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Because the Liberal Arts Education Center is not a faculty, no student is enrolled there .The center provides the Meiji Gakuin Common Learnings, courses required to be completed by all students in the early stage, when the faculty who are those mostly in charge of the courses at the center, is gathered together to review the curriculum. Thus, today every student at Meiji Gakuin has a close tie with the center.
Meiji Gakuin emphasizes liberal arts education as a foundation of education because Dr. Hepburn founded the school. Since then, the education has been re-organized to meet modern Japanese actual conditions and is now provided as Meiji Gakuin Common Learnings. Accordingly, all programs, both in the common and the professional courses, provided by Meiji Gakuin for undergraduate education is liberal arts education.
A liberal arts education has two goals. first, it should provide fundamental education that enables students who aim to be professionals to pursue advanced studies; second, for students who do not want to be professionals or specialists, a liberal arts education provides basic skills and capacities to deal with problems that exist in society. The curriculum of Common Leanings seems to be complicated, but it is actually well organized to meet the requirement every student has for his/her own course work and firmly relate that education to the courses in professional studies that are offered .It is important to review carefully the system and the courses in the curriculum.
Let’s review a foreign language course as an example. For now, we cannot live without working in foreign languages. Even in Western European countries, studying two foreign languages has been mandatory. If we don’t work to learn other languages in Japan, where a single language prevails and the language does not have a larger linguistic area, we will be isolated. It is not exceptional for Japan to study to be a specialist. They need languages other than Japanese.Although different purposes and occasions require different levels of the second language, such as reviewing or publishing study papers, communicating to foreign friends, or taking a sightseeing tour, there is a fundamental need to study the language. We will work hard on it in the first and second years of university. Students will then study for their own purposes using the various programs we provide based on this foundation.
Among many programs, in particular, we have been reforming programs on English, a language that has the biggest linguistic reach in the modern world. The program concept has been changing from merely “studying English” to “studying in English”. All students except those enrolled in the Department of English Literature, which provides its own English education, and students enrolled in the International Studies, have to take a TOEFL test when they enroll. . The test helps us place every student in the English program that best suits that student's language level. Learning in a program that suits the level of the student is quite effective in language study success. Students will have tests at the end of the spring semester and at the end of fall semester to check their progress.
The programs related to computer science have also been improved since computer knowledge is a necessity in almost every job situation today .Learning computer should be included in foreign language studies since learning computer is, in virtual activity, learning the language of computers.
While I have stated again and again the importance of learning foreign language, I would rather students remember a basic principle: If you don’t have anything, the foreign language you learn can provide nothing. Thus, quintessential study for university students is meant to enrich them. The Meiji Gakuin Common Learnings Center, which is divergent, exists to help you to create your own content. Build up your own university life and focus on the courses you will take in your further study. Meiji Gakuin has a slogan that offers "contribution to others”, but we cannot contribute to others if we are not established. Educate yourself to broaden your view to the world, and you will join that world and contribute to others.
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