Organizational System for Community and Regional Affairs Organizational System for Community and Regional

SDGs

Collaborative Project between Mine City, Yamaguchi Prefecture and the Keio Research Institute at SFC regarding Regional Revitalization

In AY 2023, continuing from the previous year, the Yoko Hasebe Lab, which is affiliated with the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies at Keio University, started initiatives to create high-quality educational opportunities that leverage the individuality of each student and broaden their horizons in an open educational environment. This was done at five public junior high schools in Mine City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, as part of a regional revitalization project under a partnership agreement concluded in April 2022 between Mine City and the Keio Research Institute at SFC.
During this second year, one student from the Yoko Hasebe Lab was dispatched to Mine City as a Regional Revitalization Cooperation Member and hired by the Mine City Board of Education to work at the city’s geopark for one year. During that time, five additional groups of five students each, accompanied by faculty members, were dispatched to Mine City for between one week to ten days, whereupon they visited public junior high schools to conduct various activities. The groups have become part of the schools’ regular class content, in both in-person and online formats, with the Yoko Hasebe Lab offering open educational opportunities in line with the school curriculum, allowing participants to learn about the daily educational practices of public junior high schools as well as the various characteristics, lifestyle, and traditional culture of the city of Mine. In addition, as part of leveraging Yoko Hasebe Lab’s research content, which is on the understanding of foreign languages and cultures, lecturers and graduate students from the National Pedagogical University of the Democratic Republic of the Congo travelled to each junior high school to conduct classes on cross-cultural understanding. A 4-day 3-night expression education course to create a performance entitled “This is Me!” that combines the charms of one’s hometown with one’s way of life was implemented as a sabbatical research project and held at Akiyoshidai International Art Village (involving 40 people including SFC students, faculty, and local junior high and high school students). Career education workshops that encourage active career paths were held. Expression and communication classes were conducted to boost the attractiveness of each school and regional community. These programs were implemented in collaboration with the Mine City Board of Education and all public junior high schools in Mine City. Students participated in the daily routine of junior high school curriculum (club activities, student council activities, school events, online exchange with overseas students, etc.). The second year’s activities were conducted with high-quality education, both in-person and online, open education, and the establishment of self as the main focus.

Applicable regions

Yamaguchi Prefecture Mine City

Implementation period

April25,2022 - present

Community and Regional Affairs category

• Regional collaboration as research targets and implementation sites/research that aims to popularize region-specific issues
• Education of students/human resource development for the next generation
• Advisory role for the authorities, etc.

Related websites

https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASQ4V6T2PQ4TTZNB001.html

Related agreements, etc.

A partnership intended to contribute to regional revitalization and mutual development through the exchange and deployment of human and intellectual resources

Campus

SFC

Person in charge

Faculty of Environment and Information Studies Professor Yoko Hasebe