The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) launched ‘Strategic Fund for Establishing International Headquarters in Universities (SIH)’ in 2005. This project is intended to support the establishment and promotion of university-wide, organically cooperative activities which will lead to each university's creation of international strategies tailored to its own unique character. It also aims to develop an outstanding international development strategy model and to create a standard for the promotion of autonomous, original, ingenious endeavors in universities.

Waseda University was selected as one of 3 private universities among a total of 20 SIH program pilot universities. The five-year SIH program, which will run from 2005 to 2009, conducted an interim assessment in 2007; Waseda was shown to have made satisfactory progress in the program.

Office of International Research Promotion (IRP) outline

The division in charge of SIH at Waseda is the Office of International Research Promotion, created through the collaboration of the International Affairs Division and the Research Promotion Division. With the organic cooperation of the International Affairs Division, which comprehensively executes activities related to the promotion of internationalization, and the Research Promotion Division, which carries out in a unified manner activities related to research, external cooperation and intellectual property, IRP is working to dissolve the previous dual-structure international research support system and to promote strategic development.

Major IRP activities include 1) examining tactics for the internationalization of research, 2) building a database for international exchange, 3) holding English training workshops for young researchers, 4) supporting the development of international research, and 5) disseminating research outcomes internationally. Fundamentally, IRP provides ‘logistical support’ by understanding and supporting the requests of researchers, the ‘central players,’ and also offers strategic proposals which will hopefully inspire researchers.

International development of strategic research

Our research internationalization gained momentum thanks to the prompt
realization of organic cooperation between Bonn University and Waseda’s
Consolidated Research Institute for Advanced Science and Medical Care
(ASMeW), a Super COE program. The agreement, including joint research
activities, was made and joint symposia have been held regularly ever since.
As a result of each institute’s presentation of its research content and proposals
for research projects in such symposia, joint research matching was realized;
already six joint research projects have begun. Europe Center in Bonn, one of
Waseda's 8 overseas bases, has a long history of exchanges with local
universities, and was a strong background element of the aboveinternationalization
success. Another noteworthy factor in the accomplishment is the close relationship
between IRP and local staff.

Building global partnerships

In order to provide an occasion for extensive dissemination in China of the outcomes of the long standing academic exchange between Peking University and Waseda, ‘Waseda University Day’ was held at Peking University in December 2005. A joint symposium by the two universities was followed by presentations of research outcomes from seven 21^st Century COE programs. In return, ‘Peking University Day’ was held at Waseda in November 2007, inviting eminent researchers and graduate students from Peking University for lecture meetings, seminars and exchange events.

Developing international researchers and building human resources networks

In order to support the improvement of research communication
skills, IRP held a workshop on English research paper writing for
young researchers including graduate school students in both
humanities and science courses, post-doctorate fellows and
research associates. The event consisted of a lecture by Dr.
Yoshiaki Shinoda, professor emeritus of Waseda, and a
workshop.More than 100 graduate school students attended the
lecture, with explanations ranging from the basic logical structure
of the English research paper to some typical Japanese weak
points. The workshop was divided into two courses, one each for
humanities and sciences, and the participants received practical
research paper editing advice directly from lecturers.

　　IRP will continue to conduct such professional development programs for beginners and intermediates; advanced programs will begin in 2008. The methodology for conducting such programs will be examined and IRP will support the work to enhance researchers' practical command of English for the presentation of research outcomes in international arenas.

English-language dissemination of Waseda’s research products

In order to disseminate the research products of Waseda’s Organization for Asian Studies, IRP is supporting the translation and publication of ‘Asia research front line’ (Waseda Asia Review). In addition, IRP translates and publishes WEB Magazine to introduce Waseda researchers who are conducting advanced and fascinating research. Furthermore, IRP has created VOICE, which introduces international researchers who are pursuing their research at Waseda.

Improvement of IRP database and logistical support function

The construction of the IRP database is under way. The first phase, a database related to partner schools, is already in operation. IRP has mined data which had previously been accumulated and stored in various locations, separated out various irrelevant data, and unified the data terminology. The construction of a database of dispatched and accepted researchers and staff from/to overseas and other activities related to international exchange will be completed within fiscal 2008. This should allow for the accumulation of permanent, highly usable, personnel change-proof records of past activities such as international exchange, and for the improvement of the international researcher acceptance system. It will be also useful for simplifying office procedures and for the planning of more concrete international strategy.

Future perspective

When MEXT’s SIH project is concluded, the issue will be how IRP will work to plan continuous activities and a model system. In order to extend and develop international joint research in the mid- to long term, rather than keeping the researcher’s work frame at the individual level, it is important to construct a flow that connects researchers in joint research exchange through collaboration among universities. Regarding the successful example of joint research between Bonn University and ASMeW, it is necessary to accumulate know-how in such a manner that it can be applied to other research bases. To that end, IRP plans to obtain external funding through cooperation with academic partners and apply it to the support of young researchers.

Through such IRP activities, research internationalization has begun to flow actively. There is also a clear trend towards internationalization in external　activities. For example, applications for domestic large scale external funding　programs must be made in English, and one condition for applications to such programs is that the applicant be involved in joint research with an overseas base. Internationalization in university research activities is now a crucial issue. As all of Waseda’s major institutions have internationalization aspects, IRP considers that it is necessary to offer them strategic support to create a strong overseas appeal. In order to achieve this, IRP is continuing to work to secure appropriate human resources and to extend and improve its activities.