Dean's Message Archive
Message from Dean Morita
April 2006
Dean Akira Morita
Graduate School of Public Policy (GraSPP) had a first commencement on March 2006 and 78 students received graduate degrees. It is our great honor that we have successfully brought up the world-class talents, with the efforts and passion of both faculty and students.
Many of 78 graduates got positions in national ministries and agencies, think tanks, mass media, and public corporations, aiming to build their careers at places they chose. Some of them chose to pursue the PhD degrees. I believe that we will find them as the world's leading figures in the future.
GraSPP has been focusing on providing public-policy specialists who are coveted in every professional field, rather than on supplying career civil servants, anticipating the future diversification in choice of career. Some would say that GraSPP should train and provide future national government officials, particularly since its appeal is dwindling. I acknowledge this opinion represents an overall expectation for the University of Tokyo, an institution famous for providing legions of government officials for years. I would like to point out, however, that national ministries and agencies are losing their allure as workplace and that people with graduate degrees are not treated properly under current civil servant exams. I strongly hope that the national ministry/agency will again be an appealing choice of career and that it will make sure that its employment exam shall evaluate students with higher education properly.
In this third year, GraSPP welcomes 103 freshmen. We also welcome new faculty members. We are in the process of selecting a few more faculty members for new sponsored lectures. This will expand GraSPP's research and educational functions, so that the cutting-edge research will accelerate.
We are also promoting to form partnership with overseas universities. In March, the agreement with School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, came into effect and the student exchange program between two schools will start soon. We are going to establish the partnership with Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, with the student exchange program starting this year. Other several overseas universities are offering and asking for partnership programs. We hope to expand this kind of international exchange programs as soon as possible.
Thirdly, we continue to expand cooperation with business community. The project named “International Transport Policy Research Unit” started last year, commissioned by Japan Civil Aviation Promotion Foundation. Another project titled “Sustainable Energy/Environment and Public Policy” started this April commissioned by energy-related companies including Toshiba and Tokyo Electric Power Company. This energy project provides research and educational functions, and is expected to be the forum for public policy in this area. A project named “Risk Management Policy” and its collaborative research titled “Risk Management for Large Scale Disasters and Environmental Issues” will start this October. The project and research was commissioned by Sompo Japan Insurance. This topic for this project is one of the most important public policy issues. We will plan and propose prospective policies to the society, through the practical-oriented researches together with the professionals concerned. We hope that this project will provide students the opportunities to deal with real-world issues. The Public Policy Seminar series continues to invite the leading figures in various areas.
And last but not least, we are reviewing curriculum and education system. Establishment of strongly demanded one-year courses and expansion in courses taught in English are now under discussion. We will improve our education by matching the needs of the society and by devising a new way of education.
GraSPP's Student Affairs Section is moving at 6th floor of Administration Bureau Building 2 in order to better serve the needs of the students. The newly established alumni association unites the graduate alumni and current students, and hopefully it will extend its network to people of various business arenas. We will keep trying to make GraSPP better.