Opening of Satellite Campus for Nara Women's University Graduate School

In April 2004, a Satellite Campus of the Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences was established at the Campus Innovation Center opened in Nakanoshima, Kita-ku, Osaka.

The Nakanoshima area, where this Center is located, has many buildings that house government agencies and major corporations, and is at the core of economy and culture not only for the City of Osaka but for the entire Kansai region. Ongoing redevelopment is expected to bring about even further increases in activity.

The School's main goal in establishing this Center was to provide opportunities for graduate school education and research to the individuals who have already completed studies at Nara Women's University, and to many adult women, as a higher education institution for women.

By effectively using this Campus Innovation Center, the Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences will expand upon the credit exchange systems and collaborative education agreements that it has already entered into with various nearby graduate schools, and will further strengthen its ties with private sector companies and research institutions in the Kyoto ? Osaka ? Kobe region. In doing so, it will further improve upon its system of education and research for mature graduate students, in an effort to respond to society's future expectations for the fostering of female manpower in a wide range of fields.

The Nara Women's University Graduate School currently offers "recurrent education" for elementary, junior high school, and high school teachers in collaboration with the Nara Board of Education. Through this program, after spending their first year at the Nara Campus of Nara Women's University, starting with their second year the teachers return to the schools with which they are affiliated, and undertake studies and research as they work. With the opening of this Satellite Campus, after finishing work, the teachers can conduct their studies and research at the Campus, where they can receive research guidance. The University is considering the promotion of ties with the Boards of Education from other nearby prefectures, as well as the possibility of offering the Campus as a venue for acting teachers to conduct studies and research at an individual level after they have finished their work.

Students are welcome to attend certain individual lectures as "Course-specific study"
Nara Women's University Graduate School also offers "Course-specific study" in which both male and female students can attend lectures in a specified course. The Graduate School has opened a Satellite Campus for five fields of specialization in the Master's Program: International Studies for History, Sociology and Geography, Human Behavioral Sciences, Language and Culture, Life and Environmental Sciences, and Information and Computer Sciences. These five courses can be completed by course-specific students as well as full-time students. Completed credits will be fully recognized in the event that the student enters Nara Women's University in the future as a full-time student of the Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences.

*Message from the Division of Language and Culture
Supports retraining in teaching theory for those currently teaching in junior high and high schools, and returns results of cutting-edge research to the classroom.
Each of the three courses offered from the 2004 academic year are comprehensive courses in which nearly all instructors from the Division of Language and Culture teach classes on a relay basis.
By taking these courses, in addition to acquiring a broad range of knowledge and training as graduate students specializing in Language and Culture and increasing their own personal abilities, students will be able to clearly determine from which instructor in which field they would be best suited to receive instruction up to the completion of their Master's Thesis starting from the following year.
By using the Satellite Campus, which offers easy access from the Osaka region as well as nearby prefectures, they will be able to receive direct instruction from their supervisor of studies after classes starting from their first year, and by using the PC-based interactive class system, they can receive dialog-style instruction from university instructors on the Nara Campus.
Through the University's English study E-learning system, students can also study for the TOEIC test in accordance with their own abilities from PC in the Satellite Innovation Center classrooms, which are always connected to the Internet.

*Message from the Division of Life and Environmental Sciences
The most prominent feature of education and research in the Division of Life and Environmental Sciences Master's Program is that it offers studies ranging from fundamentals to applications with a focus on food, clothing, and health. Education and research on these three themes are conducted at the Satellite Campus.
Through night and weekend classes, this Division provides opportunities for advanced research and education in these fields to mature women who cannot attend regular classes at Nara Women's University due to the responsibilities of home or work.
The Osaka / Kobe region is home to many companies related to these three fields. Each of these industries provides specialized knowledge that is extremely effective and valuable in the context of education. The Division of Life and Environmental Sciences provides specialized education with the help of instructors from research institutes and industries in the Osaka / Kobe region.
In this Division, students can learn at the Satellite Campus after work, receive dialog-style instruction from the Nara Campus by using the PC-based interactive study system, or go to the main Campus in Nara when time allows, to work on their Master's theses while receiving guidance from instructors and using the facilities and equipment available there.

*Message from the Division of Information and Computer Sciences
The rapid development and proliferation of computers and networks has begun to have dramatic effects on social activities and on people's everyday lifestyles. The aim of this Division is to explore new research fields in keeping with these trends, and to foster individuals who can adapt to the needs of a new era.
This Division is comprised of two courses ? Mathematical Information and Natural Information ? whose curriculums incorporate studies in the fundamentals of computer sciences as well as applications in the natural environment and ecology using the latest in computer capabilities. Many students who complete this course become active throughout the information industry, as system engineers or highly specialized programmers.
With the recent rapid developments in information technologies, however, it will be impossible to demonstrate one's abilities without constantly acquiring new knowledge after entering the workforce. The Satellite Campus provides an opportunity for women working in the information industry in the Osaka and Kobe regions, as well as mature women with a desire to keep up with the developments in information technologies, to attend courses periodically using E-learning materials or a remote classroom system, either when they finish work or during evenings and weekends.