The Kyoto University Education Symposium--titled "The Foundation of the Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Liberal Arts/General Education"--was held at the Funai Tetsuro Auditorium on the Katsura Campus with the participation of 281 faculty staff members.
The symposium series has been held to increase mutual understanding among participants and help in their future efforts to improve and enhance education through discussions and an exchange of views related to education across faculty boundaries, while providing an arena for communication among staff members that goes beyond departmental barriers. This is the seventeenth session of the series since the first one was held in 1996. Following last year's symposium, this year again the program took place as a single course of events so that all participants could share the same topic.
In the morning session, after a keynote lecture by President Hiroshi Matsumoto titled "My Idea of a Well-rounded Education," presentations on liberal arts and general education reform currently being planned at the Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences were given by Director Masao Kitano, Vice Director Hajime Kita, Vice Director Masakazu Doi, and Vice Director Toshitaka Tsuda (all from the Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences). The presentations focused on the three fields of liberal arts education, basic education and foreign language education so that participants could address issues and exchange views.
In the afternoon, Professor Noriyuki Ueda (Tokyo Institute of Technology) gave a special lecture titled "Liberal Arts and University Education," aiming to understand the essence of liberal arts education from an international point of view. Participants then took part in a panel discussion titled "The Philosophy of Liberal Arts Education and Educational Reform at Kyoto University." While Program-Specific Professor Tetsuji Miwa (manager of the Education Division, Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences) served as the coordinator, panelists from inside the university (President Matsumoto, Director Kitano, Professor Yoshinori Takahashi from the Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Professor Tsuyoshi Nakaya from the Graduate School of Science) and panelists from outside the university (Professor Noriyuki Ueda from Tokyo Institute of Technology; Dr. Kazuo Kyuma, a member of the Cabinet Office's Council for Science and Technology Policy; and General Affairs Director Hiroko Shimada from the National Personnel Authority) discussed how to develop language skills, cultural backgrounds and negotiation skills required for success in the global arena.
As a lunch-break event, Assistant Professor Toshiyuki Kanamaru (Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies) gave a presentation on English proficiency accreditation by international standards based on TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language).
Throughout the morning and afternoon sessions, participants engaged in a lively exchange of views on the university's liberal arts and general education programs. The symposium ended after many positive results were produced.
 Keynote lecture by President Matsumoto |  Opening address by Executive Vice-President Toshiyuki Awaji |
 Panelists |  Panel discussion |
