THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF JAPAN

Transcription

1 THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF JAPAN

2 The Open University of Japan was established in 1983 by the government. As stated in our university s name, the courses offered by the Faculty of Liberal Arts are open for anybody to enroll as there is no entrance selection. Though there is no entrance examination, students academic performance is strictly evaluated through credit awarding exams. Many of our students are working, President Yoichi Okabe or supporting their families, while studying and paying for their tuition on their own. It could be said that OUJ graduates are highly accomplished. In addition to the Master s programs established in 2001, we began Doctoral programs of the School of Graduate Studies in The OUJ s Doctoral program is based not only on state-of-the-art research, but also on a unique concept of Liberal Arts education which seeks to develop human mind, while providing these courses through distance education and aiming to develop human resources with leadership qualities in the region and in the society to which the students belong. Overall, OUJ provides a wide variety of courses at a high academic standard, but we expect our faculty members to be more interactive. To enhance the quality of their interaction with students, the Internet should be utilized more effectively. For this objective in mind, we have made almost all of the courseware available through the Internet to enable the students to study anytime, anywhere as long as they have the Internet connection. With this system, students can submit their reports through the Internet, and furthermore, the lecturers and students can exchange their opinions through an electronic bulletin board system. In 2012, we adopted Moodle (online learning management system) as our learning platform. Furthermore, in 2013, we contributed to the establishment of JMOOC (Japan Massive Open Online Courses) and we are playing a core role by offering several courses for JMOOC through our original platform. In the academic year of 2014, we have started interactive online lectures in which students can actively participate. We will continue our efforts to raise the quality of education at OUJ. Please look forward to our further developments in the future. The Open University of Japan (OUJ) was founded in 1983 by the Open University of Japan Foundation, under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. It is an accredited educational institution open to all the people in Japan. OUJ utilizes broadcasting media and other means for new and effective ways to meet the needs for lifelong learning. The objectives of the Open University of Japan are to provide a wide range of people with opportunities for obtaining higher education and to promote broadcasting media and other innovative means of education for universities and other higher education institutions. OUJ has grown to become the largest distance education institution in Japan. To date, over 1,300,000 people have studied at OUJ, with over 83,000 of them graduating with a degree. Taking advantages of terrestrial digital broadcasting and satellite broadcasting, OUJ provides effective broadcast lectures using vivid visuals in high-definition and information content developed by experts in the field. Apr Apr Apr Jan Oct Apr Mar Dec Oct Oct Mar Oct The University of the Air (U-Air) was established Undergraduate students were accepted and broadcasting lectures were started The first bachelor s degree was awarded Nationwide broadcasting over CS (communications satellite) digital broadcasting was launched Students enrolled in undergraduate degree programs were accepted at Study Centers throughout Japan The School of Graduate Studies was established for Master s degree The first master s degree was awarded Terrestrial digital broadcasting service (the Kanto region only) was launched U-Air was renamed as the Open University of Japan (OUJ) Nationwide broadcasting over BS (Broadcast Satellite) digital broadcasting was launched CS (communications satellite) digital broadcasting service was terminated Ph.D. Program was started

3 THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF JAPAN Officials, Faculty Members and Administrative Staff Faculty of Liberal Arts Alumni Officials 7 1 Cumulative President 1 1,632 2,786 4,418 79,186 Vice Presidents 3 2 Faculty Members 91 School of Graduate Studies Alumni Administrative Staff 239 Cumulative , Includes President (Trustee) and Vice Presidents (Trustee). 2. Includes Vice Presidents (Trustee). 3. The sum of the categories will not equal the total, because the categories overlap Current Students Faculty of Liberal Arts Regular Students One-Year Non-Degree Students One-Semester Non-Degree Students Special Auditing Students School of Graduate Studies Master's Course Students One-Year Non-Degree Master's Course Students One-Semester Non-Degree Master's Course Students Current Students 55,717 17,533 7,525 3,459 84,234 Current Students 1,159 3, s and Current Students Reguiar Students One-year Non-Degree Students One-semester Non-Degree Students Special Auditing Students Master s Course Students One-year Non-Degree Master s Course Students One-semester Non-Degree Master s Course Students 3,459 (3.8 ) 3,805 (4.2 ) 1,159 (1.3 ) 7,525 (8.3 ) 17,533 (19.4 ) 956 (1.1 ) 90,154 (100%) 55,717 (61.8 ) 5,920 Credit-Transferring Schools School Type Number Students Enrolled in Summer Intensive Course Graduate Schools 7 Current Students Universities 272 School Librarianship Certification Program 807 Colleges 86 Nurse Qualification Course 496 Higher Professional Schools 13 1, March 2014 Student Enrollment Faculty of Liberal Arts Regular Students 7,765 4,093 11,858 One-Year Non-Degree Students 11,496 5,963 17,459 One-Semester Non-Degree Students 6,504 7,525 14,029 Special Auditing Students 1,189 3,459 4,648 26,954 21,040 47,994 School of Graduate Studies Master's Course Students One-Year Non-Degree Master's Course Students 2,651 1,114 3,765 One-Semester Non-Degree Master's Course Students ,611 3,746 2,070 5,816

4 The Faculty of Liberal Arts at OUJ offers courses in a wide range of academic fields to meet the diverse needs of students and the general public, so as to broaden their education and deepen their knowledge in specialized fields that are related to their real lives. The following six areas of study are being offered. The students enrolled to acquire a bachelor's degree must select one area of study and earn more than 124 credits including the minimum of 20 credits earned through schooling. Faculty of Liberal Arts Department of Liberal Arts 6 Areas of Study Living and Welfare Psychology and Education Society and Industry Humanities and Culture Informatics Nature and Environment OUJ established the School of Graduate Studies Master s Program in the 2001 academic year and has since instructed adult students tackling programs in many workplaces and local communities and achieve a measure of results. In April 2014, the Ph. D. Program of the School of Graduate Studies was established, with OUJ starting to accept students from October of the same year. The following seven / five areas of study are being offered for Master s Program / Ph.D. Program. The students enrolled to acquire a degree must select one area of study and earn more than 30 credits for Master s Program and 18 credits for Ph.D. Program. The School of Graduate Studies Division of Arts and Sciences Master's Program (7 Programs) Ph.D. Program (5 Programs) Human Life and Health Sciences Human Life and Health Sciences Sciences of Human Development and Education Clinical Psychology Social Governance Arts and Humanities Human Sciences Social Governance Arts and Humanities Natural Sciences Informatics Natural and Environmental Sciences The "Expert" system, an original OUJ subject group credit certification system, was introduced in the 2006 academic year. Objectives of a subject matter in a given field are achieved through the completion of specific university-designated plan, and this confirms the achievement of a systematic study to that end. With the 2007 revision of the School Education Act, the "certified evaluation and accreditation system" regulations for universities also came into effect. Implemented again in the 2008 academic year, the "Expert" system became the OUJ's response to the "certified evaluation and accreditation system".

5 OUJ offers two types of teaching: broadcast lectures and schooling for the regular students to earn credits. Broadcast Lecture Courses- Two Credit per Course Broadcast Lectures (TV, Radio and Internet) For the (October 2013-March 2014) of 2013, 262 Faculty of Liberal Arts courses and 72 School of Graduate Studies courses; a total of 332 courses (refer to the Table1), are available through television and radio. Most of the television lectures and all of the radio lectures are also made available through the Internet. Therefore, approximately one quarter of the total courses is subject to replacement each year. Textbooks The OUJ courses are designed to be studied through both broadcast lectures and textbooks which are specially written for each of the courses by the OUJ academic staffs and/or other experts in the given field. Some of the textbooks are highly valued by the general public and even after termination of the courses; some are revised with a fresh look and sold as the "OUJ Book Series". These broadcast lecture courses are on principle offered for four years (two semesters per year, totaling eight semesters). Table 1 Subjects Offered in 2013 TV Subjects Radio Subjects TV Subjects Radio Subjects Faculty of Liberal Arts School of Graduate Studies Schooling (Face-to-face ) Courses- One Credit per Course Classroom sessions, known as "schooling", along with broadcast lectures, are pivotal in teaching and learning at OUJ. The number of schooling offered at study centers throughout the country during the 2013 academic year was 3,110 (1st semester: 1,537, 2nd semester: 1,573). These sessions cover a wide range of subjects' characteristic to the Faculty of Liberal Arts. In addition to usual lectures and hands-on experiments, the class sessions sometimes include a variety of formats such as fieldworks and on-site observation visits. Classroom sessions are usually designed, planned and held at the Study Centers throughout the country. The Study Centers in each locale not only offer general courses but courses in distinctive subjects unique to the given region such as history and culture, industry, nature, and so on. Furthermore, several Study Centers collaborate with nearby universities and research facilities to offer such courses.

6 OUJ's facilities include the number of equipments for producing television and radio broadcast lectures. There are three TV and three radio studios where more than 1,200 broadcast lecture programs are produced every year. OUJ's recorded TV and radio lecture programs are broadcasted from the OUJ's transmission facilities, from early morning till late night, throughout the nation. At present, most radio lecture programs and some TV lecture programs are also available online as on demand video. BS broadcasting company Satellite The Open University of Japan Terrestrial broadcast Submissoin of reports/papers Textbooks, Instruction by correspondence Credit certification examinations, Classroom teaching (schooling) CATV Cable TV station Individual study by broadcast lectures and printed study materials Public and private universities Local Study Centers (Participation in social events, such as athletic meetings) The library building of OUJ was completed in March 1990 and began its operations in June of the same year. As of 2014, the main library located in the headquarter owns about 330,000 Japanese and foreign published books and is open to the students and the general public. Together with the libraries located at Study Centers, the OUJ library service plays an important role in teaching and learning as well as research at the university. OUJ has 50 Study Centers (4 in Tokyo), 7 Satellite Spaces and 70 Audio-visual Rooms throughout Japan. The Study Centers are used for conducting face-to-face class sessions and credit certification examinations. In addition, tutorials, and academic counseling are offered there. There are facilities for students to view or listen to broadcast lectures, and library services are also provided at the Study Centers. They also function as venues for students to hold extracurricular activities and friendly exchanges. The Study Centers are located on campuses of public/ private universities or in facilities of municipalities. The Satellite Spaces and Audio-visual Rooms are established for giving easier access to the above mentioned facilities to those students who live far away from the Study Centers in their prefectures. Aomori Yamanashi Tokyo, Bunkyo Hokkaido Asahikawa Aomori Akita Hachinohe Iwate Yamagata Miyagi Niigata Study Center Iwaki Fukushima Satellite Space Toyama Gunma Tochigi Ishikawa Nagano Saitama Ibaraki Fukui Chiba Gifu Tokyo Shimane Tottori Kyoto Shiga Yamanashi Hyogo Shizuoka Okayama Kanagawa Fukuoka Yamaguchi Osaka Mie Hiroshima Himeji Aichi Kitakyushu Hamamatsu Fukuyama Saga Nara Kagawa Nagasaki Oita Ehime Wakayama Tokushima Kumamoto Kochi Miyazaki Tokyo Bunkyo Kagoshima Tokyo Tama Tokyo Adachi Tokyo Shibuya (Open in April 2012) Okinawa

7 Mid-Term Assignment After the 8th week of the broadcast lecture courses, the students are required to complete the mid-term assignment. The assignment is originally paper-based, but since the 2010 academic year, the online version has been also made available as an option to those students who wish to complete the assignment online. Completing the assignment is one of the requirements before taking the final exam at the end of the semester. Final Examination At the end of the 15th week of broadcast lecture courses, the students are required to sit on final exams which are carried out in their registered Study Centers. Those students who pass the exams will be granted credits. Online Video-on-Demand of Broadcast Lecture Programs OUJ has been providing broadcast lectures online since The number of courses made available online has increased as listed. Use of Learning Management System (LMS) Moodle In the 2010 academic year, the OUJ launched LMS using the open software, Moodle, for online exercises and student assessments. System WAKABA and Campus Network An online student administration system was put into place in the 2009 academic year. The registered students are now able to check their academic records, enroll for classes, as well as keep up to date with other sorts of matters. Since the System WAKABA enables each student to check his/her own progress, the student is now able to manage his/her own course of study. lecture series, 8 radio lectures series and 5 special radio programs. JOCW is an international member of The Open Courseware Consortium (OCWC) which was started by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Number of courses made available online in 2013 academic year. Undergraduate Graduate Special Lectures TV Subjects Radio Subjects Other Online Services Web conferencing system was introduced in 2010 as part of student services offered mainly at the School of Graduate Studies. The system is called V-cube (Nice to Meet You) and used to facilitate communication between teachers and students. OUJ became a member of the Japan Open Courseware (JOCW) in April 2010 and made 17 courses publicly available online that is opened to the general public in October The 17 courses consist of 4 television The OUJ considers student support as one of the essential services to satisfy students' needs and to facilitate their academic performances. For this cause, the "telephone center" and the "call staff room" were merged and upgraded to the "student support center" in May 2010.

8 OMIYA TRAIN ROUTE MAP AKABANE NARITA AIRPORT IKEBUKURO UENO KEISEI LINE SHINJYUKU OCHANOMIZU AKIHABARA JR SOBU LINE EXPRESS JR NARITA LINE JR CHUO LINE JR SOBU LINE JR SOBUHONSEN JR YAMANOTE LINE OSAKI SHINAGAWA JR YOKOSUKA LINE HAMAMATSUCHO TENNOZU ISLE TOKYO MONORAIL TOKYO SHINKIBA RINKAI LINE JR KEIYO LINE The Open University of Japan TSUDANUMA KEISEI TSUDANUMA MAKUHARI KAIHIN KEISEI MAKUHARI MAKUHARI CHIBA CHIBA CHUO YOKOHAMA HANEDA AIRPORT SOGA BUS ROUTE MAP HANEDA AIRPORT NARITA AIRPORT 40Min. Highway Bus to Chiba Chuo Station 30Min. Highway Bus to Chiba Chuo Station KAIHIN MAKUHARI KYOTO TOKYO OSAKA Contacts The Open University of Japan 2-11 Wakaba, Mihama-ku, Chiba Japan Phone: Fax: URL: