Project-Based Learning

Learning Through Community-Centered Projects in Collaboration with the Private and Public Sectors

Project-Based Learning is a group of practical courses in which students travel to local businesses and government bodies with the aim of understanding, investigating, and addressing wide-ranging social issues.
Our curriculum seamlessly connects applied learning with the development of students’ ability to understand issues and perform analysis in various specialized fields.
During their first three years, students take part in projects with goals that grow in complexity in line with their academic progression. In students’ fourth year, they conduct research on themes covered in their previous projects, then write a thesis reporting their findings.
Our Project-Based-Learning-centered curriculum equips students with the ability to understand the real world as it is today while helping them to develop decision-making and critical thinking skills for pursuing and overcoming challenges. This enables students to chart a course for their own future and acquire the skills they need to reach their goals.

Connecting Project-Based Learning with Specialized Education

Our approach creates a virtuous cycle by enabling students to enhance their applied knowledge through practical experience related to specialized subjects, which in turn allows them to acquire knowledge and learn new methodologies from those fields.

Project Partners

Overview of Project-Based Learning Courses

In Project-Based Learning Fundamentals, which is offered in the second semester of students’ first year, students form small teams. Each team travels to sites relating to various challenges being faced in the community, and visits workplaces such as businesses and local government bodies. Teams research sites in advance, plan and hold on-site interviews, and perform analysis after their visits, then hold debriefing sessions to contextualize students’ awareness and understanding of the issues.

Starting with Project-Based Learning I, which is offered in the first semester of students’ second year, several team projects are established within three project-based learning tracks. Students choose and participate in projects that align with their own interests, and can choose to continue the same project-based learning track throughout Project-Based Learning I, II, and III, or elect to follow a different track each year.

• The three project-based learning tracks are as follows:

A.	Local Community and Industrial Promotion Students work in concert with staff from local businesses, governments, and community agencies to engage in resolving issues in areas such as the revitalization of urban centers and rural communities, and the development and marketing of products by local businesses.
B.	Cross-cultural Exchange Students work together with local schools, government bodies, and businesses to engage with various issues related to contact and exchange with multicultural societies, which is becoming ever more crucial in increasingly globalized communities. This includes sharing regional resources beyond national borders, and education to promote intercultural understanding in schools.
C.	Diversity Students work together with local governments and other related agencies towards solutions to issues connected to diversity in local communities. This includes challenges surrounding the active participation of women, the training of future generations, and support for foreign residents.

Students are also able to engage in Project-Based Learning while studying abroad at their host institution.

Examples of Project-Based Learning Progression

A. Local Community and Industrial Promotion

B. Cross-cultural Exchange