Curriculum

We Produce Not Only
Professionals but Also
Leaders Of Society

Curriculum

Program Advantages

  • Two-year Part-Time MBA Program

    Courses run continuously over two years starting on August 20th,2020.
    Each academic year consists of 2 terms: An autumn term (August to January) and a spring term (from January to August).
    Classes are generally held twice a week, on one weeknight and during an entire day on Saturday or Sunday. This allows students to work full-time while they are participating in the program.

  • Small Group, Multicultural Environment

    Up to 80 students will be accepted per academic year from the poll promising applicants worldwide. The cohort will be divided approximately in two halves, with about 40 students taking classes in Japanese and the other in English, to further help create a diverse multicultural environment. It is possible to graduate either in Japanese or English, not both.

Program Outline

Degree
Master of Business Administration in Design and Leadership for Societal Innovation
Enrollment per year
80 students
Duration of study
2 years
Academic year (term dates)
Academic year consists of Autumn and Spring terms
Autumn term
: 20 August~January 10
※Winter break: end of December –beginning of January
Spring term
: January 11~August 19
※Summer break:beginning of August~end of August
Class schedule
Weeknights (18:30-21:45) Saturday/Sunday (8:45-12:00/13:00-16:15/16:45-20:00)
Language
Japanese/English
(It is possible to graduate either in Japanese or English only.)
※Some courses are offered only in English, in a small number of classes, both languages are used.
Degree requirements
Total of 46 credit is required for graduation, as well as taking and passing all compulsory courses.

Curriculum Policy Outline

  • Through liberal arts education, we cultivate worldview, historical perspective, and view of humanity, fostering the “Abilities to be Grounded" that become individual convictions, ideals, and philosophy, while developing insight to understand past signs, current issues, and sense future trends.
  • To cultivate a comprehensive, bird's-eye perspective as a management professional, we intend that students do not learn by fragmenting corporate activities into individual functions, but rather acquire managerial knowledge, skills, and thinking methods while always understanding the necessity of each function within the overall management context. At the same time, to break away from the educational paradigm of business administrator development, we incorporate essences of design schools and innovation schools to enable students to conceive new business, management, and economic-social visions required for the future and acquire flexible thinking ability and sensitivity for creating innovation.
  • The purpose of Shizenkan's educational program is for students to utilize acquired skills and knowledge in practical settings where the "Leader’s Ability to Realize" is required above all. As such, it is necessary to gain the empathy and trust from the people around us which in turn the rippling effects spread to other people and organizations. Shizenkan's program actively incorporates assessments to understand one's behavioral characteristics in engaging, collaborating with, and mobilizing people, and by knowing strengths and weaknesses as a leader. Receiving observations and feedback from others is also a part of self-reflection.
  • Leadership cannot be fully demonstrated without aspirations and passion. External motivation alone—such as assignments from others or appraisals from surrounding people—cannot enable one to continue challenging while confronting uncertainty and risk and sometimes enduring adversity. Unfortunately, intrinsic drivers such as aspirations and passion cannot be acquired through knowledge acquisition. They become clearer through repeatedly asking oneself: Who am I? What is my life purpose? What do I want to accomplish in my life? Such self-reflection facilitates the emergence of individual willpower, by liberating one from the constraints of one’s organizational affiliation and job responsibilities. Based on this recognition, Shizenkan's program actively incorporates psychological and coaching methods and repeatedly conducts workshops that promote introspection and dialogue with oneself.

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