The University of Tokyo

The Power of the Greater UTokyo Community:
the Combined Efforts of Students, Academic and Administrative Staff and Alumni

In the past, people used to say that once UTokyo students graduated from the University, they would be reluctant to get together with fellow UTokyo alumni, and other similar things. However, I think that this perception is changing. During your tenure, local UTokyo alumni associations were established in areas without alumni associations, thereby expanding the UTokyo alumni network's reach to all of Japan's 47 prefectures. I heard that you vigorously travelled nationwide to meet local alumni in order to accomplish this goal.

People have certainly said that UTokyo alumni prefer to be alone. Part of that could be because people thought that being alone is a virtue valued by those who have power. Of course, UTokyo alumni have gotten together with their former classmates on occasion, and they frequently would hold Komaba class reunions (with their class at the time of their junior division years at the College of Arts and Sciences in Komaba). These gatherings, however, were not particularly linked to the University. Some say that since many UTokyo students are outstanding as individuals, they do not feel that they owe anything to the University for their success.

However, we are now in the era of globalization. While UTokyo alumni may appear competitive within Japan, they also have to compete or work in international settings with outstanding people who graduated from major universities around the world. What they need to help fortify their competitiveness is a connection with the University―in other words, they need alumni networks. Isn't it natural for alumni to get together and have a connection with their university? I also thought that it would be strange for alumni to force themselves to avoid doing so. With these circumstances in mind, I decided that the University had to take some kind of action regarding alumni. First, we had to encourage our alumni to think more about their alma mater. To do so, I visited alumni across Japan and encouraged them to set up local alumni associations. As a result, the total number of alumni associations in Japan, as well as those overseas, increased. I also thought that this kind of encouragement itself sent a message that UTokyo cares about its alumni long after graduation.

The Alumni Working Successfully in Local Communities are the Ones Who Construct UTokyo's Image

As I mentioned earlier, people's perceptions of UTokyo are influenced largely by what kind of roles alumni are playing in local communities. That's because the people who live in these communities do not really know much about what UTokyo researchers or students are currently doing. UTokyo alumni contribute significantly to local people's perceptions of UTokyo.

The first thing we should do is to make sure the University is on our alumni's radar and vice versa. This kind of mutual connection must be formed in order for alumni to contribute to the University in any way. Previously, some said that the University was trying to set up alumni associations to raise funds, but that would be getting our priorities wrong.

While sending the message that UTokyo cares about its alumni, I also asked alumni to get involved with the present University. For example, I have asked local alumni to help local high school students come to UTokyo and asked them to accept UTokyo students who participate in the Hands-on Activity Programs. I think a close bond between the University and alumni can be formed when alumni take part in activities that are currently promoted by UTokyo, in addition to when the University offers services for alumni.

When you look at major overseas universities, you see that between these universities and their alumni there is some kind of extremely powerful force keeping them together, like a unifying bond. UTokyo still lacks this kind of strong sense of unity. Amid the current climate in which Japanese society is trending towards a loss of interest and confidence in intellectual affairs, I think we have to demonstrate the power and presence of UTokyo as a whole, including through our alumni associations.

The University community is comprised of three major human components: students, academic staff and administrative staff. As the president, how would you evaluate the University's academic and administrative staff? For instance, when you assumed the post, you proposed the slogan "slim organization, smart administration and speedy work performance (3s)."

To give my evaluation in short, I believe that many of our academic staff are significantly tough. They must be tough in order to continue producing outstanding research results, after all. Also, they have to be tough so that they can face the pressures of the public eye and the expectations society has for the University of Tokyo.

Many of our current administrative staff are also tough. Although the number of administrative staff is decreasing, they cope with the increased workload very well. The potential for their toughness, however, still seems to be held back. If they were given more opportunities for proposing independent plans or for doing work beyond the boundaries of their duties, I am certain that they would experience a shift in the quality of their toughness.

The Truth is That We Still have a Long Way to Go in Becoming a Slim Organization

Among the 3s, I am satisfied with the University's progress in "smart administration" and "speedy work performance." As for a "slim organization," however, the truth is that we still have a long way to go. Slimming down an organization entails simplifying decision-making processes by reducing the number of personnel and organizations (sections, committees, etc.) involved in decision-making. I remember that soon after I became president, I said that I would slow the speed of reforms and make organizations and workloads more "slim" because the whole University community was a little tired of reforms. I believe that I had a strong awareness of this issue. Indeed, at first, I did a small amount of restructuring of the Administration Bureau, including its committees. Unfortunately, however, I ended up pushing reforms ahead rather than slowing them down.

If you try to implement large-scale reforms, you proceed with the understanding that the organizations involved will definitely not become slim, at least during the reform process. I think that as we discussed the comprehensive reform of undergraduate education, we ended up having our organization, the University, become fat rather than slim. I believe that Mr. Gonokami, the current president, will finish implementing this reform. I hope that he will make the University slimmer once again as he does so.

This also has to do with the University's way of self-governing, but I think that if the University had had more efficient mechanisms for implementing reforms, the University wouldn't have had to balloon in size as much as it has in order for my reforms to be carried out. The University, however, has a tradition that when a large-scale project or reform is implemented, discussions should be thoroughly carried out among not only the deans of the Faculties, Graduate Schools and Institutes, but also the academic and administrative staff of each entity. This is how self-governing is practiced at the University of Tokyo. I highly value this tradition and think that it should be prioritized over the slimming of the University.

I think that it's difficult for people outside the University to understand that universities have different decision-making processes from those of private companies. For instance, a university president cannot do everything through a top-down management style. This difference in understanding became noticeable when the debates took place over autumn matriculation, and I feel that you had to endure more criticism than one normally would in this kind of situation.

For Japan to become a society that we can be proud of in the international community, the Japanese society has to deepen its understanding of the value of knowledge as well as the foundations and structures that allow for the true nurturing of knowledge. In the past, I think that there was an understanding in society that although university professors seemed to spend their time leisurely, they needed that extra time to come out with academic and intellectual results, as what they were producing were not simply pieces of information that could be easily made and spread throughout society. There was a sense that university professors had a pace of life different from that of the general public, but this difference had an important worth in its own way. In the Japanese society of today, however, I feel that this kind of understanding is largely disappearing.

Rather, now is the time when the University has to proactively communicate to society what kind of foundation is ideal for producing academic and intellectual results and what kind of management style is desirable. I believe that we should be willing to utilize every opportunity to show society that the ways research at the University can contribute to society are diverse, from direct and immediate contributions to mid- to long-term contributions that lead to the formation of an intellectual and cultural climate that can be respected by the international community. Also, we have to constantly make efforts to help the public understand the decision-making processes carried out at universities. These processes take into account the importance of freedom, self-government and responsibilities unique to these centers that deal with knowledge. To facilitate this understanding, it is important for us to take the initiative to always be one step ahead so that we can handle changes, as I mentioned previously. Through these efforts, we have to regularly maintain society's basic confidence in academia, knowledge and universities. I think that considering the circumstances that we are in now, we cannot maintain our credibility through the use of superficial measures.

The President's Message was Combined with the Decisions of Active Academic and Administrative Staff Members to Form the Four-term System

I thought that consciously conveying this kind of management style that's particular to universities―or rather, particular to the creation of intellectual and mental output―in specific areas is important. For instance, in the latter half of the drafting stage of my comprehensive undergraduate education reform plan, some people would ask if I had given up on autumn matriculation, and if so, if it was due to pressure from the Faculty Club. I responded loud and clear by saying that these were the results of a thorough, logical discussion conducted internally, and that plans for the four-term system were a result of my leadership and the opinions of those at the frontlines of our education at the University resonating with each other.

For a president of the University, leadership is not about simply pulling members of the University community along behind you. Rather, it entails putting out clear messages, listening to the response your messages receive from the members of the University who are affected by them, carrying out thorough discussions to decide upon the best way to progress with your plans, and implementing those plans. It is vital to the continued operation of the University that we firmly demonstrate the significance and characteristics of the structure of this dynamic consensus-forming procedure so as not to give the incorrect impression that those at the top of the University administration are being easily swayed by the opinions of University community members during this process.

Regarding the administration side of the University's organization, I believe one major aspect of this process you speak of can be seen in the individual evaluations of administrative staff members and also in the President's Awards for Operational Improvement that you started. I think that coming up with those awards was an excellent idea.

We have been making steady progress in operational reform and operational improvement. If you just look at the number of ideas that are being proposed, you'll see that it's not as high as it has been in the past. However, the high quality of the ideas for operational improvement that are being rewarded has remained unchanged. Perhaps this is because the level needed to apply for the award has gotten higher, and one could also say that operational improvement ideas that would have been submitted in the past have now naturally been incorporated into our everyday working lives. In this sense, I believe that it is incredibly important for administrative staff members to consciously continue coming up with plans for operational reform every day, regardless of whether they submit their plans to compete for an award or not. While with regards to academic staff new teacher training has been introduced and FD (faculty development) is gradually being implemented, training systems for our administrative staff members have become much more robust than they were in the past. We also must change the University's organizational and jurisdictive structures so that academic and administrative staff members can fully utilize in their everyday work the skills they cultivated during their training.

Clearly, the roles that administrative staff members have within the University of Tokyo are becoming more and more important. On the other hand, the number of staff members at the University is strikingly low when compared to similar numbers from the top American and British universities.

As you said, although the number of our full-time staff is decreasing, the workload is increasing and becoming more multifaceted and diversified. I have experienced for myself in many places and situations the high potential that staff members have, so I believe that it is necessary for us to consciously create a framework through which this high potential can be exercised to its fullest. I feel the same way about fixed-term staff members, who have come to fulfill vital roles with regards to current University operations. I addressed my hopes for this kind of active dynamism from staff members using the phrase "Train Administrative Staff as Professionals" in my Action Scenario, and I believe that it is critical that we continue to place further effort into this area.

What kind of role would you say that your presidency had in the history of the University of Tokyo?

It's hard for me to judge myself, so I would like to wait to see how history evaluates me. However, looking back on what issues I worked on during my time as president, a few overarching issues come to mind: the hardships of competing globally, the strong expectations from society for improvement of the University's educational and student quality, the age of declining trust in intellectual matters, and the age of economic difficulties that make it difficult to predict the future. If I were to add one more issue, it would probably be my response to the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster

My intention as president was to think of ways that the University could face the changing times and pressing issues of this age head-on while anticipating what the future would hold, and work to take definite steps towards dealing with these tasks at hand. In the past six years, I engaged in internationalization efforts, comprehensive educational reform, reinforcing the concepts of "Knowledge Collaboration" and "Publicness of Knowledge," and initiatives to enhance the flexibility of University finances and personnel frameworks. I think that these first steps have generated so much momentum that they cannot be reversed.

Above all, I believe that the role of the president of the University of Tokyo is to not only have a good understanding of the future of academia but also a sufficient grasp of what the future may hold for society. In addition, the president must be able to come out with messages that indicate this kind of vision and foresight. Finally, the president should follow through with the plans laid out in their messages and make them take root within the University.

Has the University's forest of knowledge moved in these six years that have passed?

I Believe That UTokyo's Forest of Knowledge has Definitely Moved

Yes. Reflecting on these past six years, I feel that it has definitely moved. And rather than saying that I moved it, I think that the academic and administrative staff members as well as the students really did a good job at moving it as far as they did themselves. That's exactly what I think is amazing about UTokyo, and it demonstrates UTokyo's latent strength. Take the comprehensive educational reforms, for instance. The fact that staff members were able to move an organization as large and historically traditional as the University of Tokyo by implementing these enormous and far-reaching reforms shows that their power is truly astounding.

The University of Tokyo's approach regarding reform has traditionally been to take time and carry out decision-making processes thoroughly. Nevertheless, staff members are extremely earnest in how they work on the tasks I set out. While they certainly are in some ways influenced by the University's customary practices and experiences that they have had at the University thus far, their fundamental stance towards reforms is progressive. Once a consensus has been reached, all that's left is to proceed closely in line with whatever decision was made. That process, I feel, is very UTokyo-like.

If I had to name one task that we didn't make much progress on even with this decision-making network in place, it would be gender equality. The truth of the matter is that UTokyo still has a long way to go in utilizing the potential of women inside and outside of the University in terms of both students and staff members. As it stands, the University is not able to make use of the benefits that are generated through having more women active in the UTokyo community. I believe that this is an immensely major task we have to work on in order to further develop the power of the University. While there are also issues in relation to this task that need to be resolved in terms of the structure of Japanese society, I think that the University of Tokyo should take the initiative to create bold opportunities that allow us to make major strides in this area. One good idea would be to come up with ambitious ways to accept more female students during the entrance examination process. We should also not hesitate to expand the number of posts allocated for female researchers. Even though it may seem difficult at first, once we create the opportunities, these kinds of things should start to occur naturally.

President Sasaki's time in office was marked by his incorporation of the University, while President Komiyama used his time to formulate a new plan for the University. President Hamada, I believe your legacy is that you brought major reforms into fruition. Looking back on everything that you've accomplished as president, all of us academic and administrative staff members feel that you yourself have been a very tough president.

I am an optimistic person by nature, but I wouldn't say that I'm particularly tough or anything like that. However, I will concede that since I repeatedly kept using the phrase "tough UTokyo students," I realized that I myself must also become tough. Perhaps saying that phrase over and over had the effect of forcing me to become tough.

Perhaps not thinking too seriously about things is one of the conditions for being "Hamada-style" tough!

Group picture

Group picture in the Office of the President, November 25, 2014
(Far left: Executive Vice President Hasegawa; far right: Executive Vice President Aihara)