Koji Ohmi
The Graduate School of Law as a “School for Research”
The current new institution of the graduate school was founded in 1950 “to research the theory and its application on science, master its profound principles, and contribute to social prosperity” (§65 Law of School Education). The first purpose of that is of course to foster academic scholars or university doctors. Soon after that, in 1955, as economic development in Japan, that was given a new role to foster specialists in master course who have high-level abilities to research. According to this role, our graduate school of law has produced a lot of academic scholars and high-level specialists.
In the 1990s, the world that eased political tension has prompted the economic development all at once. The East Asian Market which is the largest in Production Process as well as Consumption Process, has started to spread out, and brought a new challenge “globalization of the market” up to us. Therefore, it is sometimes said that “the 21st century is the Asian times”.
Law of science is closely linked to this social economic trend. It is illustrated by the large-scale amendments of fundamental laws such as commercial law and civil law starting from the 1990s. In these days that the market is globalized and accordingly law norm is standardizing. Therefore, it is required to reform the study institution and education in graduate school of law from the point of view of Globalization. On the other hand, the Law-School that started as a specialized graduate school of law in 2004 has forced us to reconsider the methods of education and research, and given us new challenge and mission.
Starting of “The 5 Year Unified Master and Doctor Course Education System”
In 2007, we removed the border between the master course and the doctor course, (i.e. 2 the doctor course examination), and started “the 5 year Unified Master and Doctor Course Education System” in principle. As mentioned, this means that we re-realized the primary role of the graduate school is to confer the doctor’ degree and foster scholars.
This new system enables undergraduate students who wish to be scholars to concentrate on their studies without the doctor’s examination. Needless to say, this system is supported by the leadership of adviser-professor for “the 5 Year Unified Education System”. Students would have the doctor’s degree after 5 years if they could prepare the thesis plan and make presentation as per the program.
To obtain talented students
The object of Education in the graduate school of law is graduate students, so we have to obtain excellent students. The fundamentals to develop the studies are that many students are competing and are able to criticize together. In our school, we have created the intellectual environment where many students with challenging spirits could gather, therefore prepared various admission methods.
The Role as a “Global-Hub Graduate School”
This meaning has the following three contexts. The first is: to accept as many foreign students as possible. While Japanese Government has “the plan to accept the three hundred thousand foreign students”, Waseda University is planning to accept “eight thousand foreign students”. Our graduate school of law has many foreign students coming from various countries all over the world. Above all, we are conducting the Beijing Admission Examination at the Beijing Office in China that was opened by Waseda University in 2006 for the convenience of Chinese candidates.
Furthermore we are sending information to many foreign universities in China, Korea, Taiwan, East-South Asia and Far-East Russia, and appealing our graduate school of law.
The second is: active academic exchange with foreign universities and organs by our school professors and graduate students. Waseda University and our Graduate School of Law have made academic exchange agreements with foreign universities and organs all over the world, so through these several channels, we participate in overseas conferences and symposiums. We are proud that such an active exchange may be the top level in Japan. Hereafter, making use of the results of the academic exchange and research, and being conscious of acceptance and dispatch of human resources globally,
we should strongly prompt to implement the plan as “establishment of global study system, grope for common norm in market, and accumulation of law information and its sending out“. It would be able to perform the role as “a Global-Hub Graduate School” if we can make the communication method common.
In regard to this, we should recognize the trend of the world that more than half of students are foreigners in U.S or U.K. universities and same as to professors.
The third is: to perform the global education for graduate students. So far, the requirements of foreign law educations in the curriculum are limited, so learning foreign language or laws depends on an individual student. But it goes without saying that global innovation is also necessary in the educational area. In this purpose, special courses of English, German, French and Chinese, to train students’ abilities to express and discuss in foreign languages have been established in order to enable students to perform the Programs of Foreign Research, the Foreign Workshop and the Comparative Law Seminar as a course of the “Support-program of Educational Reform in Graduate School”.
Mission as an “organ to confer the doctor’s degree”
The final mission or purpose of the Graduate of School is to confer the doctor’s degree (Ph.D.). Before, whether students are able to acquire the doctor’s degree depends on students’ personal efforts, especially on the degree of dissertation. However, we have regarded this as the professors’ responsibility through the “5 year Unified Master and Doctor Course Education System”. In other words, as above mentioned, this system enables students to acquire the doctor’s degree by completing coursework study step by step with the proper leading by professor. This coursework is to implement the concrete plan for writing dissertation, including preparing their study plans, making presentation in the meeting, and taking examination of language at the proper schedule decided by the Graduate School of Law.
Coping with “the Educational Reform Program in Graduate School” and “the Global COE Program”
Currently our applications for “the Educational Reform Program in Graduate School” and “the Global COE Program” were approved by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and we are coping with them as one of the most important subjects. To perform the Programs of Foreign Research, the Foreign Workshop and the Comparative Law Seminar is for the former, and to perform “Creating New Corporate Legal Systems for Mature Civil Society”; the Construction of database for Intellectual Property Rights by that Research Center, and “Formation of the Base for East-Asia Law System” is for the latter.
In many cases, to cope with these state-of-the-art subjects is done by co-working between professors and students. These works would give you immeasurable and valuable influence if you would participate in these programs.