way things were before is different to the way things are now in Japan. We do not have that steadily increasing population anymore, and we do not have that steadily growing domestic demand anymore either. We need to go out and engage more with the rest of the world.
And so what we need now are people who can play an active role on the global front. We need people who will create new values.
What role does the Japan Association of National Universities (JANU) play in the transformation of the Japanese education sector, and how are you working with the government and your member universities to achieve it?
I think that university education is one of Japan’s weak points right now. The way of teaching English is very weak. The problem is our students are not taught from childhood to use English. That is one of the things we are trying to change now. We are introducing English education at the elementary school level.
At the university level, we are trying to teach more English classes, and teach more classes in English. And we are trying to have a system where students can do an entire course in English for a degree. Also, at the university level, we are trying to increase the number of Japanese students who want to study overseas and also the number of foreign students who choose to study in Japan. Last year the government started a new initiative to provide funding for young people who want to study overseas. In fact, universities are also providing scholarships from their own budgets for that. Until recently, many Japanese companies did not consider overseas study as an advantage for graduates and it was often difficult for students who had studied overseas to get jobs with Japanese companies. But now, with this new effort on the way between the corporate sector and the government, companies are beginning to encourage students who have had overseas experience to apply for jobs because they are seeing the advantages that those students can bring. And young Japanese students too are increasingly aware of that change in mindset. I think we are going to see more students willing to study overseas.
In terms of getting students from foreign countries to study in Japan, we do not yet have a lot of courses that are offered in English. But, we are laying the groundwork for that. And we are also opening offices overseas where we can introduce and promote Japanese universities to foreign students.
Another thing that we need to improve on is housing for non-local students. At Tohoku University we are trying to build more dormitories that can accommodate both Japanese and foreign students so they can share a common lifestyle. At the moment, we only have enough places to accommodate about 500 or 600 students, but that is something that we are working on. We are working hard to get students together and interacting with each other.
So a key role of JANU is to act as an intermediary between the needs of the students and the government’s will.
Yes, it is one of our overall roles to relate those needs to the government.
Do you feel the same passion as the government to have research be one of the key elements that allows Japan to remain a cutting-edge society?
I think the results produced from research by Japanese universities, the new discoveries and the new developments, are crucial to Japan’s economy. They are the future of Japan’s economy. Of course, the universities in the US and Europe are also conducting a lot of research. But one of the problems is that students from the US and Europe do not tend to come to Japan. I think this is mainly because of the language problem.
We see very few students coming from the US and Europe compared to Asia. And I think that Japanese universities are giving a lot of thought right now to the fact that we need to do something to make ourselves attractive to foreign students so that we are chosen by them.
Based on the realization that we need to do things to attract more foreign students, the ministry has created the Super Global 30 project.
We, at Tohoku University, are also planning to create seven graduate institutions to showcase our strengths not just in Japan but also in Europe and the U.S.
On a broader front, we need to be able to offer students the opportunity to learn subjects that are universally useful.
At Tohoku University you are roughly halfway through your ambitious five-year Satomi Vision strategy, which aspires to lead Japan and the world in solving problems that humanity will be facing in the coming years. Can you share some of the main topics or challenges that you are focusing on?
Well, you know that Japan was badly hit by a huge earthquake and tsunami a few years ago. That has given rise to the new field of disaster science, where we try to develop new systems to deal with disasters. So far, we have come up with eight new topics that we are working very hard on right now. We hope they will contribute to solutions in disaster areas and to affected communities. It has been four years since the disaster occurred and it has been three years since I took over at the university. Until now, a lot of my effort has gone into getting the eight projects off the ground and to getting the university functions back to where they were before the disaster. Now we are trying to see what new developments lie ahead of us, and what issues urgently need to be solved.
The seven graduate schools I talked about are just the starting point of this endeavor. I think, going forward, we are going to find solutions to many, many more issues that will come up. As I reach the midpoint of my term as head of the university, we are just beginning to understand where we need to go. We are just at the starting line.

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