This report is a summary of the 50th Annual Study Meeting, held online in a hybrid format in 2022. The theme of the year was “Higher Education in the VUCA era -Future Vision and Challenges-”.
Looking back on the stagnation of economic activity due to the normalization of the new coronavirus, the sudden rise in prices due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the changes in work styles due to technological advances, it seems that it is becoming increasingly difficult to predict the future society. In such a social situation, expectations for educational and research activities at higher educational institutions, especially universities, are increasing, but it is difficult to say that these expectations have been met.
At this year's Annual Study Meeting & IDE seminar, participants discussed what kind of higher education policies the governments of each country are adopting in the face of such a turbulent society and what kind of educational and administrative activities are expected of Japanese universities in recent years. First, we asked the following four experts to give keynote speeches on specific topics related to their expertise. Mitsuo Ochi (President of Hiroshima University & Chief of IDE Chugoku Shikoku Branch) reported on strategic planning and practice at Hiroshima University. Jung Cheol Shin (Seoul National University) reported on the theme of “Higher Education Policy in Challenging Environments”. Tatsuo Kawashima (Osaka University) reported on the theme of “Japanese Higher Education in an Era of Change”. Hiromichi Yoshitake (President of Tokyo Kasei Gakuin University) then reported on the theme of “University Management Style in the Turbulent Japanese Society”. Following these keynotes, Hidekazu Sako (Naruto University of Education), Hisashi Masuda (Hiroshima Shudo University) and Kozo Ohtani (Hiroshima Institute of Technology) provided valuable comments on these reports. An active question-and-answer session followed.