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Tohoku University established the Global Operations Centre (GOC) on June 1, 2005 in response to the call from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology for applications for “the Strategic Fund for Establishing International Headquarters in Universities.” GOC as a concept is to become an international headquarters to serve as the hub for formulating international strategy for the university as a whole and advancing international exchange strategically and effectively. The application was accepted, bringing GOC into being.
GOC aims to engage actively in the pursuit and achievement of the objectives set by Tohoku University on its incorporation, namely to establish itself as an internationally competitive research and education center.
More specifically, GOC will promote and coordinate the university’s efforts towards:
(1) internationalization of the university’s student body, faculty and staff
(2) internationalization in the places of research and education activities
- Internationalization of the university’s student body, faculty, and staff
Internationalization here means gathering talented and ambitious researchers, students, and staff from around the world. One of the factors underpinning the international competitiveness of top universities in the U.S. and Europe is their selection of academic professionals and students from all over the world, just as the world’s top soccer teams comprise managers, coaches and players handpicked from a global resource pool.
Tohoku University is currently pursuing three key personnel internationalization policies. Firstly, we are working on a system whereby researchers of Nobel Prize-winning standard are appointed as Tohoku University professors to lead the university’s research and education in their respective areas of expertise.
Secondly, to recruit talented young researchers, we are creating the necessary mechanisms to inform the international community of the university’s research and education activities, polishing the university’s English website.
As the third policy, we are reforming admission procedures for graduate schools and securing new scholarships in a new drive to recruit talented Asian and particularly Chinese students, who are currently the subject of fierce competition among the world’s top universities. We also plan to establish Tohoku University overseas branches to serve as admission offices, as noted below.
In parallel with this ongoing personnel internationalization activities, Tohoku University also needs to consolidate its status as a member of international alliances. Higher education institutions in the European Union have been currently boosting the international competitiveness of its higher education as a whole through regional education standardization. Tohoku University should both enhance its participation in existing international alliances and also take the initiative in developing new alliances with major East Asian universities, as well as those partner universities in other regions with which we have particularly close relationships. We need to move rapidly onto standardization in such areas as credit transfers and degree awards.
- Internationalization of research and education activities
While many researchers of Tohoku University participate in international joint research projects, and many of our students study abroad, we need to develop both of these activities further in the years ahead.
We also need to set in place a framework for constantly extending Tohoku University’s research, education, and social contribution activities offshore. In the past we held international forums abroad, and a number of liaison offices were established. The plan now is to establish overseas branches as bases for the full-scale overseas extension of classes, research, industry-university collaboration, admissions, PR, and other activities.
- Reform of the university’s internal organization and activities in the light of international standards
In addition to the above steps towards internationalization, it is essential to enhance the organization and operation of both the university and its departments, research and education activities of our faculty, and support for these activities provided by our administrative staff creating an environment on a par with those of world’s top universities. Unless we have these internal conditions in place, Tohoku University will not achieve the level of internationalization to which it aspires.
GOC has under its wings the International Exchange Division, the Student Exchange Division, and the Center for International Exchange, with the director of the International Affairs Department serving as GOC Deputy Director. A taskforce of personnel familiar with international academic and education exchange as well as international protocol, gathered through a public application process, is effectively advancing international exchange in collaboration with the existing International Affairs Department.
The Global Operations Centre looks forward to taking Tohoku University’s international exchange activities to a new level in the years to come.
※The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology project for the “Establishment of International Headquarters in Universities,” was completed in FY2009.
※Since July 1st 2010, GOC has been operated by the Student Exchange Division of Education and Student Support Department, the International Exchange Division, and the Center for International Exchange after Tohoku University reorganized its International Affairs Department..