社会科学研究科／GSSS

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cultivating abilities of criticizing and building up on comprehending basic concept and analytical method of other fields, to cut into the various problems in contemporary society. It goes without saying that it needs to make unusual effort.Our instructors, have been carrying out traditional elds of study, that is, political science, law, eco-nomics, commerce, social science, historical sci-ence, philosophy, and physical science, succeed their attitudes toward studies to students credit-ably, through lectures and seminars. For this rea-son, both Master’s and Doctoral Programs have been organized to support these academic advises, by diverse instructors and advisers from various elds of study.Although as a requirement for the completion of the master’s program students have to take lecture courses, the freedom in the selection of those courses is one of the features of our graduate school. But this is just a guideline. Rather, in do-ing so, the tendency of being constrained in the depths of one specialty is avoided, and the re-search becomes interdisciplinary, which is another feature of our graduate school.The Graduate School of Social Sciences estab-lished its Master’s Program in 1994 and then its Doctoral Program in 1996. Although we are a young graduate school, we have continued con-stantly to try new attempts and to reorganize to-ward change and requirements of current society. In reflection of a large scale reform of graduate school, the entrance examination system is sup-posed to be restructured in 2019, and also the re-search areas reorganized into 5 areas in total, “Contemporary Japanese Studies”, “International Cooperation”, and “Global Civil Society” under Major in Global Society, and “Sustainable Devel-opment” and “Public and Social Policy” under Major in Policy Science. So students can study is-sues faced by current society in environment, peace, international cooperation, welfare, corpo-rate enterprise, labor, and local community.Graduates of our school have been active in vari-ous fields such as research, educational institu-tions, public administrations, citizens’ organiza-tions, companies, and governments. In the future, people active in global venues will increase, in-cluding international students. We will continue with our commitment to being a venue for educa-tion and research where fresh graduates, interna-tional students, and the members of society can study together and push forward towards building new knowledge.Dean’s MessageContemporary society has become more complex, and along with the need of higher expertise and wider knowledge, education at the graduate level has become more important. However, in many cases, the objective is to specialize in one eld or the other, or perhaps the curriculums emphasize one area over the other.Since its foundation, the Graduate School of Social Sciences has opened its doors widely to fresh graduates and the members of society as well by offering lectures, seminars, etc. through a system of learning together. In recent years, inter-national students from Asian countries have in-creased, and our graduate school has one of the highest proportions of international students with-in Waseda University.For the interaction of theory and practice, it is in-dispensable that people with a variety of careers and goals study together, and that research pro-gresses with a continuous feedback between theo-ry and philosophy and social reality. In this sense, the presence of graduate students with work expe-riences as members of society brings discussions that sometimes tend to become ideological and philosophical back to reality. On the other hand, fresh graduates’ reason and sensitivity, which are not bounded by the social reality, may provide members of society with a good source of inspira-tion. In addition, international students are able to provide a different perspective from abroad. In this way, by blending various perspectives and in-tentions, graduate students and faculty will fresh-ly become aware of many things, and through learning together with persons from diverse back-grounds, the effectiveness of education is enhanced.And we have Double Degree Program with Peking University in China on Doctoral Program and with Tsinghua University in China exclusively on the Graduate School of Social Science’s Master’s Program, which enables students obtain degrees from both institutions.Because the problems and phenomena that con-temporary society is facing are very complex, an analysis from a multilateral perspective is essen-tial. And it is supposed to bring together expertise knowledge because one person can not be a master in different elds. But we think it is possible, with basing on one specialized eld of study and with Professor Mitsuru YamadaDean of the Graduate School of Social Sciences 3

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