Changes

'''2. Core features and its unique contribution to society'''

The university’s core values of respect for equality, diversity and contribution to the larger social good are captured into its motto: “Men and Women, With Others, For Others”. These values permeate not only its academic curriculum but also guide students in their extracurricular activities. Students undertake many volunteer activities run inside and outside the university, but also beyond Japan, for instance, the support activities focused on refugees, or on the areas damaged by the Great Tohoku Earthquake, just to name a few.

Sophia University has been promoting educational and research activities based on a spirit of charity and globalism through encounters and dialogues with people of diverse backgrounds in the hope to bring forth solutions to the many problems that torment our world today.

In November 2015, it also signed the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) supported by the United Nations, aiming to realize a sustainable society. These principles advocate the incorporation of environmental, societal and corporate governance concerns into investment decisions. As a private corporation that operates education and research institutes, and as a responsible asset owner, Sophia assumes its responsibility and brings its own contribution to solving the various issues facing our global society through its ESG investment.

Responding to the need to further develop as a “university in line with the world”, Sophia University has been taking bold steps in rethinking the old approach to teaching and learning. Through various initiatives it has sought to reform “Towards a qualitative change in university education to build a new future” for the Japanese society, fostering a “knowledge-based independence, collaboration and creative model” which “cultivates independent thinking and creativity”. (Report of the Central Equation Council, August 2012)

Through its participation in the Inter-University Exchange Project called the “Collaborative Online International Learning”, Sophia University offers programs towards Human Security and Multicultural Coexistence. Students in Japan connect and learn together with other students at institutions in Japan and abroad.

As a prominent institution for research and higher education in the fields of social sciences, humanities and natural sciences, the university has been selected by the Japanese Ministry of Education to be one of 37 universities to receive funding for its innovation and internationalization efforts through its “Top Global University Project”. On the basis of this project, the University launched in the autumn semester of 2020 an innovative English-based undergraduate “Program for Sustainable Futures” that brings together 7 different disciplines: journalism, education, sociology, economics, management, international relations and area studies.

Although Sophia University’s history with innovation and entrepreneurship is short, the institutions’ efforts such as opening new programs and opportunities for innovation to faculty and students have become more apparent in the past few years. Over time a growing number of faculty members have become active in organizing events and activities where they encourage students to incorporate entrepreneurial elements.