PREFACE

Senaha Eiki, Ph.D. President of Meio University

Eiki Senaha, Ph.D.
President

Meio University, established in 1994 with public funds from the Prefectural Government of Okinawa, Nago City, and eleven other townships of northern Okinawa, became a public university on April 1, 2010. As a public university, Meio University remains dedicated to its founding principles of Peace, Freedom and Progress and to its mission of research, education and contribution to Okinawa's communities. From the beginning, Meio University's educational goals have included preparing people to play important roles in international communities. Now, as a public university, we are renewing our commitment to the revitalization and development of northern Okinawa's communities.

Initially the university consisted of a single College of International Studies, with three major departments – International Cultural Studies, Management and Information Sciences, and Tourism Industry. It became clear that to meet the needs of the students and communities we needed to establish a graduate school. In 2001, therefore, we started the Graduate School of International Cultural Studies to train high level professionals and scholars in five related research areas. For foreign students we offer bilingual graduate level courses. Under the new “cluster” system established in our 2007 reorganization, we now have five major fields.

Recognizing other emerging needs in Japan, Okinawa and Yambaru, in 2005 the university established its School of Human Health. The school's Department of Sports and Health Sciences was established in 2005 and graduated its first class in March 2009. The Department of Nursing was added in 2007, and its first class of nurses graduated in March, 2011. The Graduate School of Nursing, established in 2011, is quite unique because the program is community-based, with special focus on communities in northern Okinawa, well-known all around the world for the longevity of their people; we expect that it will make similarly unique contributions to health support and promotion and to nursing in the community.

That, in broad outline, is how Meio University has grown and developed into a two-faculty university in the seventeen years since its foundation. What further developments are underway now?

In Japan we are greatly concerned with the assurance of high quality education. One question is whether our graduates are internationally recognized as being well-educated. Are they endowed with sufficient knowledge and skills to meet both national and international expectations ? We believe that an education including the liberal arts is essential to rising to these challenges. The term “liberal” here means to liberate the mind of man. This year we have started our Liberal Arts Center to further strengthen our ability to help our students become internationally-oriented citizens of the world.

We believe that our liberal arts education needs to strongly emphasize communication skills. Our students need to develop strong skills in critical reading and thinking and in logical and effective writing. Nothing in university education is more important than these qualities, because they are essential not only for successful university life but also for social and professional life.