Dean’s MessageAs modern society becomes more complex, requiring a higher level of expertise and broader knowledge, and requiring professionals from diverse backgrounds to work together as a team, graduate education has become increasingly important. In such a context, some graduate schools have established curriculumwhich is directly linked to practical work, and some others aim to obtain national licenses.Diversification of graduate programs are expanding in this way and its curriculum seems to be based on keen awareness of issues.Since its foundation, the Graduate School of Social Sciences has opened its doors widely to members of society as well as new graduates by offering lectures, seminars, etc. through a learning opportunity with students in diverse backgrounds.In recent years, international students from Asian countries have increased, and our graduate school has one of the highest proportions of international students within Waseda University.To seek knowledges through theory and practice, it is indispensable that people with a variety of careers and goals study together, and that research progresses with a continuous feedback between theory and phi-losophy and social reality. In this sense, the presence of graduate students with work experiences as mem-bers of society brings discussions that sometimes tend to become ideological and philosophical back to reali-ty. On the other hand, fresh graduates’ reason and sen-sitivity, which are not bounded by the social reality, may provide members of society with a good source of inspiration. In addition, international students will provide with different perspectives across borders.In the midst of this interplay of diverse views and orientations, there are many new things that graduate students and faculty members can learn, and the edu-cational and research effects of having graduate students with different ways of perceiving society and different awareness of issues learn together are signif-icant.And we have Double Degree Program with Peking University in China on doctoral program and with Tsinghwa University in China on master’s pro-gram, which enables students obtain degrees from both institutions. Other than these, there are active international exchanges on faculties and graduate students level.Because the problems and phenomena facing modern society are extremely complex, analysis from multi-ple perspectives is essential and requires the mobili-zation of all kinds of specialized knowledge. Howev-er, it is not easy to acquire expertise in multiple aca-demic fields. Nevertheless, while keeping one's pivot in one specialized field, students are required to have the skills to cut through the various problems of modern society by interacting with the basic concepts and analytical methods of various specialized fields, while nurturing the ability to criticize and conceptual-ize. Of course, it goes without saying that this requires a great deal of effort on the part of the student.Specifically, the interdisciplinary approach to learning in a variety of academic fields, including political science, law, economics, commerce, sociology, histo-ry, philosophy, data science, and engineering, will be firmly passed on to graduate students through research guidances and seminars. For this reason, both Master’s and Doctoral Programs have been orga-nized to support these academic advises, by diverse instructors and advisers from various fields of study.Although as a requirement for the completion of the master’s program students have to take lecture cours-es, the freedom in the selection of those courses is one of the features of our graduate school. But this is just a guideline. Rather, with such wider choices offered, the tendency of being constrained in the depths of one specialty is avoided, and the research becomes interdisciplinary, which is another feature of our graduate school.The Graduate School of Social Sciences, established in 1994 for the master's program and in 1996 for the doctoral program, is a graduate school that aims to conduct advanced research, and for this reason it has continued to implement new approaches and make reforms in response to the changes and demands of the real world. In reflection of a large scale reform of graduate school, the entrance examination system was restructured in 2019, and also the research areas reor-ganized into 5 areas in total, “Contemporary Japanese Studies”, “International Cooperation”, and “Global Civil Society” under Major in Global Society, and “Sustainable Development” and “Public and Social Policy” under Major in Policy Science. Under these restructured research area, students are expected to study issues facing contemporary society, including the environment, peace, international cooperation, development, global business and organizations, labor, and local communities.Graduates of our school are active in a variety of fields, including research and educational institutions, government agencies, international organizations, civic groups, corporations, and political circles. The number of graduates, including international students, who will be active in the global arena is expected to increase in the future. We will continue to aim to build new knowledge as a place for education and research where students who have just graduated from under-graduate school, working adults with rich work expe-rience, and international students can learn together.Professor Yoichi SatoDean of the Graduate School of Social Sciences3
元のページ ../index.html#5