2016 年 3 巻 2 号 p. 50-57
Akita International University (AIU), established in 2004, has achieved an unprecedented highest reputation for its global competency education within a decade. Why and how has it succeeded to such a miracle? ―This has been the most frequently asked question from other universities so far. As one of the core founding members of AIU, I answered to the question that the miracle has been realized by the strong leadership of its founder and first President and CEO, Dr. Mineo Nakajima, with his deep commitment and initiative for introducing innovative systems covering all from admission policy, academic curriculum of international standard, study-abroad program to students’ career development designing. He was a high profiled scholar with more than 100 academic books and thousands of mass-media appearances, which eventually enabled his university to draw high attention from mass media.
In this paper, I will also focus on the systematic and institutional elements which make AIU keep standing as a pioneer of global competency education.