In 2022, NOSIGNER’s Representative Director, Eisuke Tachikawa, became the chairperson for the Association for the Consideration of Future Higher Education hosted by Benesse Educational Research and Development Institute. He held discussions with association members who practice advanced education in the field to compile a vision for university education that illustrates a hopeful future in a proposal.

In recent years in Japan, the keyword “exploration” has been included in study curriculums, and as part of these efforts, classes are now held to explore dreams for the future. With such developments, university education is starting to need to provide education where students can explore their dreams, goals, and connections with society.
University students who have just entered university tend to think that the purpose of learning is to be assessed positively by others through tests, such as entrance exams. However, the essence of learning lies in finding one’s exploratory topic and deepening curiosity and practice rather than being positively assessed by others. Such self-directed and exploratory learning has the potential to greatly change one’s life in the future. Therefore, in university education courses, it will be important to switch the mindset of learning from “exams” to “exploration” and develop the foundation to discover “questions.”

“GROWING AMBITION: Students, Be Ambitious” is a proposal that serves as the guideline for this new education style. It proposes a university education that develops “ambition” that can create changes in society and how a creative curriculum that actualizes that should be. It purposely expresses dreams with personal aspirations (=Big Picture”) as “ambition,” encouraging transformations into new university education.
If students had the will to design their own path toward the future, they could start to connect with family, friends, people around the student, communities, countries, and the world. It can be a starting point of a transformation. Getting together with the association members, we thought that a major role of the university is to encourage student’s personal growth and to nurture students with ambition in their hearts, who can courageously declare their great aspirations.
The proposal compiled four perspectives to make the university a place that can develop the ambition of students: “1. A place for learning where students can learn to be creative through challenges and observation,” “2. A place where students can decide and make assessments independently,” “3. A place that provides opportunities for society and students to connect,” and “4. A place that fosters a goal and the sense that students can make real changes to the future themselves.” The proposal also introduced specific curriculums.