Waseda University to accept 8,000 foreign students in 5 years
10/18/2007
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
Waseda University, one of Japan's best-known private universities, is going cosmopolitan.
President Katsuhiko Shirai said the university plans to increase the number of foreign students to 8,000 in five years, up from the current 2,400.
Shirai wants the flow of students to be reciprocal. The university aims to send just as many students to foreign educational institutions, compared with the 1,000 Waseda students currently studying overseas.
"We want to establish an environment in which Japanese and foreign students interact with each other and have an influence on each other for an all-around, balanced human development," Shirai said.
Shirai envisages that the 8,000 future foreign students at Waseda would be equally divided between its undergraduate departments and postgraduate programs.
If the goal is realized, foreign students would account for about 10 percent of all undergraduate students.
Waseda currently has slightly more than 45,000 undergraduates.
Shirai said he wants to prepare the school faculty for the more international student corps.
The university plans to double the percentage of foreign teachers to 20 percent and increase the number of classes conducted in English.
Shirai cites a more immediate physical challenge as well.
The university plans to increase the capacity of dormitories to 5,000 students, from the current 1,000, which include Japanese.
Waseda, which marks its 125th anniversary on Sunday, already has a relatively multicultural campus among Japanese universities.
As of May 1, 2006, 2,190 foreign students were studying at Waseda, second only to 2,197 at the University of Tokyo, according to the Japan Student Services Organization.(IHT/Asahi: October 18,2007)
10/18/2007
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
Waseda University, one of Japan's best-known private universities, is going cosmopolitan.
President Katsuhiko Shirai said the university plans to increase the number of foreign students to 8,000 in five years, up from the current 2,400.
Shirai wants the flow of students to be reciprocal. The university aims to send just as many students to foreign educational institutions, compared with the 1,000 Waseda students currently studying overseas.
"We want to establish an environment in which Japanese and foreign students interact with each other and have an influence on each other for an all-around, balanced human development," Shirai said.
Shirai envisages that the 8,000 future foreign students at Waseda would be equally divided between its undergraduate departments and postgraduate programs.
If the goal is realized, foreign students would account for about 10 percent of all undergraduate students.
Waseda currently has slightly more than 45,000 undergraduates.
Shirai said he wants to prepare the school faculty for the more international student corps.
The university plans to double the percentage of foreign teachers to 20 percent and increase the number of classes conducted in English.
Shirai cites a more immediate physical challenge as well.
The university plans to increase the capacity of dormitories to 5,000 students, from the current 1,000, which include Japanese.
Waseda, which marks its 125th anniversary on Sunday, already has a relatively multicultural campus among Japanese universities.
As of May 1, 2006, 2,190 foreign students were studying at Waseda, second only to 2,197 at the University of Tokyo, according to the Japan Student Services Organization.(IHT/Asahi: October 18,2007)