University Educational Goals
Hokkaido Bunkyo University is a small, young university consisting of three faculties, six departments, two majors, and four graduate schools. Its origins date back to 3, when Shintaro and Toshi Tsuruoka, a married couple, founded Hokkaido Women's Nutrition School as the sixth nutrition school in the country, with the goal of training skilled workers who would improve the eating habits and provide nutritional guidance to the people of Hokkaido. Since then, in its long history of growing from a junior college to a four-year university, the university has cultivated a school culture that places emphasis on practical learning, which could be called Tsuruokaism, and has sent many talented people out into society.
Today, while universities are granted a great deal of freedom and discretion, they are also expected to be accountable to society. In light of this situation, under the leadership of Professor Takeo Suzuki, chairman of the board of directors of Tsuruoka Gakuen and president of Hokkaido Bunkyo University and its Junior College, we hereby reaffirm the basic philosophy of education established by our predecessors and set the following mid- to long-term goals for Hokkaido Bunkyo University to develop as a base for the creation and transmission of practical learning in the new century.
1. A challenging spirit to open up the future
Professor Toshi Tsuruoka, the founder of our school, left us the motto, "Advance purely, righteously, and courageously." "Purely" means a clear mind that seeks the truth, and "rightly" means a sincere and honest spirit that always keeps one's word, and the words "Advance bravely" express the praise of a spirit of challenge that does not fear failure. When Dr. Manyemon Takahashi, the first president of Hokkaido Bunkyo University, founded the School of Foreign Languages, he added "the spirit of thinking from the perspective of others" to the motto left by the founder. This also relates to the "spirit of hospitality" of the School of Human Sciences. We will keep in our hearts the words left by our predecessors and confirm that the basic philosophy of our school, which we must continue to nurture, is the spirit of challenge that opens up a rich future.
2. Pursuit of practical learning based on scientific research
Tsuruoka Gakuen has long played a part in training dietitians and educating people about food culture in Japan. Its purpose is to pursue practical learning to improve eating habits and provide nutritional guidance, and at the same time to contribute to education as a human science through sincere research in related academic fields. The purpose of education and research related to foreign languages, health, medicine, and welfare is the same. We reaffirm that the goal of education and research at Hokkaido Bunkyo University is the pursuit of practical learning, and we provide a thorough basic education, enhance expertise mainly through seminars, and utilize an IT system that accumulates various academic information to strive to expand the potential of each and every student.
3. Establishment of a comprehensive liberal arts education
The Hokkaido Bunkyo University school regulations state, "The purpose of the university is to provide a wide range of knowledge to cultivate rich humanity, to conduct in-depth academic education and research across theory and practice, and to develop talented individuals who can contribute to world peace and the progress of humanity as members of the international community." Rather than ending academic education and research as a mere accumulation of specialized knowledge, we will strive to establish a comprehensive liberal arts education centered around the university-wide Liberal Arts Subject Steering Committee in order to cultivate rich humanity with high insight and comprehensive judgment that can be used to contribute to world peace and the progress of humanity.
4. Cultivating international perspective
With the advancement of internationalization and information technology in modern society, there is an urgent need to develop human resources who have an international sensibility, advanced language skills, a correct understanding of different cultures, a spirit of cooperation, and who can act independently in the international community. In order to respond to such societal demands, Hokkaido Bunkyo University will increase opportunities for study and training abroad, actively accept international students and researchers, and promote cultural and social exchange with people from around the world in order to cultivate the international mindset of students and faculty members and contribute to the development of the international community.
5. Cooperation with local communities
The new image of the university cannot be imagined without cooperation with the local community. Our university will not only promote recurrent education by utilizing the adult admission system and the course registration system, but will also open university facilities such as the university library to the public and provide a wide variety of public lectures to meet the needs of the local community. Of course, training and internships in the community are essential to our education, and without this, education in foreign languages, health, medicine, and welfare would be unthinkable. Based on the idea of "career development support education," we will continue to actively promote on-site training, internships, volunteer work, and industry-academia collaboration projects for students, while deepening our ties with the local community and contributing to its development.