Giving Substance to Graduate School Education through Activities Outside Standard Curriculum

Graduate School of Human Development and Environment

Kobe University Graduate School of Human Development and Environment is currently undertaking a project in the research of Human and Community Development. This is a new field of research that systematically integrates human development with the formation of civil society.

This project, selected by MEXT as a Support Program for Improving Graduate School Education (academic year 2007 to 2009), is aimed at fostering young researchers and practitioners who will contribute to research in the field of human and community development.

Specifically, it will support graduate students' activities outside the standard curriculum, in order to develop what is known as the "human and community development mindset." This mindset refers to the attitude of mind and abilities that are expected in actual practice or in the field of research, and is separate from the academic abilities that are immediately concerned with the graduate students' research.

Graduate students must retain a high standard of academic excellence in the course of this project, which is intended to link educational curriculum with informal education, with an aim for the production of a "human and community development mindset" that transcends the boundaries of majors and accreditation courses.