The 1^st mini-workshop on "Liberal Arts International Pilot Program Development & Global Research Network for Liberal Arts Education" was held between 18 and 19 June, 2015. It was organized by the Future Liberal Arts Colleges (FLAC) research team at IERS and funded by the Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation for Private Schools in Japan and ICU. Participants included five guest speakers from liberal arts colleges or research institutes from Singapore, Korea, and Hong Kong China; Japanese researchers and administrators who are interested in liberal arts education; and the FLAC research team (Profs JUNG, Insung, SASAO, Toshiaki, NISHIMURA, Mikiko, OHE Hye-Gyeong, and SHIMUZU, Yasuo*).

During the Open session, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Anri Morimoto presented ICU's Approaches to Liberal Arts Education and Super Global University Project Strategies, the FLAC research team shared its research results on Liberal Arts Education in East Asia: Challenges and Potentials and Faculty Perceptions of Current Situation in Liberal Arts Programs; four guest speakers introduced their institution's liberal arts education and research interests: Lingnan University (Hong Kong), Yale-NUS College (Singapore), Handong Global University (South Korea), and Ewha Womans University (South Korea), and one guest speaker explored some research ideas for liberal arts education in Asia.

During the Closed session, the FLAC research team and guest speakers discussed two joint pilot programs which will be implemented in Autumn and Winter terms in 2015, and founded the Global Research Network to promote and carry out collaborative research among its members.

*JUNG, Insung (Education),
SASAO, Toshiaki (Education, Peace Studies),
NISHIMURA, Mikiko (Education, Development Studies, Peace Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies)
OHE, Hye-Gyeong (World Languages)
SHIMIZU, Yasuo (Department of Health and Physical Education)