Tokyo Tech International Symposium on Education Reform Held on March 14

The Tokyo Tech International Symposium on Education Reform was held on March 14 in the 70th Anniversary Auditorium at the Ookayama Campus. Tokyo Tech is currently formulating a new education system to be launched in the 2016 academic year, and the symposium formed a part of Tokyo Tech's education reform efforts. With the theme of "Best Practices for Realization of World-Class Science and Engineering Higher Education Systems," the symposium attracted approximately 450 attendees.

The opening remarks by Tokyo Tech President Yoshinao Mishima were followed by the welcome address of Mr. Shinichi Yamanaka, Administrative Vice Minister, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Keynote talks were given by Professor W. Eric L. Grimson, Chancellor for Academic Advancement at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and by Professor Ronald Gronsky, Special Faculty Assistant to the Chancellor for International Relations at the University California Berkeley (UCB). They spoke about the roles of leading sci-tech universities in the world and about their efforts to adapt to and remain innovative in 21st-century higher education while meeting students' needs.

President Mishima introduced an outline of Tokyo Tech's education reforms. He spoke about the objectives of the reforms, the design of the new education system, and the future of Tokyo Tech after the reforms.

Keynote talks were followed by a lively panel discussion titled the "Future of World-Class Science and Engineering Higher Education Systems." In addition to the three aforementioned keynote speakers, panelists included Mr. Kakutaro Kitashiro, Executive Advisor of IBM Japan; Professor Kellina Craig-Henderson, Director, Tokyo Regional Office of the National Science Foundation; and, Mr. Etsuhiko Shoyama, President of the Tokyo Tech Alumni Association.
The symposium shared anew the idea that cultivating next-generation leaders is not a lone task of individual universities, but one to be shared by the global academic community as a whole.

Panel discussion

• Tokyo Tech's Education Reform Efforts