Message from the President “Concentration on Core Competence.”
Towards an Education and Research Center Fulfilling its Responsibility to the Local Community and Appealing to the World
University (AU), and recently I have been thinking earnestly on the meaning of a key phrase addressed to a locally-situated national university corporation;“Concentration on Core Competence.” No matter how big or small an university is, it is destined to pursue global standards in its research and educational activities both with commonality and diversity.
Despite the basic principles mentioned above, I will also emphasize that Akita University should demonstrate its distinctiveness in the following two ways:
Firstly, more than ever, Akita University has to develop in tune with the needs of local communities.
Akita University comprises three faculties: the Faculty of Education and Human Studies, the Faculty of Medicine,and the Faculty of Engineering and Resource Science.
The first has played essential roles in the sustainable development of local communities by promoting teacher training which supports one of Japan's highest levels of academic performance among school children. The second works at providing community-centered health care systems, while the third has worked at revitalizing local industries. I would like to think of these achievements,according to my understanding, as due services to the local communities rather than as contributions to them.
The agreement between Akita University and Yokote City concluded in August, 2009, clearly represents an essence of this concept. One of the student activities in Yokote City involves participating in the production of local specialties, and is closely linked with my expectation that the students who are generally apt to be addicted to a virtual world should sensitize themselves to the reality of local lives and learn how to live sustainably with locally available resources.
Secondly, Akita University should strongly resume and revitalize the tradition and experiences accumulated over the years since its inauguration. That is to say, I strongly believe that Akita University should address,through its unique intellectual activities, the increase in the international demand for mineral resources and the reuse of recyclable ones. On this regard, Akita University has expanded its organizational structure based on the educational and research achievements accumulated since the establishment of Akita Mining College. In this context,the International Center for Research and Education on Mineral and Energy Resources (ICREMER), established in October, 2009, is aiming not only to be a center of research and education in resource sciences, but also to respond to the needs for human resource development that exist in the mineral rich countries of Asia and Africa.
In fact, many international students are joining the programs offered by the Center.
Akita University is clearly announcing our essential roles, both at home and abroad, through which Akita University will prove itself not only one of the leading universities in the northern part of Japan, but also one of the most reputable institutions in the world.
Akita University President Noboru Yoshimura
