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Message to Students

Making Rapid Strides towards Becoming a World-Class University that Can Contribute to Local Community

Exactly one year has passed since I was appointed the President of Gunma Prefectural College of Health Sciences in April 2009. As such, I would like to discuss my ideas regarding the present state of the college and my vision for its future. Thus far I have been engaged in research and education related to medical physics and radiology at the University of Chicago for 40 years. I would like to capitalize upon this experience to make enormous strides with this school in order to make it a top-notch institution in Japan as well as a world-class college. Achieving this grand goal will require the assistance of a great many people, with the assistance and enthusiasm of students, alumnae, and the teaching faculty in particular being especially crucial for this.

When I first took up my new post I made a promise to the students that I would create an environment and atmosphere in which they could enjoy studying. Yet I feel that in order to achieve this the students cannot just wait for someone to create this for them, but rather they must personally play an active role in giving rise to this. Moreover, I also made a promise to the teaching faculty to create an environment and atmosphere where they can enjoy working, and to offer assistance and support so that each of them can achieve their respective goals and be successful in their own lives. I believe that an environment and atmosphere in which everyone can enjoy both studying and working is essential for allowing people to draw forth motivation on their own. I have decided that I will eat lunch with the students everyday at lunchtime, because I feel that it is necessary to get to know and understand the students in order to improve the college.

While this college opened up as a four-year college in 2005, the medical junior college that was its precursor started in 1993. But the origins of the college lie in a prefectural nursing academy that was created in 1952 and a medical X-ray technician training institute that was established in 1958. What is more, it has a long history of having grown into the Prefectural College of Welfare in 1970, and has approximately 4,000 alumni. The current college consists of the School of Nursing and the School of Radiological Technology, and graduate school master’s courses were initiated last year. Within four years from the school’s establishment, the School of Nursing and the School of Radiological Technology had both established an integrated curriculum which are said to be “next-generation oriented,” in which they structured the college’s principles and educational objectives into their learning content, and put the finishing touches on an outstanding educational program. One of the outcomes from this is reflected in the extremely high pass rate by our students for national examinations in the three areas of nurses, public health nurses, and radiology technicians. Our teaching faculty also actively carry out research activities, with many of them obtaining grants-in-aid for scientific research. I feel that the fact that our school obtains the largest number of grants-in-aid for scientific research from among the four public universities in Gunma Prefecture is also a point worth noting. From this it could be concluded that our college is one of an elect few specialized colleges.

However, one of our college’s current problems is the fact that even though we are a Gunma Prefectural college we are almost entirely unknown to the residents of Gunma Prefecture. Many of the prefecture’s residents know of the medical junior college that was a precursor to our college, but it is a real shame that it is not well known that the school developed into a four-year college. Therefore, my initial goal is to thoroughly familiarize the residents of Gunma Prefecture with our college. In order to do this, we will not only significantly promote contributions to the local community such as public lectures given by teaching faculty, but will also expand volunteer activities carried out through the participation of our faculty and students. When it comes to our contributions to the local community, we already undertake initiatives including open lectures for the townspeople, on-demand lectures on any subject, and local social gatherings. These volunteer activities include a group that plays with children and a baby group at the Gunma Children’s Medical Center, support activities for child raising at regional child raising support centers, temple school and play castle volunteers at elementary schools, and summer festival volunteers at the Gunma Geriatric Health Center, which is a nursing care and geriatric health facility. In order to contribute to the local community in the future, we will plan as many functions as possible. For example, we plan to have our students take part in events such as gatherings to show respect for the aged, longevity associations, and summer evening festivals in order to significantly develop the contributions that we make to the local community. What is more, we are also starting to undertake proactive public relations activities to make many of the prefectural residents aware of such accounts by presenting them as news stories to mass media outlets such as the Jomo Shimbun and Gunma Television.

Many people consider the present to be an age of dramatic changes from a variety of standpoints, including the economic climate, the aging of Japanese society coupled with declining birthrates, political reforms, and university reforms. It will by no means be easy to make significant strides forward with the college in this age. But I think that establishing a doctoral course, enhancing the research environment and facilities, and achieving a high level of research and education will also serve as important factors for contributing to the local community. My next goal is to give back to the local community by drastically raising the level of health care professionals—including nurses, public health nurses, radiology technicians, and medical physicists. Making this a reality will require not only efforts by the teaching faculty of the school, but also the understanding and support of members of the prefectural government and prefectural assembly. I believe that making the people of the local community aware of the school and turning it into an excellent college that prefectural residents can take pride in will form the foundation for this.

Though it has only been a short time since I have taken up my post, a few modest improvements at the college have either been achieved or are underway. These include: (1) renovations to the tennis courts, (2) the library had only been opened on every other Saturday, but now this has been improved to where it is open every Saturday, (3) the time for which the college is closed has been lengthened, (4) the time for which the gym can be used has been lengthened, (5) improvements to things like cleaning the Momonokigawa River embankments and with the flowerbeds, (6) the launch of a scholarship program for aid with travel expenses concerning presentations by students at academic conferences, (7) the inauguration of an academic exchange agreement with Korea University in South Korea, (8) improvements in employment system of the college’s faculty switching from a reappointment system to a new system including a promotion system, (9) success with the plans for the coming fiscal year by means of obtaining the budget to take measures against the leaking gym roof and repair it, (10) the start of preparations for the doctoral course, (11) starting to make substantial improvements with IT-related facilities and equipment such as the college’s website and computers, (12) creating and jump-starting lots of new group activities that make the most of the interests and characteristic traits of the faculty. As such, I feel as if a cheerful atmosphere is spreading throughout the campus. But a great many improvements are still needed. For the future it is my intent to work towards significantly developing the college together with all of you.