Nurturing Tomorrow’s Leaders—Changing Landscape of Higher Education

Abstract

The world is facing unprecedented, accelerated and fundamental changes that are affecting every aspect of society. Tomorrow will not be the same as today. Globalization, increasing interdependencies and complexity will require greater collaboration and communication across all boundaries and borders, as well as persistence, creativity and problem-solving capabilities. Considering that one of society’s most important functions is to prepare its youth for the future, institutions of education must rethink its current practices and systems to meet and shape the human development needs of the future. This paper addresses the challenges facing Japan and its education system, in particular its universities, and suggests the incorporation of problem-based, transdisciplinary and transborder learning, collaborative online international learning, involvement of important societal stakeholders such as firms, meaningful internships, active student involvement in their learning, and other such forward-looking pedagogical approaches.