Shizenkan University is pleased to announce the opening of the Shizenkan Center for Liberal Arts and Leadership (Japanese: リベラルアーツセンター, Chinese: 世界文明中心). To commemorate this event, a closed-door inaugural event entitled “Why Liberal Arts Now?” was held on the Shizenkan campus.

The event began with presentations by the Center’s co-chairs, Prof. Seiichi Kondo (former Commissioner for Cultural Affairs and Ambassador to UNESCO,) and Prof. Daisaburo Hashizume, followed by a discussion on the necessity and importance of liberal arts education for management leaders by the Center’s supporters, Dr. Mariko Hasegawa (Anthropologist, President of the Japan Arts Council, former President of the Graduate University for Advanced Studies), Prof. Takahiro Nakajima (Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo), and Prof. Hiroshi Suzuki (Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Tokyo and former Vice Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology).

In recent years, global fragmentation and chaos have increased rapidly, and concerns about sustainability have become more acute. In addition, with the rapid development of AI and life technologies bringing both light and shadow, we are once again forced to return to the essence of our reality – people, society and the world – to face the current situation and look to the future.

We believe that there is an urgent need for management leaders, who have to make decisions for the future in the context of their relationships with many stakeholders, including society and the planet, to have a bird’s eye view of people, society, and the world as a whole, and to establish the philosophy and principles on which they and their companies depend on.

Shizenkan University intends to further refresh its educational approach through the activities of the new Shizenkan Center for Liberal Arts and Leadership, and at the same time spread its unique educational paradigm to the wider world.