NEWS

Open Symposium Held "Developing a Study English Abroad Program ― Accommodating for the diverse English proficiency levels and individual needs of students

Update: November 8, 2016

As part of ICU's Top Global University Project supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), a symposium on ICU's Study English Abroad Program was held on November 2 (Wed), 2016 at Kiyoshi Togasaki Memorial Dialogue House.

Together with its partner institutions, ICU has worked to develop Study English Abroad (SEA) Programs that draw on the different features and regional characteristics of the host institution to accommodate for the diverse English proficiency levels and individual needs of students and sends out more than 230 students each year to overseas partner institutions. The symposium was held by inviting directors and coordinators from 13 partner institutions to introduce the programs' features and outcomes and was joined by approximately 80 faculty and staff members of universities engaged in international education as well as junior high school and high school staff members.

Following a word of welcome by the moderator, Lecturer Masuko Miyahara (English for Liberal Arts (ELA) Program), ICU President Junko Hibiya explained about ELA and Japanese Language Programs (JLP), the two pillars of ICU's bilingual education. After that, Professor Yuko Iwata, Director of the ELA Program made a presentation encompassing the details of ELA, an overview of the SEA Program providing opportunities to earn a portion of the ELA credits abroad, and how these programs are developed and students are sent off to participate in them.

Representatives participating from overseas partner institutions included (from top row far left in photo) Kevin A. Stanley from McGill University (Montreal, Canada); Daniel W. Evans from Saint Michael's College (Vermont, US); Anne Drobish-Shahat from Washington State University (Washington, US); and Matthew Murphy from School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (London, UK), who introduced the outline of their respective SEA Programs using photos and videos of their campus and highlighting their distinctive program contents.

Two students who participated in the SEA Program during their first year at ICU and later participated in a long-term study abroad program: Hiroteru Konishi (4th year student) and Mao Takagi (4th year student) delivered presentations in English on what the ELA classes were like, what they learned from participating in the SEA program and how that experience impacted their life. Following their masterful presentations, there was a big applause from the audience.

Finally, the three-hour symposium was closed after a Q&A session, where the directors and coordinators of partner institutions and the audience actively exchanged views.