A Study of the Faculty Members’ Attitudes towards Internationalization at a Local Private University in Japan

Abstract

This paper reports on a survey conducted among the faculty members at a private local university in Japan. Now Japanese universities are challenged with difficulties in order to become internationalized and to survive in a globalized world. The writer’s previous study showed that most of the faculty members at the university generally have positive attitudes toward internationalization and that some study programs would be necessary in order to promote their attitudes. In this study, the writer focuses on the effect of both English proficiency and the experience of stay ingabroad on the faculty members’ attitudes toward internationalization. The study also tries to find the relationships among their attitudes towards the internationalization and some other attitudes, such as an attitude toward foreign languages and cultures, familiarity with foreign residents, and a sense of belongingness to their own culture. It concluded that even a small university has better chances of promoting its own internationalization through enhancing faculty members’ awareness of intercultural competence in its own way. The study suggested that it would be desirable forJapanese universities to provide their faculty members with some opportunities for intercultural contacts and to get them to develop an open-minded attitude toward different cultures.