Yukiko Mishina
University of Tokyo, Japan
ACE 2016
Featured Speaker
Dr Yukiko Mishina is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Tokyo and teaches in the ALESS Program in the Centre for Global Communication Strategies in Tokyo, Japan. She graduated with a BS, MS, and PhD in Chemistry from The University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Her scientific research interests include metalloproteins and optogenetics. She is also interested in English language education and global higher education and research.
Featured Symposium Presentation: Globalization and the Japanese Liberal Arts Education System In the contemporary globalized age, universities face pressure on various levels, constantly catering to the needs of local students and adjusting to function as an elite-level international institution. To meet current demands, there has recently been an effort among universities to stress globally-focused endeavors, leading to an expansion of programs and centers at universities in Japan that offer an increased number of English language courses and international exchange opportunities. Implicit within this e pansion is a larger aim of providing students with e ibility, sensitivity, and openness towards diverse cultural perspectives. Although these initiatives appeared more prominently with globalization efforts, they also resemble the more established framework of a liberal arts education. Drawing on my own liberal arts education in the US as well as my experiences in teaching English at the Centre for Global Communication Strategies at The University of Tokyo, the relationship between liberal arts education and globali ation will be e amined Specifically, this paper will discuss some ey differences in global outlook and globalization at the curriculum level; a greater emphasis placed upon English education in the Japanese context, compared to the scholarly and cultural aims of a US liberal arts education to develop broader general knowledge and intellectual capacities. This distinction indicates that the concept of globalization is itself not globalized; it is instead understood and practiced differently across geographical and institutional contexts. This observation highlights the need to establish mutual understandings about the meaning of globalization, given the current prominence of this term in university policy decision-making.
Featured Symposium Friday, October 21 16:45-18:15 Room 504 (5F) 26 | IAFOR.ORG | ACE/ACSET/AURS 2016