Support for University Education Reform through National, Public, and Private Universities (GP)

Education Projects Adopted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology

As a way to support university educational reform across national, public and private universities, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) launched an education project in the 2003-04 academic year. Under this project, MEXT selects, from applications submitted by universities regarding projects on educational reform, those that are considered to display good practice (GP), and the ministry offers support to carry out those projects. Meiji Gakuin University submitted applications to this project, and the following programs were selected as being superior educational endeavors carried out by an institute of higher education. Meiji University will continue to work to advance its academic programs in the future.

Faculty of Psychology
“Psychological Support Theory: A New Standard for Education in Psychology”
--Adoption and Evaluation of Experiential Activities and Cyclical Educational System using Community Resources--
<2008-2010 Academic Years: High Quality University Education Assistance Program (Education GP)>

Psychological Support Theory is a required subject in which students comprehensively study all areas of psychology over four years, cultivating their “psychological support capabilities.” It offers a system that circulates from lectures at the university to actual experiences within the local community, as well as a participatory empowerment evaluation conducted with the participation of undergraduate and graduate students and faculty within the Department of Psychology and by members of the local community. Open classes that connect the university and the local community are held, building a psychological support network within the community.
Faculty of Psychology Education GP

Faculty of Sociology
Efforts to Vitalize the Local Community in Urban Areas
--Educational Support toward Symbiotic Society and Employment of Persons with Disabilities--
<2005-2007 Academic Years: Program to Support Efforts for Modern Educational Needs (Modern GP)>

To cultivate human resources who possess a broad sense of perspective and flexibility through employment of persons with disabilities both on and off campus, and under the motto of shifting from the existing social realities to learning with a goal of “realizing a symbiotic society,” the program works to develop interactions of disabled persons with other residents, and with various organizations and corporations of the local community. The goal is to learn the importance of revisiting what is mutually learned within a society in which everyone participates and belongs.
Faculty of Sociology Modern GP Project

Career Center
“Living Together” Job-Placement Assistance Project
<2009-2011 Academic Years: Program to Promote Student Assistance (Student Assistance GP)>

A job-placement assistance project to help students live together with others and thrive as professionals who contribute to society. Efforts being carried out by the Career Center include: installing a “front desk organization system for reducing congestion” and increasing its number of counselors, creating and distributing job-placement guidebooks for parents and guardians, building relationships with businesses through on-campus seminars, and making efforts to enhance its information providing capabilities.
Career Center

Volunteer Center
Adopting and Applying the Social Involvement Experienced in University Education
--Educational Assistance Efforts by the Volunteer Center--
<2003-2006 Academic Years: Distinctive University Education Assistance Program (Distinctive GP)>

The Volunteer Center, positioned as a common education agency (i.e., an entity where the Meiji Gakuin University students’ extracurricular activities and education merge) which carries out various projects and volunteer experience learning programs in cooperation with various internal and external organizations and NPOs in the local community. The center’s activities are not limited to offering information and advice to students, but it also provides multifaceted assistance to students in establishing and operating their projects as a way to help them acquire skills that will become useful for them in the real world.
Volunteer Center

Graduate Law School
<2004-2006 Academic Years: Graduate Law School and Other Professional Graduate Schools Development Program>
- Practical Education Promotion Program Practical Training Using the Remote Class System and IT
--To Enhance Practical Skills and Related Classes--

This program aims to facilitate students’ self-initiated efforts by eliminating time and spatial constraints. The goal is to cultivate in them strong legal-minded thinking that allows them to engage in bilateral and multidirectional discussions, and help them build a bridge between theories and actual professional experiences. To this end, remote classes have been attempted and meetings for practical training are held using a TV conference system, projectors have been installed in all classrooms, and every private desk has been equipped with an IT environment. The program realizes a bi-directional education that makes full use of personal computers and promotes the training of legal professionals through the utilization of IT.

Program to Promote the Advancement of Education Practical Legal Education using Publicly-Run Legal Offices
(“Legal Clinic” as a Common Project among Four Universities)

The Shibuya Public Law Office, a publicly-run office established at Kokugakuin Law School by the Tokyo Bar Association, offers a full-scale professional and practical education through the handling of actual cases. With the consent of the client and under the guidance of an attorney, students sit in on meetings with clients, help organize cases, and research relevant laws and regulations, among other tasks. Through practical training in which the students deal with actual legal cases, they not only acquire skills and manners as legal professionals but they also cultivate a sense of legal ethics through the experience of being responsible for clients, and they gain practical skills needed to resolve legal disputes such as the ability to analyze facts, develop legal structures, and prepare legal documents.
Graduate Law School