Message from the Chairman and President
Since its founding, our university has pursued learning and research in the field of systems information science that deliberately avoids fixing "boundaries." Our university's philosophy of Open Space, Open Mind is not merely an architectural feature of an open campus with glass walls and no partitions, but also embodies our educational and research stance of learning and collaborating without being confined by the boundaries of specialization or position.
Real-world social challenges arise from a complex interplay of various factors. To address them, we need to break free from preconceived notions, find new boundaries, and sometimes even create them. For this purpose, education and research that foster the intersection of diverse knowledge are essential. Our university's commitment to venturing into the blurred boundaries of complex systems science, in addition to programming, AI, and design, from the undergraduate level, is based on this very idea.
Our university's unique character lies in our approach to interdisciplinary research through diverse intellectual methods.
What makes this possible is our university's greatest asset: our highly qualified faculty members from diverse fields. Each faculty member goes beyond their own area of expertise, incorporating perspectives from other faculty members, external viewpoints, and knowledge from different fields to tackle new challenges. Furthermore, their strong motivation for education and research, and their proactive approach to considering and acting on "what should be achieved," further enhances the value of our university.
In this environment, students are also growing not only by learning in the classroom, but also by formulating their own questions and expanding and deepening their learning opportunities both on and off campus. They are actively engaged in proactive activities that go beyond the curriculum, such as challenging themselves with startups and planning and participating in hackathons. The fact that students challenge themselves based on their own interests and awareness of issues, and forge their own future in their own ways, and this diverse and autonomous attitude can be said to be a major strength of the "Future University student mindset."
A chef seeks a good knife not for the sake of acquiring the tools themselves, but to create better dishes. Similarly, advanced technologies such as computers and generative AI do not create the future on their own. What is important is "what questions are asked and what is created" using them. What our university has valued is not just the ability to answer problems for which there is a predetermined correct answer. Rather, it is the ability to confront problems without solutions, in collaboration with diverse people, and to conceive answers that are appropriate for that time and place. Through such abilities, we aim to create new values in society that no one has ever seen before.
Future University Hakodate will continue to be a work in progress.
Rather than resting on our laurels with what has worked so far, we must constantly ask ourselves, "Isn't there a better way?" This is what defines our university as "unfinished business," and it is the driving force behind our progress. Together with our students, faculty, and the local community, we will continue this challenge. This challenge will by no means be easy, but we are confident that it can be achieved with the expertise and environment of our university.
Keiji Suzuki, Chairman and President of Future University Hakodate