Kyushu Sangyo University is a private university located in Fukuoka City, the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture. “Sangyo (産業)” means “industry” in Japanese, and as its name suggests, the university was founded in 1960 with a philosophy of collaboration between industry and academia to meet the needs of society. The university has since then provided interdisciplinary programs that integrate the humanities, sciences, and arts, where students learn beyond their majors and faculties.

Stanford e-KyuSan-U is one such program offered by the university—in collaboration with SPICE/Stanford University—that has a global and cross-cultural focus. I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Kenji Tsugami, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kyushu Sangyo University, before the program started, and I was inspired by his passionate vision of preparing students to become globally active citizens. And it is this vision that shapes Stanford e-KyuSan-U (hereafter called “Stanford e-KSU”). As the program enters its third year, I want to take this opportunity to reflect on how Stanford e-KSU can continue to impact students’ growth.

Topics

Stanford e-KSU has three main topics for students to learn about and research: diversity, sustainability, and entrepreneurship. Diversity and sustainability are relevant to many of the pressing issues we face today, while entrepreneurship informs how we can solve a problem in an innovative way. I believe that learning these topics will help students understand today’s complex issues better, and motivate them to take action.

Here are some comments by the students on each topic:

I think diversity comes from recognizing that it’s okay to be different and accepting people who are different from you.—Mizuki Kanehara

Sustainability is the ability to consider not only the future, but also the current situation of our society and the environment as well as our actions in the past.—Mana Nakata

Everyone should learn entrepreneurship regardless of if they will be entrepreneurs or not, because a mindset of an entrepreneur is important when we try something new.—Yuna Ikeda

Interdisciplinary approach

Stanford e-KSU invites students from across majors, reflecting the university’s interdisciplinary approach to learning. In the past two years, we had students whose majors were international studies of culture, psychology, economics, engineering, information science, architecture, and art design to name a few. Students bring knowledge and perspectives from various fields to our class discussions, and this leads them to think critically and creatively. I believe that such interdisciplinary learning is valuable given that all of today’s issues are complex and interconnected. In fact, in their reflections, many students mentioned the opportunity to work with students from other majors as a big benefit of this program.

Starting next year, we will welcome some students from Fukuoka Women’s University to join this program. I am excited to see how collaboration between academic institutions will further deepen students’ learning experience, and how students will stimulate each other.

Working together

Among the assignments in Stanford e-KSU are group debates and group projects, where students are asked to work with others as a team. In the group debates, students defend their group’s position on a topic related to diversity and sustainability. In the group projects, each group identifies a social issue in their community, builds a prototype of a solution, and presents the idea to an audience. In both assignments, students need to work together—conducting research, discussing and consolidating ideas, deciding on the role of each member, and rehearsing their presentation. Afterwards, they provide each other with peer feedback on what they did well and what they can improve. I believe that this process of working together, which can be enjoyable but not always easy, instills in students the value of collaboration, responsibility, open-mindedness, and leadership.

Below is a reflection by a student on the group project.

The time spent working hard with students—with the goal of mutually helping each other grow intellectually—became the most beneficial time of my life.—Yuta Mori

Role models

What I noticed from Stanford e-KSU students is that they deeply care about their hometowns. Many are from Fukuoka City or the island of Kyushu. I still remember when the students were proudly discussing the fact that Fukuoka City has the highest startup rate among the major cities in Japan! We are therefore fortunate to have guest speakers who have roots in Fukuoka Prefecture and the Kyushu region as their role models. They include Ms. Miwa Seki, General Partner of MPower Partners, Japan’s first ESG-focused global venture capital fund; Ms. Sayuri Matsuno, Founder and CEO of P9 LLC, a company that supports businesses in the environmental field; Mr. Tatsuki Tomita, a co-founder of Vivaldi Technologies, a Norwegian software development company; and Dr. Janet Nagamine, Co-Founder of Hikari Farms in California, whose father immigrated to the United States from Kagoshima and started organic farming. Their fields are different, but the journeys that they took to get where they are today all embody entrepreneurship. For college students who will soon dive into the real world, it is a great opportunity to learn the importance of giving things a try, failing forward, and taking small steps that guide them to a goal.

I remember that I was anxious about what I would do and how I would do after graduating from my university. As one student reflected on the program as below, I hope that Stanford e-KSU will help students feel ready and excited to embark on a journey ahead.

I don’t have a clear plan about my future yet, but Stanford e-KSU had a positive impact on me and boosted my confidence. I now enjoy communicating in English and I feel like trying many different things!—Mana Nakata

Acknowledgements

In closing, I would like to acknowledge the people who made Stanford e-KSU a reality and those who continue to contribute to its growth: Mr. Kenji Tsugami, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kyushu Sangyo University, for his vision; Professor Takeyuki Matsubara, Head of the Global Leadership Program, for his leadership; Professor Kaori Miura, Dean of the Faculty of International Studies of Culture, and Professor of the Global Leadership Program, for her academic expertise and her vital role as a liaison between Stanford and Kyushu Sangyo University; Mr. Masahito Horiuchi, Director, Center for International Affairs, for his unwavering support; Mr. Toru Yonekubo, Chief, Center for International Affairs, for his kind correspondence and organization; Hiroko Koga, Secretary to Chairman of the Board of Directors, for her kind correspondence and organization; and Atsushi Fujiwara, Managing Director, and Masahiro Ito, Manager, Department of Academic Affairs, for facilitating collaboration with Fukuoka Women’s University.

Stanford e-KSU is one of SPICE’s local student programs in Japan.

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