Seminar (Kenkyukai)

The Seminar (Kenkyukai) is central to activities at SFC where faculty members and students work together on a diversity of issues as a prelude to the Graduation Project. At SFC, students do not merely learn answers to given problems. Education at SFC aims to nurture and send out leaders of the future who are able to identify problems and create methods of resolving them. Towards this goal, the Seminar at SFC goes beyond the typical seminar or study group, and many Seminars are engaged in advanced activities such as collaborative research with businesses and research commissioned by government agencies. Through participation in such research, students work on real problems in society and gain a high level of expertise, and with this in hand, they embark on their Graduation Project that will be their fruit of designing the future as well as a personal proposal as they advance towards the future as individuals. For this reason, the Seminar is at the core of the curriculum. In principle, up to two Seminars may be registered for each semester (Spring, Fall) from the second year. Some first year students with excellent abilities may also register for a Seminar.

SFC is a place for conducting academically advanced research activities toward creating new knowledge. In addition, we have been promoting a research structure where faculty members, graduate students, and undergraduate students cooperate and work together as one to enable undergraduate students to pursue specialized research. At SFC, learning is not a one-way process where faculty members impart knowledge to students; rather, faculty members expect students to fulfill their roles as equal partners. The experience and network of the faculty members, and the ideas and energy of the young students are all essential to advanced research.