Message from the Director
The Current State of Moral Education at Reitaku University and a Fresh Approach to Learning
Let us examine how the aforementioned founding philosophy of Reitaku is reflected in the present university curriculum. Reitaku’s moral and ethical education has three pillars: namely, (1) character development, (2) multicultural understanding, and (3) specialized ethics studies.
The subject that forms the core of character-development studies is “Moral Science A/B”, which is a core general studies subject for both faculties, namely the College of Foreign Studies and the International School of Economics and Business Administration. The “moral science” course helps students (1) to become conscious about the significance of learning at Reitaku University, (2) to learn the necessity of integrity and morality in making use of specialized knowledge and skills, (3) to confront the emotional pain and anguish of present-day society, (4) to acquire the skills to analyze and resolve global environmental issues from the perspective of morality, and (5) to develop the spirit of “tolerance” and “mutual respect” so as to be able to embrace pluralistic values in an international society that is constantly plagued by ethnic and religious disputes.
The College of Foreign Studies, which aims to develop “educated people with international perspectives”, provides education that promotes multicultural understanding in order to create relative understanding of different cultures. More specifically, (1) general education is centered on “subjects concerning human coexistence and intercultural understanding”, while (2) specialized education offers the “Comparative Culture Studies” and “International Relations Studies” courses, alongside language studies and regional studies for the College’s four departments. This deepens students’ understanding of ethnic, religious and cultural diversities, as well as developing human resources that can contribute to international exchange. (3) The “Center for the Comparative Study of Civilizations and Cultures” and the “Linguistic Research Center” extend support in education to promote multilingual and multicultural understanding.
The ethics education program of the International School of Economics and Business Administration aimed at developing “internationally minded public persons”, (1) offers “Business Ethics” and “Information Ethics” as specialized subjects, and (2) places emphasis on the development of curriculum concerning interdisciplinary subjects such as bio/medical ethics, scienc/technology ethics, environmental ethics, and political ethics. (3) The “Business Ethics and Compliance Research Center” and the “Reitaku Institute of Political Economics and Social Studies” offer support for moral and ethics education.
Among the subjects available for students of both colleges are those concerning multicultural understanding, such as “Theory of Comparative Culture” and “Cross-Cultural Studies”, as well as subjects on modern moral and ethical issues, such as “Volunteerism”, “Life Science” and “Environmental Science”.
In the financial year 2008, the two colleges underwent restructuring to launch a new learning framework (See “Launch of the New Learning Framework in April 2008” on the Reitaku University website for details). Accordingly, the moral education program also adopted a new curriculum. The College of Foreign Studies (1) newly established the “21st Century Anthropology (Reitaku Studies)” program as a second-major option for learning the history of this university and establishing Reitaku’s identity, and also (2) introduced “Theory of Lifelong Learning” as an advanced subject for “Moral Science A/B”. The International School of Economics and Business Administration (1) defined “Moral”, “IT” and “Global” as the three pillars of specialized education, in order to incorporate the perspectives of ethics and public interest, such as “social contribution” and “compliance”, into all the courses. Also, (2) they have launched the “Corporate Legal Affairs Course” for learning about corporate ethics, compliance, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), corporate laws, intellectual property law, and risk management.
